Peter Luger – The King of Steak Wears a Hollow Crown

It was cold out, but the walk to meet up with the Meat God for my ride to Williamsburg, Brooklyn had a spring in the step because it was steak night, and I was gonna eat right.

For the first Steak Club 7 trip of 2009, January’s captain The Rev had decided on a place with a long tradition of serving prime porterhouse to a packed house of satisfied diners.

I remember my first time at Peter Luger, I’d not long been living in New York and with cash in my pocket (they only take the Peter Luger credit card or cash) I jumped in the cab and headed over the bridge to the promised land. You could say that was the night I had my first proper steak, coz they don’t serve it this way back in jolly ‘ole England and boy was I not disappointed. Luger’s had since become the place I’d take out of town friends to show them how steak is done in New York City.

So fast forward a few years and here we go again. There had always been somewhat of a reluctance shown towards Peter Luger by my colleagues in the SC7, something I’d never understood so I was keen to dine there with the boys so we could all see just how great the place is.

Luger’s is known for it’s slightly snobby approach to its clientele and unlike other places we’ve been recently I think they greeted the concept of a steak club visiting their restaurant with some amusement. Once we were seated the waiter walked over with menu’s and pulling his face somewhat and shaking his head asked the assumed question of “you don’t need menu’s do you”?

You see they’re famous for their porterhouse at Luger’s, and by being there you know that right? Right?

We knew we were in for a big night so to kick thinks off right a massive order of twelve pieces of bacon was conveyed almost immediately, actually, scrap that, it was for eleven as the Rev had a plan in mind, bacon AND a burger before the porterhouse. Alas it wasn’t to be as the burger is a strictly lunchtime item so the Rev was left thinking what might have been.

The bacon was incredible, served up with some of the Luger steak sauce rarely have I seen (heard) the boys of the SC7 so quiet. Just typing these words is making me hungry for some more of that pork goodness.

Two huge plates of tomato and onion were ordered which I didn’t partake in as they’re two things I just don’t like raw but I did rock some of the shrimp which was certainly above average, fresh and tasty.

And then ladies and gentleman in attendance and the millions reading around the world, the main even of the evening, porterhouse for five, two helpings of hash browns, creamed spinach and broccoli too.

As is tradition the waiter put two slices of the porterhouse on to each of our plates although I thought it curious that both were from the same side. I usually like one slice from the strip and one from the fillet to begin with but it wasn’t to be. Potatoes were heaped on to the plate as was the creamed spinach. We’d all agreed on medium rare for the steak which was all good with me. I like to enjoy my steak without sauce but I applied generous portions of the sauce on to my hash browns, yum, just the way I like it.

I tried the potatoes first which were superb, a wonderfully crunchy texture to them and you could really taste the crisp. The spinach was also delicious although a little runny perhaps. And then the steak, ah, that first bite, always so satisfying.

I think JoeC was the first to say what we were all thinking, “is it me or is this steak a little tasteless” and he was right, it was. To say I was disappointed was an understatement but this just wasn’t how I remembered it. Joe was right, the steak was, well, a little tasteless. We talked about why we all felt this way, perhaps our pallet is just finely tuned now, perhaps we should have ordered three porterhouse for two rather than one for five but the bottom line is this – Peter Luger is no longer the king of steak in New York City.

There are places that take more pride in what they’re doing and want to fight harder for your buck. Maybe Luger’s has become complacent, I don’t know, but as I commented to the Rev as we were walking out, this ain’t the place I’m taking my out of town pals for steak any more.

Dessert was nice, three of Luger’s special “Holy Cow” hot fudge Sunday’s and I went for the pecan pie which was up there with the bacon in terms of how tasty it was. Of course I covered the pie in a massive amount of their homemade schlag (whipped cream for the uninitiated) which put a huge smile on my face.

No Salty Moore tonight which was a shame for the first visit of the year and we lost Jon at half time (before the porterhouse) as he had to go to work, but it was another fun night for the boys despite the mediocre steak.

6 out of 10 knives
-The Big P.A.

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