Ben Benson's

123 W. 52nd St., New York, NY - (212) 581-8888

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Posted By Michael Stern on July 28, 2003 5:05 PM

Midtown New York has a handful of first-class steak houses where the beef is prime … and priced accordingly. At The Palm, Sparks, Gallagher’s, Smith & Wollensky, and Ben Benson’s, you’ll easily spend $50 for a meal, not including drinks, and not counting the four-pound lobsters, which can cost $100 each, à la carte! None of these establishments are fancy; they have efficient staffs, mostly men, who are so efficient they verge on brusque; and the food they serve, made from the finest groceries available, is simply prepared and bluntly served. When we crave such a forthright meal, we usually find ourselves at Ben Benson’s on 52nd Street, where the wainscotted walls are decorated with pictures of Mr. Benson’s beloved horse and dogs and other sporting quadrupeds, and the wood floors rumble as white-aproned waiters push linen-topped service trays arrayed with comely cuts of beef and plate-size discs of hash brown potato.

Sip a dry martini and plow into a basket of raisin bread and hard-crusted dinner rolls while perusing a long, interesting menu that includes a fascinating “prime rib steak,” cut like a slab of prime rib, but marinated and then grilled like a steak. Note also the salads, which are first-class, especially Ben Benson’s “special salad,” a gigantic heap of cool, finely chopped marinated vegetables and – unless you say otherwise – many bits of anchovy. There is roast beef hash on Thursday; and the shrimp scampi amd crab cakes are some of the best we’ve had anywhere; but it’s the classic cuts of steak that reign in this dining room. You will not find a better sirloin – charred on the outside, firm-bodied, and packed with the flavorful juice that dry-aging cultivates. Hash browns are speckled with bits of onion and pepper, but if you like them extra-crisp, be sure to tell the waiter; otherwise, they arrive as a big, soft cake of spuds. As creamed spinach devotees, we can tell you that Ben Benson’s is some of the best anywhere; and if you’re on a diet (why are you HERE?), the simple baked potato is gorgeous.

There is dessert, available for viewing near the entryway, and it does look lovely. You have our respect and congratulations if you have appetite for a piece of cheesecake after one of Ben Benson’s great steak-and-potatoes meals.

Overall Rating

Ben Benson special salad

sirloin steak

creamed spinach

Cold Seafood Platter

Bread Basket

Shrimp Scampi

Hash Brown Potatoes

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