Pete Wells awards Peter Luger zero stars

[Robin Garr]

The NY Times' Pete Wells strikes again, with a funny, disappointed review of Brooklyn's landmark Peter Luger steakhouse.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/29/dini ... rCHgOiL_OE

A great line: "There is almost always a wait, with or without a reservation, and there is almost always a long line of supplicants against the wall. A kind word or reassuring smile from somebody on staff would help the time pass. The smile never comes. The Department of Motor Vehicles is a block party compared with the line at Peter Luger."

[David M. Bueker]

I have been twice on someone else’s dime. Never understood the fuss.

I have eaten at Peter Luger's a few times down through the years. My experience is that they are the little girl who had a little curl: when firing on all cylinders, it has no competition... but it doesn't always happen.

Alas, this is true at many steak places. I have also eaten at Keen's several times. The quality varies some there, too.

I think it is the nature of the beast.

Reminds me of that Yogi Berra line: "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

-Paul W.

I haven't been in 20 years. Then it was always been a fine cut of meat, with varying sides. I would recommend it (based on 1999 and earlier) as a real NYC experience. But I'd rather go to a steakhouse which doesn't rush you, with decent wine list or good corkage policy. I thought review rang true for what I've heard more recently. Though pricing which he seems scandalized by is about standard for NYC steakhouse serving dry aged prime.

Speaking as a wine geek, I was always surprised that Peter Luger's had a wretched wine list -- and no BYO policy -- even back in its heyday.

If you bring this article up online you can see the comments people made on it. Most are in violent agreement. Some thank Pete Wells for saying what needed to be said for years. Most interesting to me is that people seem to think there isn't a great steakhouse in New York anymore, with the possible exception of Keens which seems to have its fans. (But Keens is best known for its mutton chops, not for steak.) Anyone have one anywhere that they would call "great"?

I like Keen's. The mutton chop is a ruse, of course - it's saddle of lamb, not mutton. But the steaks can be really good; my last visit there was superlative.

Anyway, it's relatively painless to make a good steak at home.

[Jenise]

Anyway, it's relatively painless to make a good steak at home.

Exactly why I don't understand the whole steakhouse thing. I get guys on business dinners and all that, but personally it's the last thing in the world I would go to a restaurant for. I can get the same quality meat and cook it as well at home.

I do like the Keen's mutton chop (its lamb saddle, but long aged).
I pretty much only go to steakhouses for wine dinners, Bobby Van's is good to our group re corkage.
I think one factor is that it used to hard to get prime outside steakhouses and PL's supposedly got first choice of the primal cuts. It was hard to get dry aged in stores (I know you can do yourself, but.....). Lobels maybe. Now there are tons of steakhouses in NYC where you can get prime or waygu. Plenty of options at retail for good dry-aged, or you can order from Flannerys, Holy Grail, etc. I get 30 day dry aged from my local butcher, and think I have an order for rib cap medallions coming from Flannery's (a friend ordered). .

It was always a place that my late wife and I wanted to try on one of our trips to NY. After reading the review, I'm glad we never made it there.

The steak house themed-restaurant is never the best food, it is usually expensive and the sides are never imaginative. That being said, it is a good entertainment value especially for novice restaurant goers. Steak and potatoes always goes over with them. I'm glad there are other venues than PL.

Headline:

Peter Luger Used to Sizzle. Now It Sputters.

Sputters? Should that be Splutters?

[Robin Garr]

I think he means sputters like a car about to run out of gas.

It's not just an Americanism, Peter. Here we have its definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary:

sputter
verb
UK /ˈspʌt.ər/ US /ˈspʌt̬.ɚ/

[ I ]
to make several quick explosive sounds:
The car sputtered once or twice and then stopped.
Witnesses reported hearing engines sputtering before the plane crashed.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dic ... sh/sputter