One of NYC’s best deals is the only dish on the menu at this minimally decorated space near Penn Station. The $28 price gets you an 8-ounce skirt steak, well seared and chewy, with unlimited fries and a nicely dressed green salad. (Fans of the old-school chain Le Relais de Venise L’Entrecote will recognize the model.) Not included in the price, but absolutely worth it, are selections from the dessert trolley including a world-class cream-stuffed Paris-Brest, as well as a $30 wagyu tasting.

The first U.S. branch of the popular U.K. steakhouse chain has a busy bar and dining room. The steaks, cut from beef from local farms, include notably tender rib-eyes, cooked over charcoal. Chalkboards announce the availability of such in-demand cuts as a 70 oz. Tomahawk chop that goes for $5.50 per ounce and porterhouses in sizes ranging from 26 to 32 ounces. Before steak, it’s worth having the bone marrow-roasted oysters, or the Beefeater gin-fueled Broadway & Thomas from the cocktail list.

In a cavernous pair of dining rooms, Cote combines trendy steakhouse with luxury Korean barbecue. Chef David Shim's $64 Butcher's Feast features four cuts of American wagyu and prime beef, cooked in courses by servers on the tabletop grill and served with lettuce leaves and the spicy dipping sauce ssam jang. Included in the array of meat are three kinds of rib-eye, crowned by the melt-in-your-mouth A5 wagyu reserve cut. Victoria James’s expert wine list goes long on Champagne.

Down a few steps on a quiet West Village street is this compact supper club with just a few tables and the vibe of a bordello. The 4 Charles Cut is a monumental double-bone prime rib ($145) roasted for 12 hours, with plump pink meat and a crusty salted exterior and plenty of jus. For a more modest take, the English cut is thinly sliced and half the price. The menu also boasts one of the city’s best burgers, a double patty wagyu beauty that calls to mind Chicago’s famed Au Cheval burger.

When it comes to old-school dining, Keens holds the keys to the time machine. The dark, wood-paneled space that’s been around since 1885 is decorated with ancient photos and has a ceiling lined with pipes smoked by the likes of J.P. Morgan, Albert Einstein, and Babe Ruth. As iconic as the décor is Keens’s signature gamey, fatty mutton chop. Someone at the table should get it, but also pay attention to the prime porterhouse—for two or three, a feast of juicy meat with a comfortable dry-aged funk.

The menu includes a daily cut of American wagyu and a 28-day dry-aged rib-eye. But what makes Yoon stand out among K-Town barbecue spots are the short ribs, which feature the Haeundae cut. The cross-hatch pattern cuts through the grain to tenderize the meat. It was pioneered by owner Bobby Yoon’s grandfather Seok Ho Yoon at his South Korea restaurant in the 1960s. The fatty rib meat, which comes marinated or not, is quickly grilled tableside, so it’s both charred and outrageously succulent.

Movie sets don’t have better decor than Gage & Tollner, a resurrection of the chop house that opened in the same location in 1892. It’s decorated with rows of antique brass fixtures and arched mirrors. The menu is modest: Among the five selections are T-bone sirloin sold by the ounce and an unremarkable $57 NY strip. But the accompanying dishes are outstanding, including yeasty Parker House rolls, crisp onion rings, and baked clams topped with kimchi and bacon. The pork pot pie is a masterpiece.

This Theater District mainstay is old-school enough to have a suggested dress code: Shorts are discouraged and sports jerseys and tank tops are strongly discouraged. The sensational mahogany horseshoe-shaped bar is the star of the space; also on display is the USDA prime beef aged-in-house in a windowed locker. The kitchen cooks the beef over hickory, which imparts a firm, smoky flavor to cuts such as the supple porterhouse ($65 per person for two, three, or four).

The specialty in this spaceship-like space is wagyu in multiple guises. Consider the Wagyu-tizers section: Wagyu sashimi? Check. Wagyu omelette? Check. A hand roll stuffed with just cooked wagyu tataki? Check—and a must-order. To go deeper on the subject, the steak section offers a few kinds of wagyu grades and cuts: The market price wagyu flight offers the opportunity to taste a few of the ostentatiously marbled pieces. The $128 A5 Ozaki strip loin is blow-your-mind fatty luxury.

St. Anselm offers tremendous bang for your buck. Beefy New York strip with pink peppercorn sauce is a reasonable $47; the rib-eye is priced at less than $4 an ounce. The cozy, brick-walled space has a far-ranging menu of grilled specialties, from halloumi cheese to clams dripping with garlic butter and shoulder-blade lamb chops. The vast wine list ranges from heavy hitters such as Sine Qua Non Syrah to idiosyncratic bottles like the Australian Riesling Fowles Ladies Who Shoot Their Lunch.