{"id":470,"date":"2011-11-21T23:39:08","date_gmt":"2011-11-22T03:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/?p=470"},"modified":"2011-11-22T12:45:00","modified_gmt":"2011-11-22T16:45:00","slug":"peter-luger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/?p=470","title":{"rendered":"Peter Luger"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>To many, the name is\u00c2\u00a0synonymous\u00c2\u00a0with great steak. \u00c2\u00a0Founded in 1887, Peter Luger is a New York\u00c2\u00a0institution that I had yet to experience. \u00c2\u00a0Fayaz changed that by generously treating Nick and me for a passing the bar celebration.<\/p>\n

On the night of our 8:45 Thursday reservation, Nick and Fayaz were running a little late and on Fayaz’s arrival we learned that he had made the reservation at the sister\u00c2\u00a0restaurant 140 miles away from the Brooklyn location. \u00c2\u00a0This small error just meant we had to spend a little quality time at the bar. \u00c2\u00a0After a proper negroni and solid gibson (think a martini with cocktail onions instead of olives) we got our table.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The dining room is simple, with bare wooden tables and humble decor, but feels as a steak house should.<\/p>\n

Second only to Peter Luger’s reputation for amazing meat is it’s reputation for\u00c2\u00a0dismissive\u00c2\u00a0and and\u00c2\u00a0condescending\u00c2\u00a0servers. \u00c2\u00a0I have to say that we experience none of the rumored poor service. \u00c2\u00a0The only slight sneer we drew from our waiter was when Fayaz asked if the sauce on the table was the famous Peter Luger sauce. \u00c2\u00a0(Despite having steak sauce in stores all over the city, Lugers hates the idea of you putting it on their steak.) \u00c2\u00a0If I had to guess at the reason for the service reputation, I would point the finger at the customer. \u00c2\u00a0Not only does some Minnesota nice and few please and thank yous go a long way, but I suspect that many first time Luger diners have miss placed expectations. \u00c2\u00a0Yes, the place is expensive, but the menu is spartan and its simple food done really right. \u00c2\u00a0I can see people coming in the door expecting pretense having their reality realigned by a server who’s seen it all.<\/p>\n

And the food. \u00c2\u00a0To start we ordered the Sliced Tomatoes & Onions and the bacon. \u00c2\u00a0The Sliced Tomatoes & Onions are\u00c2\u00a0perfectly\u00c2\u00a0named, you get three huge slices of tomatoes and two large onion slices on a plate–that is it. \u00c2\u00a0Our waiter recommended that we try it with a rust brown sauce sitting on a table in a gravy boat. \u00c2\u00a0The sauce, their signature, reminded us of a cocktail sauce, not very sweet and heavy on the horseradish. \u00c2\u00a0The sauce was great on the tomatoes and onion and delicious when sopped-up with bread.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We ordered steak for three (yeah, that’s how you order it at Lugers) and it was [insert beefy superlatives]. \u00c2\u00a0It’s the best selection of meat that is dry aged on site before it’s butchered and cooked perfectly. \u00c2\u00a0But, at the end of the day–and I know my grandfather is spinning in his grave as I type this–it was still steak. \u00c2\u00a0 I just don’t know if I’m able to tell the difference\u00c2\u00a0between a really good steak and an amazing steak. \u00c2\u00a0The thick cut bacon, that little\u00c2\u00a0appetizer I didn’t elaborate on, was the home run when it came to the meat. \u00c2\u00a0 Fatty, but not overly so, this little bit heaven had prefect crisp on the outside and a smoky flavor that is still making me salivate as I think of it. \u00c2\u00a0I felt like I was experiencing a whole smoked ham in every bit. \u00c2\u00a0(To my\u00c2\u00a0vegetarian, Muslim, and Jewish friends: if you every change your mind run here and order several slices of this.)<\/p>\n

For sides we took down the creamed spinach and the German potatoes. \u00c2\u00a0The creamed spinach was unremarkable, but a necessary bit of color and texture for a plate of steak. \u00c2\u00a0The German potatoes, not so different from home fries, were the prefect crispy starch that every good steak needs. \u00c2\u00a0You can also get a baked potatoe (thank you Mr.\u00c2\u00a0Quayle) or french fries–I’m happy with our pick.<\/p>\n

We decided to round the meal off with a tall ice cream Sunday that seems to hail from an old school ice cream shop. \u00c2\u00a0A prefect sweet ending to a great meal with a literal cherry on top.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To many, the name is\u00c2\u00a0synonymous\u00c2\u00a0with great steak. \u00c2\u00a0Founded in 1887, Peter Luger is a New York\u00c2\u00a0institution that I had yet to experience. \u00c2\u00a0Fayaz changed that by generously treating Nick and me for a passing the bar celebration. On the night of our 8:45 Thursday reservation, Nick and Fayaz were running a little late and on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[91],"class_list":["post-470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dining-out","tag-steak"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}