A Mid-Century Classic
Donohue’s Steakhouse opened in 1950; sixty-six years later, it remains a fine example of the Janus-faced cultural kluge of mid-century New York. Sleek, pitch black banquettes sit atop a checkerboard floor; tables draped salaciously in red linen are positioned beneath oil paintings of ships at sea, mounted against dark wood-paneled walls; the bar has sleek Art Deco curves under a tangle of branches and a shroud of Christmas lights — possible renegades from the holidays a few months back — sparkle in a room that is otherwise dimly lit. It all at once harkens to the stately home of the old world, the prohibition speakeasy, and the two-martini lunch of the postwar boom.
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