dimanche 20 mars 2005

Peter Luger (encore)




Jusqu'a ce jour, la presence de Jonathan sur ce blog a ete plutot discrete. Ses remarques sont aussi concises que pertinentes mais certaines experiences reussissent a le faire parler. Jugez plutot...

When Estelle asked me if, during our trip to New York, I would like to go to a Steak House named "The best Steak House in New York" by the Zagat survey, I did not hesitate. I like steak and, because I often order it when we go to a restaurant, I think I know steak. I was not too concerned when she told me that the side dishes are know to be a little disappointing. After all, how hard is it to make a baked potato or some French fries? Besides, that must be some really good steak if the easy sides do not match. Well, the beginning started off well with good bread. Then came the menus. A little expensive, but this is New York, and besides this is going to be really good. No problem. I ordered the large steak and a side of fries. While I waited, I tasted the "special house sauce" that was on the table. Interestingly, it tasted like cocktail sauce for shrimp. A little bizarre, but I don’t usually use sauce on the steak. It hides the flavor of the meat. The steak and fries came out a little while later and immediately a little alarm went off in my head. The juice from the meat looked like oil. I took several slices and placed them on my plate. I put the first piece in my mouth and immediately knew that the steak had been pan-fried! Fried! In oil! A more blasphemous action, I could not imagine. Then, I reconsidered the sauce. Cocktail sauce and fried steak? Where was I? I hesitantly reached for the fries. Yup, disappointing with regard to the steak. Imagine how bad the fries have to be to be disappointing compared to fried steak. Like a soldier, I used a lot of ketchup for the fries and a lot of cocktail sauce for the "steak". I had to go to a chain steak house (Morton's) for a quality, grilled, piece of meat. Maybe New Yorkers should stick to choosing good fancy salads.

As far as I am concerned, the best steak I have ever had came from the Colonade in Bethlehem (Pennsylvania). A very surprising second was from Stone Bridge in Union Dale near Elk Mountain (Pennsylvania), followed by Sullivan's (another chain), and finally, Morton's.
Merci Jonathan ! Vivement notre prochain passage a Bethlehem...

7 commentaires:

  1. huhuh, blog de food en couple c'est chouette :) et bilingue en plus!! bientot vous serez chez larry king, oprah, et jay leno!!
    loulou :)

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  2. Jonathan, so nice to finally meet you. If you ever get to the West, try Black Angus Steakhouse--I'm sure you won't be disappointed there. I also looked at the pictures of the steak on Estelle's post and saw the oil = ?? It's amazing how some do not know how to cook meat just plain, and that the cooking actually imparts the flavor, i.e, roasting and grilling, and that wonderful "crust" that properly prepared cooked meat gets that is so wonderfully tasting.

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  3. Pouah !
    Eh mais dites… Je réalise brutalement que Jonathan a mangé une sorte de fondue bourguignonne, mine de rien ! Aïe, la tradition française en prend un petit coup, en même temps que le restau qui a servi ce steak… ;-)

    Estelle je suis super fière : j'ai tout compris du post de Jonathan (qui était pourtant de très haute volée en comparaison du si masculin "c'est bon, c'est pas bon" que tu évoquais récemment à son propos… ;-)))

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  4. Il est bavard l'ami Jonathan!!!!!!!!

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  5. Miss Lulu >> Oprah et Larry King ? Hum, faut que je reflechisse... Bon en fait je prefere passer a la tele en France, histoire d'y justifier un nouveau sejour :-)

    Carolyn >> Thanks for the tip! Jonathan was very pleased to read your comment, "someone who know what she's talking about" :-)

    Nicolas >> Oui, vas-y !!!

    Miam >> En effet, ca reste dans le meme esprit que la fondue bourguignonne (que j'adore). Je suis RAVIE que tu aies tout pu comprendre ! De plus, Jonathan n'ayant pas "allege" son vocabulaire pour etre mieux compris des francophones, tu peux vraiment etre fiere de toi !

    Marie-Therese >> Pas autant que moi, tu peux me croire :-)

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  6. That's totally risiculous - Luger's puts BUTTER on top of their steaks, then the butter melts and blends with the steak juices. They don't fry them.

    Secondly, no-one at Luger's puts the sauce on the steaks. It's for the tourists to buy.

    Thirdly, the appropriate side for Luger's steak is creamed spinach, which is actually excellent.

    Obviously, you don't deserve to eat the excellent steak at Luger's, which you ruined with the sauce and on whose quality you have not bothered to comment. This is really pathetic.

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  7. Les critiques anonymes! ah ah ah
    et bien encore une qui n'a pas de C------- au Q!

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