Teruko

A basement space inside the Hotel Chelsea holds Teruko, named for Teruko Yokoi, an abstract painter who lived upstairs with her husband Sam Francis in the late 1950s. Chef Tadashi Ono, previously of Matsuri at the Maritime Hotel, runs the kitchen alongside Head Sushi Chef Hideaki Watanabe's Edomae-style counter. The backbar was salvaged from the Orchid Bar at Tokyo's Hotel Okura, set against limestone floors and walls paneled in indigo-dyed denim. Reservations are recommended but walk-ins are seated daily, and the room stays dim enough that the wagyu, sliced tableside, becomes the quiet centerpiece of the night.