who has eaten a steak at Peter Lugers?
 

just watched it get picked as Bon appetit's best steak house.

i swear Saveur magazine named it in the top 3, just a few months ago. i may have to make a trip. is it wonderful?

It's an institution. You won't (should not be) disappointed.

Still, there are better places.

It is very good, but then so is Mortons as well.

To tell the truth, I find it hard to eat steak while away from home as the best steaks I have ever had are at home. Eat something unusual while out on the road then good the better things for yourself when back home.

I lived in New York for 5 years and Peter Lugers is great.

It's better than Ruth's Chris. Not as good (IMO) as Smith and Wollensky's or Mortons.

It's really hard to beat Delmonico's at the Venetian in Vegas.

If you are asking about steak in NYC then your other options are

DelFriscos

Sparks

and a personal fav of mine

The Old Homestead.

Yes, its wonderful..

If you make the trip, go to the location in Williamsburg, the Great Neck location doesnt have the ambience of Williamsburg. I worked for years right down the block. Loved it when they would get the deliveries of beef.. watching the chefs and buyers select the beef..

The steaks are awesome.... some other classic steakhouses in NY, The Palm, Sparks, Ben Bensons, Old Homestead, in Queens try Uncle Jacks in Bayside.

Im not a big steak eater, though once a year I treat myself an SO to steak for two at Lugers....

Dont ask to see a menu, dont ask for your steaks medium or well.... the waiters are scruffy and will sneer if you ask to ruin a steak.

Get the apple strudle with schlage for desert.

Lugers is good but it's waaayyyyy overrated. Old Homestead is better,IMHO.

i've probably eaten my bodyweight in Luger's over the past 10 years. I have a Luger Card (if you don't have such a card, bring cash, b/c it's all they'll take).

I've eaten in just about every renowned steakhouse in Manhattan as well as a few of lesser notoriety. This, like arguments about favorite ice cream flavor, is largely a matter of preference.

Luger's is the consummate steak experience. Order the bacon (not on the menu) and strudel mit schlag is great, but I've only ever had enough room for it once. If nothing else, the Luger's event will provide you with a metric by which to measure all other steakhouses. Even if it's not someone's favorite, it is a standard by which steakhouses (and creamed spinach!)are judged. It's not foofy, it's not "polished" and it's not contrived. Same bar, same tables and chairs since the Earth cooled. It's an old school Brooklyn steakhouse that happens to be a steakophile's heaven. Plan ahead and make reservations. In Brooklyn, not Great Neck.

I found Sparks routinely disappointing (still trading on the mystique of an assassination 20 years ago) and would skip events/closing dinners there. Smith & Wo has a devoted following, largely of people who know how to order steak, but not much else about it. (nothing personal against anyone, this is just my experience from 10yrs in NYC, dealing with all variety of characters ... ymmv) The S&W Grill is a good place to get a burger, but S&W is more about marketing than steak... MHO.

Old Homestead is a very good place, and not as "well known" to visitors, so you can frequently get in there on short notice when other places are full.

I like Benson's -- John Cramer used to work for a firm in that bldg, so I spent a lot of time eating in there, at the bar. For mid-town, it's very good.

However, MHO for Steak house in mid town is the Post House. Not only have I never had a sub-spectactular steak there, but if you're going out with others who may not be wild about steak, the rest of the menu is broad and well executed. In contrast, Luger's menu boils down to: Porterhouse for 2, 3 or 4 and a few sides. It doesn't actually say "if you want chicken, you're in the wrong f*cking place", but that's the gyst.

Keens is a great mid-town place on a blustery afternoon, and a really good steakhouse but its signature dish is the mutton chop.

Mortons and Ruth's Chris are reliable (then again, so is Outback...), but in MHO unremarkable and therefore not worth the pricetag.

Avoid Angelo & Maxie's and Bobby Van's; ditto the Palm(s).

I'm with TimT on Uncle Jack's... though I haven't been there in years, I can't imagine it's any less great than it was. Lots of Scotch.

Unless the wheels have just come off, I gotta say that Michael Jordan's (in GCT) is very very good. I have a sentimental attachment to Gallagher's (West 52nd) it's not great, but I like it.

If you're travelling across the country to check out Luger's (which I completely support) then try a couple of the other places mentioned on here. It is the context and a few of the smaller things that have kept Luger the best steakhouse in NYC (and among the best in the country)for 24 years.

Now I want steak.

JP

When in Tampa Florida look up Berns Steakhouse. You can thank me later.

http://www.bernssteakhouse.com/

Peter Luger's huh?

http://www.peterluger.com/ourlocations.cfm

Next time I am in NY.


Rumor has it that a guy broke away from there and opened this place.

http://www.peterssteakhouse.com/about.html

I have eaten there once and it was good but not as good a Berns. I may have to go back and give it another try soon.

Cool place. Purportedly has the largest wine list in the country....the size of a rural phone book.

I was wondering when someone would recommend Gallagher's.

Its more than that, the whole evening is an "event" something really special.

Your waiter sets up a tour of the kitchen for an "after dinner walk" you get to see the steaks being prepped and cooked, you see the storage area for the steaks. You see the huge fish tanks with live fish swimming in them, when you
order fish, they are pulled from the tank a filleted.

You lean how the cattle is organically raised and all the veggies, potatoes, sprouts, salad and dressing is all made in house and grown on their organic farms.

Then you go down to the wine cellar and see thousands of bottles of wine, then your told its only 1/8 of their capacity, there is a warehouse across the street full of wine.

Then go go up to the second floor and sit down in a desert room and have another meal. Your in this place for well over 3 hours and its an unforgettable evening.

I try to go to Tampa once a year just to go there.

Luger's is indeed terrific, bring cash as already stated. Other favorites of mine, +2 on DelFriscos - nice bar scene and they do a good job with Lobster and Shrimp for those with you who may not care for steak. +2 on Keens as well.

While I agree that it is quite good I didn't see any of the tour activity going on. I was with a group of about twenty people.

If you were not offered a tour by your waiter he was not doing his job. He should have offered it to you. He should have also offered to set up a reservation for a table upstairs for desert.

Every time I have been there over the last 15 years I have been offered the tour.

IIRC, they did offer the upstairs for dessert.

Berns steakhouse in Tampa? not SideBerns which is 2 doors down and associated with Bersn but a spinoff.

Wow! There is a waiting list to be a waiter there, and then they go one some crazy training stint, working on the farm, in the kitchen, giving tours etc.. before they ever get close to a table. I cannot imagine a waiter did not offer those things to you.

In the NY/NJ area I'd pick Arthurs in Hoboken over anything else.

Gee,
Thanks Jim. I just spent the last 45 min reading the whole menu and drooling on the keyboard. Looks like a cool experience. I do have some FF miles...:)

Not to hijack, but any great experiences on the left coast? It seems tough to find a good steak outside of my backyard.