Spoon #11: Keens Steakhouse

When Ms. Dish and I have a special occasion to celebrate and we feel like indulging our inner carnivore, we always enjoy going to Keens Steakhouse on 36^th and 6^th.

Keens was originally a pipe club.  Hanging between the rafters are thousands of smoking pipes!  Back in the old days you would come to Keens, request your pipe, and a “pipe boy” would retrieve it for you.   The pipes are all long-stemmed churchwarden style, which are made of a thin clay.  Keeping track of these delicate objects was the responsibility of a dedicated “Pipe Warden”.  On display you will find the pipes of some of the more famous patrons, including Teddy Roosevelt, Buffalo Bill, Babe Ruth, Stanford White, and Will Rogers.  More of the history of Keens can be read here.  

Nowadays lighting up in Keens would probably fetch you a nice fine or at the very least a tour of the door, but you can still enjoy a delicious steak or their famous mutton chops.  Don’t forget to stop by the bar on the way out to say “hello” to Miss Keens! 

Here is our new Spoon #11: 

At first glance it looks like Spoon 11 is unmarked, but using Spoon Swapper Spoon-o-Zoom Technology, we can see plainly the words “Sant Andrea” marked on the bowl: 

Evidently, Sant' Andrea is an Italian subsidiary of Oneida.  Number 11 appears to be from their Bellini collection:

Now here's something interesting:  The Bellini comes in two versions, 18-10 Stainless and Silver Plated.  Could this be our first Silver Plated spoon?  Unfortunately my untrained eyes just can't tell.