PrintNew York's Three Best Steakhouses
My friend John called the other day to ask my advice on where to send some friends to eat steak in New York. On Serious Eats yesterday I posted about the evolution of Porter House New York, now clearly one of the three best steakhouses in New York. My other two choices are Peter Luger and Ben Benson's. All serve prime meat dry-aged for at least 28 days, which is the one prerequisite I have for calling any steakhouse great. Peter Luger's needs no explanation (it is what it is), but some of you might be surprised by Ben Benson's. The fact of the matter is that Benson's serves terrific prime, dry-aged steak charred to perfection, mostly first-rate side dishes, and service that is more hamisch than Luger's without being overly familiar. And here's Benson's biggest plus: you can almost always get a table. That, my friends, is worth a lot.
Am I wrong? Did I miss one?
Porter House New York
Address: 10 Columbus Circle, 4th Floor, New York NY 10019 (in the Time Warner Center)
Phone: 212-823-9500
Peter Luger
Address: 178 Broadway, Brooklyn NY 11211
Phone: 718-387-7400
Ben Benson's
Address: 123 West 52nd Street, New York NY 10019 (b/n Sixth and Seventh avenues)
Phone: 212-581-8888
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10 Comments:
I have eaten at Porter House New York several times out of convenience as I live in the neighborhood, and I have NEVER had a steak there that I would consider Prime Aged. I agree with Peter Luger and Ben Benson's and surprisingly, I have found Keen's to have some of the best prime aged beef in town!!
Tbone at 9:24AM on 08/08/07
I wouldn't rank it in the top three in the city, but Bar Americain - Bobby Flay makes a killer bone-in ribeye thats available on Saturday nights!
Johnny Quest at 10:00AM on 08/08/07
Not saying it should be top three, but here is another surprise: I had a far better steak at Michael Jordan's than Keen's. The beef at Keen's was fine, but the steak bore absolutely no char, whereas my steak at MJ's was perfectly cooked. I would definitely recommend giving MJ's a try, I've also never had any problem getting a table there on short or no notice.
mdp at 11:00AM on 08/08/07
Big fan of Pete Luger's, love the straight forward service and the bacon appetizer(to die for). The Steaks are top notch and the value unbeatable. My only complaint is the one list is kind of lame and dated. If you are only spend $40-50 on a bottle of red your best bet is a Kendall Jackson Cabernet, maybe that worked in 1986 but today there are too many exciting wines out there at good prices to serve the KJ-Cab.
www.ilsvont.com
ilsvont at 11:09AM on 08/08/07
it's been a couple of years since I ate at Wolfgang's, but I thought the steak was first-rate and the appetizers and side dishes far surpassed Luger. A massive crab cocktail was delicious. Also a very interesting and reasonably-priced wine list with some very hard to find California cabernets.
danlevy at 11:38AM on 08/09/07
I may be picking nits but unless you have eaten at all steakhouses in NY how can one possibly know what the top three best are. What your friend asked was for a recommendation based on your opinion, the title indicates some sort of absolute cast iron dictum.
Personally I like Smith and Wolensky, Wolfgangs and Keens but I could just as easily recommend The Palm or Lugers instead. Ben Benson? I ate there once and found the steak to be below par, I found the beef is far better handled by the restaurants such as Smith and Wolensky (Were Mr. Benson once worked) and the Palm. Indeed when Benson opened back in the early 1980's the Times commented that the menu was so derivative of the aforementioned establishments that they should be blushing from the flattery.
You have piqued my interest about Porterhouse however and I will be dining there soon.
beef aficionado at 1:52PM on 08/19/07
Luger's is the most consistently near-perfect steak over the 25 yrs I've been eating red meat in NYC. Service/attitude can be rocky at times, but the meat is the issue - and Peter Luger is always phenomenal.
Not top-3, but the hangar steak at Les Halles belongs on anyone's must-have list. It's the whole package: Great frites, great atmosphere. Following a frisee aux lardons salad, you can't go wrong.
StarvinMarvin at 11:22AM on 10/19/07
What about Strip House? After going to many of the best steak houses in NYC, that is right up there with my favorite steak.
Taylor at 10:05PM on 12/11/07
Try BLT Steak, while it is not a hardcore Steakhouse in the tradition of a Smith & Wollenskys or Peter Luger, it is a great Steakhouse with reasonable prices. You can do the Porterhouse, but the Butcher's Cut is also worthy of praise, which oddly you don't find too often in the NYC Steakhouse Universe.
DaJoSee at 5:45PM on 03/06/08
I have had the pleasure of eating at Keens and rank that as my personal best. It is a steakhouse in the true sense of the word, dark, wood paneling, history and a very attentive staff. Any time I had to quench a thirst at the bar there was always someone willing to have a chin wag.
Richardlk at 8:32PM on 11/24/08