A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (UPDATED 2/10/10 with 2nd trip!)

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (Applecheeks)

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:08:45 GMT

I am sitting here, reading these wonderful accounts of that fabuloso cheese burger - and I am eating dry cherrios.

I will be Jonesing for that cheeseburger from now until eterninty.

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (buffetbuster)

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:12:51 GMT

Stephen Rushmore Jr.

I am heading to the Great Neck location in 2 minutes for a birthday dinner (mine!). I actually prefer it over the Brooklyn location because it is less crowded and touristy. Will be bringing my camera and taking lots of pics.

I hope you had a nice birthday dinner. How was the food? Are you going to post any of the photos?

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (The Travelin Man)

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:39:52 GMT

I actually do know of someone who has had a Luger burger at dinner. I think his house account is number #00004 or something close! ;-)

I do not believe that the burger is included on the dinner menu (maybe that is a better statement). If you know someone, you may be able to get one served.

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (TJ Jackson)

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:13:05 GMT

I had recently heard that the burger is available on the dinner menu - as a side order

Unconfirmed

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (The Travelin Man)

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:06:06 GMT

No burgers at dinner time, Ms. Nancy. I can't say for sure, but I suspect porterhouse is on the agenda for tonight.

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (Nancypalooza)

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:55:26 GMT

Happy birthday Stephen, and enjoy that burger (or whatever)!

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (Stephen Rushmore Jr.)

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:17:09 GMT

I am heading to the Great Neck location in 2 minutes for a birthday dinner (mine!). I actually prefer it over the Brooklyn location because it is less crowded and touristy. Will be bringing my camera and taking lots of pics.

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (The Travelin Man)

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:12:34 GMT

The porterhouse is most assuredly available for lunch.

I have always had great success with the Great Neck location for lunch with no reservations. As a matter of fact, I have NEVER gone with a reservation and always been sat at a regular table - with no wait. The Brooklyn location, admittedly, gets a little busier.

While the Brooklyn location has been around for 100 or so years, the Great Neck location is no Johnny-come-lately, either - they have been serving since the early 60's. From what I have read, in addition to the greater ease with which one can be seated, the service is less gruff. While I don't have Brooklyn experiences to compare, my own dining experiences at Great Neck lead me to believe that there could be some truth to this. The waiters are still older...and still a little crusty, but I have had one or two who try to inject a little humor here and there.

So, if you don't want to run the risk of the Brooklyn location, Great Neck might be worth a shot.

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (billyboy)

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:29:02 GMT

Hey Ellen! The two most important words a Roadfooder can say: "it depends". I would call ahead for a reservation just to be on the safe side. Especially if you are coming from AC. If you have other places to hit in the city it wouldn't be a total wash if you couldn't get in. I can take a long walk to Luger's or 3 stops on the subway from where I live.

For lunch during the week, you can eat at a table or eat at the bar. For a table, you really should have a reservation.

For lunch on the weekends, they DO NOT serve food at the bar, so you must sit at a table. They were pretty busy when my friends and I went the second time, so I had called about a week ahead for a reservation. Plus, we had just finished out run and were still wearing our track pants and sweat shirts so I double checked with them that our dress was appropriate. I suspect the lunch crowd isn't as busy as the dinner crowd and a reservation may be easier to come by.

Not sure about the porterhouse at lunch as I'm not a huge steak person and that's a little early in the day for me to be eating steak!

Gregg - thanks so much! That brought a HUGE smile to my face! Have fun in Charleston. Wish I could be there.

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (ellen4641)

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:16:33 GMT

So, it's easy to get into Luger's for lunch???
Just walk right in, no reservations needed?
(cause I showed for dinner once, and they told me they
were booked for 3 months...I was turned away..
the welcome mat was not out for me...)
(this was a few years ago, perhaps they will be more receptive
nowadays, with the recession going on?)

Is their famous porterhouse available for lunch, too?
I've gotta try that burger!!!! ASAP !!

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (ChiTownDiner)

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:45:03 GMT

billyboy -

You continue to raise the bar in terms of descriptions, pictures, places and now...with the Race for Roadfood getting a literal interpretation!

Great job!

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (Soccer862923)

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:35:07 GMT

Wow that all looked incredible. Nice report!

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (billyboy)

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:29:35 GMT

Hey brickie, yeah the Luger bacon is one of their signature items. It's offered as a side/appetizer on their dinner menu. Lots of people get it with their steaks. Crazy, but crazy good!! On my first trip for the burger, I had wondered if it would be the Luger bacon or they would actually use different bacon to put on the burger. When they brought it out, my belly smiled! That bacon had to be tasted to be believed. The concept of bacon so thick and hefty that it can't fit on the burger blows my mind in such a good way!

Play27 - a lot of restaurants do that for presentation. I think they feel that the item on the plate alone doesn't have enough "wow" factor. I think that's how the parsley sprig was invented.

MiamiDon - I think Harry and Scooter both used it. That Sunday was massive!

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (Russ Jackson)

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:18:23 GMT

There are people on this site that just don't like Lugers. Look at the bun, burger, bread, sides and deserts. It just doesn't get much better. Its always been at the top of my list. Great Report and Pictures...Russ

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (agnesrob)

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:52:26 GMT

I agree brickie! That's some fine looking bacon.

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (MiamiDon)

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:50:49 GMT

I love it! Run to a 3,000 calorie lunch!

Everything looks great.

Wasn't it Harry Caray with the famous "Holy cow" signature exclamation?

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (brickie)

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:28:19 GMT

billyboy

brickie - not sure I understand the question. In what respect do you mean?

It's just that the bacon looks more like a side than the usual " bacon cheeseburger."
Looks great though!

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (billyboy)

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 23:34:56 GMT

brickie - not sure I understand the question. In what respect do you mean?

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (katiebrowne)

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:57:11 GMT

Oh my God, I can't wait for my burger!

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (brickie)

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:58:39 GMT

What's up with the bacon?

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (agnesrob)

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:22:16 GMT

Beautiful as usual!

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (Play27)

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:15:55 GMT

What a meal after a run! Does good Pecan Pie really need powdered sugar?

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (leethebard)

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:42:36 GMT

Wow...looks as great as ever...that burger on that great looking roll...wow!!

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (billyboy)

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:10:10 GMT

Dateline: Saturday January 23, 2010. I'd been taking some time off from Roadfooding for a while for a number of reasons, to get into better shape, feel healthier overall and to train for the Boilermaker Road Race coming up in July of this year. However, on this day, my friends had devised an inspired plan to combine a love of running with the love for great food. With that in mind, we plotted out a 4-mile training run that ended right at the front door of Peter Luger's!

Billyboy, Eben and Al after the run. I had called ahead a week before to secure a reservation and good thing I did. They don't serve food at the bar on weekends, so we couldn't just slide in for a burger, we needed a table. I also asked if we could come in dressed in running gear and they said that was fine. All set!

We met up with Al's brother-in-law, Tim at Luger's. We all ordered the bacon cheeseburger, medium. Our waiter started us off with a basket of those great, crusty, chewy rolls and the steakhouse sauce.
My lunch. Tim had gotten an order of the creamed spinach which he kindly shared with us. A great creamy, spinach-y (sorry, searching for the right word here!) complement to the rest of the meal.
I had contemplated getting a second burger on this day! I asked our waiter and he said they do grind the meat in-house.
I never get tired of looking at this.
Tim, Al and Eben, feelin' satisfied, as 70s supergroup Boston would say! The guys really loved these burgers.
were
Dessert was a must and we had earned it. Tim went for this Holy Cow Hot Fudge Sunday. I don't know if Phil Rizzuto ever ate here, but I could almost hear Scooter utter his classic phrase when they brought this out. They even put the gold chocolate coins for the table in the bowl!
Al grabbed a piece of Pecan Pie. I didn't try it, but it sure looked good.
Eben and I split an Apple Strudel. Wow! Flaky and sweet with lots of apples, raisins and cinnamon. The outer layers were a bit darkened around the corners which brought another wonderful level of flavor to it for me.
And of course, the obligatory bowl of SCHLAG!! I wish I could buy a sleeping bag made entirely of SCHLAG. Just incredibly light and just sweet enough whipped cream. A perfect end to a perfect day with friends. Hopefully, more training runs/food stops are in the works!

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (rainyday6)

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 04:10:13 GMT

Billy, thank you for the gorgeous pics. Having ordered steaks from them once, I can only dream of what the food must be like at the restaurant itself. They scattered those gold coins inside the package, too.

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (TJ Jackson)

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:44:28 GMT

I have now been to NYC, ate at Luger's, and can now confirm - the Luger burger is out-freakin-standing - best ever for me

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (Benzee)

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:10:51 GMT

Hello all ,

Excellent trip report Billy Boy , I have been there for lunch and dinner once each and it is trult one of the best burgers anywhere . Steak is in my top three .

Quick story , early 90's , Crown Heights Riot , we get called down at the end of a 4x12 from Northern Manhattan , riot gear the whole shebang , since its my last tour and we go around the clock till 9am the following day the eight of us and sgt get back to pct around 1000am , We just did like 21 hours OT , what do three of us decide to do , we head back to Brooklyn to Peter Lugers , riots not more than a few miles away , have the best burger ever , some adult beverages , and than head home . We figured with the OT check we could afford Lugers that one time , blue collar cops were not normally visiting there often but hell we made the exception .

I would be up for a lunch or dinner visit anytime with my roadfood friends

Benzee

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (KenK)

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:33:59 GMT

An Excellent Trip Report. One of the best ever.

I agree with you. When ever one has an exceptional dining experience....price becomes secondary. It's the experience and the memories that matter most.

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (Pigiron)

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:03:11 GMT

While I do often see people eating the burger at Luger's, I personally would never consider eating there and not having the steak. While the burger may be one of the better ones in the area, their steak is THE BEST I've ever had anywhere in the world. I can get a great burger in a hundred places in NYC, I can even make one at home, but I cannot duplicate the wonder that is the Peter Luger's steak.

Re:A very special trip to Peter Luger's in New York City (with pics!) (stricken_detective)

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:19:01 GMT

Awesome report, billy!!! Never thought I'd order the burger if I got lucky enough to go to Luger's but wowwwwwwww.