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“Lunch at Peter Luger's”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Lunch/Takeout	New American	Brooklyn	Break the Bank	Good

wearing nametags and weathered smiles. They were sweet and efficient, and at times almost comatose in their approach. They’ve all been doing this for a long time.

The tables were crowded with men with ties tossed over shoulders slicing into bloody porterhouse slabs, bowls of creamed spinach and plates lined with wide circles of tomato and onion. There were a few token tourists and large parties getting ready to bear down for a Thanksgiving sized meal in the middle of the day on a random Friday in September. And there were three girls out for a lunch of burgers and beers (and one perfect Manhattan).

Julie was loving her Manhattan, and Kathy and I were into our pints of Brooklyn Lager as we dug into the overflowing basket of rolls that was tossed on our table—football shaped pretzel rolls, fluffy cubes of Parker House, and puffy, oblong onion rolls—a nice collection of carbs that I could not resist. (Like I really needed to be eating bread before my burger feast.) Soon, Steve (according to his name tag) came over to check on us. He was a handsome guy with blue eyes, graying hair and a rugged, suave approach. He reminded me of Steve McQueen or some sort of Marlboro Man. We ordered another round and our lunch: three burgers (all medium rare), two slices of bacon, fries, and an order of creamed spinach. After about 15 minutes our feast was served. The bacon was just what I was craving—a thick, sweet, smoky and salty slab, crispy on the edges, thick enough to get some real flavor of pork in your mouth, and marbled with ribbons of glistening fat. It was delicious and helped my hangover from the previous night of drinking at Pegu Bar. Our burgers, however, were not quite as we had imagined. They arrived quite charred, almost blackened on the outside, set inside sesame brioche buns with a few wide cut fries on the side. (They skimp on the fries big time. Come on. They are potatoes. You are charging hundreds of dollars for steak. Throw a couple more fries on the plate.)

Now, I hate to say this because many of you will likely never trust my opinion again (if you do at all now), but honestly my burger at Luger’s was awful. It was a disgrace. It was completely unseasoned—utterly flavorless. What’s more, we ordered them medium rare and what we got were three raw burgers. I mean not just bloody, but totally raw chopped meat. Now the texture of the chopped meat was nice, but it was ice cold and complete ... [more, click below]

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Posted: October 2, 2005

Other restaurants in Brooklyn :
+ Chickenbone Cafe-- Closed   + Pier 116-- Closed   + Chestnut   + Lunch at Peter Luger's   + 360   + Palo Santo   + The Good Fork   + Porchetta-- Closed Now   + Bocca Lupo   + Flatbush Farm   + DuMont Burger   + Dressler   + Farm on Adderley   + The Grocery   + Saul   + Black Mountain Wine House   + The General Greene   + Char No. 4   + James   + Chestnut   + No. 7   + Vinegar Hill House   + Motorino   + Buttermilk Channel   + Buttermilk Channel   + Vutera   + Watty & Meg    + Prime Meats   + Aqualis Grill   + Jack the Horse Tavern   + Roman's   + Fatty 'Cue   + Thistle Hill Tavern   + Broken English   + Trix, by Dara Pollak   + An Ode to New Orleans in Williamsburg: Maison Premiere, By Dara Pollak   + Brooklyn Wok Shop by Dara Pollak   + Arthur on Smith   + La Vara   + Gran Electrica   + Pok Pok Ny   + Ganso    + Reynard   

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