About 212steakhousenyc.com
What this publication is, who writes it, where the material comes from, and what it is deliberately not.
212steakhousenyc.com is an independent editorial resource about 212 Steakhouse — the Midtown East dining room at 316 East 53rd Street that became the first restaurant in New York admitted to the Kobe Beef Marketing & Distribution Promotion Association — and about the wider subjects that story sits inside: Japanese beef certification, Wagyu grading, dry-ageing, and the culture of the Manhattan steakhouse.
What this site is
It is a reference publication with three jobs.
To document
The menu, the photographs, the press record and the details of the beef programme are collected here in one place, organised and annotated. Material of this kind normally disappears when a restaurant's own site changes, and a fair amount of what is preserved here would otherwise be scattered across archived pages and dead links.
To explain
Most of the writing on this site is explanatory rather than descriptive. What certification requires, why the Tajima-gyu bloodline matters, how dry-ageing changes a steak, what the grading scales actually measure, how to read a steakhouse menu without overspending. These are questions a beef-focused restaurant raises and rarely answers.
To be honest about its limits
Everything here is compiled from published material and from general knowledge of the subject. Where something is uncertain, the site says so. Where a detail could change — hours, availability, prices — the site tells you to verify it yourself rather than presenting it as current.
What this site is not
Please read this part
- This is not the restaurant's official website.
- It is not operated by, affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by 212 Steakhouse, its owners, its former owners or its staff.
- It is not affiliated with the Kobe Beef Marketing & Distribution Promotion Association or with any publication named in the press archive.
- It cannot take reservations, hold dates, quote prices, accept event enquiries or answer questions on the restaurant's behalf.
- It does not publish current opening hours or trading status. Details reproduced here are historical reference material.
If you are trying to reach the restaurant itself, please contact the venue directly. Messages sent to this site cannot be forwarded.
Where the material comes from
Three sources, in order of weight.
Published material from the restaurant's own site
Menu listings, photographs, the press index and factual details such as the address were originally published by the restaurant. These are reproduced here as a record, reorganised and annotated with our own commentary. Photographs are used in their original published form.
Public reporting
The press page summarises coverage from named publications. Those summaries are written here in our own words; we do not reproduce the original articles. Publication names and dates are given so that readers can find the original reporting themselves.
General subject knowledge
The explanatory writing — the Kobe beef guide, the grading tables, the blog — is original work covering established, widely documented facts about Japanese beef certification, Wagyu genetics, ageing and butchery.
Editorial approach
A few standing rules govern what appears here.
- No invented detail. If a fact is not established, it is not asserted.
- No claimed operating status. This site does not tell you a restaurant is open, closed, taking bookings or accepting walk-ins. Verify current status directly, always.
- No prices. Historical prices mislead more than they inform, so they are omitted.
- No first-person voice for the restaurant. This publication never writes as though it is the venue. There is no “our kitchen” or “our team” anywhere on the site.
- Corrections are welcome. If something here is wrong, tell us and it will be fixed.
Who writes it
The site is written and maintained by a small independent editorial team with a long-standing interest in food sourcing, restaurant history and the preservation of material that would otherwise vanish when a business closes its website. We are not affiliated with the restaurant industry and take no payment from any venue, supplier or association mentioned on this site.
How the site makes money
Running costs are covered by display advertising. Advertisements are supplied by third-party networks and are marked as such. No advertiser has any influence over editorial content, and nothing on this site is a paid placement, sponsored post or affiliate recommendation. Full detail is in the privacy policy and the editorial policy.
Last reviewed: 11 August 2026