Wolfgang's Steakhouse

[SteveW]

Wolfgang Zweiner, former longtime headwaiter at Peter Luger, has now postponed retirement to open up his own NYC steakshouse called Wolfgang's Steakhouse. It will feature USDA Prime dry-aged beef(aged for about 28 days). The story is in the latest NY magazine issue. Click here for the story.

[otello]

how many steakhouses can you fit on the head of a pin? just wondering....

[Jason Perlow]

On the same page of that article there is a bit about Jacques-imos, the brand new NYC branch of Jack Leonardi's famous eatery in New Orleans.

[tommy]

sounds like it'll be a pretty place. unfortunate name. "wolfgang" certainly says "puck" to me.

[Lreda]

sounds like it'll be a pretty place. unfortunate name. "wolfgang" certainly says "puck" to me.

or Eddie "Wolfgang" Munster.

[SteveW]

From reading the NY mag article, Peter Luger doesn't take credit cards!!

-Steve

[Marlene]

From reading the NY mag article, Peter Luger doesn't take credit cards!!

-Steve

We've had this discussion several times. Peter Luger's does not take credit cards other than their own. You can apply for a Luger's card online at their website. Otherwise, bring lots of cash.

[picaman]

Otherwise, bring lots of cash.

Or pray the ATM nearby has not been emptied.

Jamie

[juuceman]

Otherwise, bring lots of cash.

Or pray the ATM nearby has not been emptied.

Jamie

and that you're not mugged walking from the atm to the place.. i've often wondered why an enterprising thug doesn't camp out by the broadway J train stop and knock off every group of guys walking over to lugers..

[picaman]

Amazing how every post that mentions Luger's, even peripherally, inevitably morphs into a debate about Luger's.

Jamie

[iain]

Otherwise, bring lots of cash.

Or pray the ATM nearby has not been emptied.

Jamie

and that you're not mugged walking from the atm to the place.. i've often wondered why an enterprising thug doesn't camp out by the broadway J train stop and knock off every group of guys walking over to lugers..

Oh please. I thought that by this point in time, we'd progressed past the "oh my, Brooklyn is scary" crap. Plus - why don't thugs hang don't outside Daniel and mug rich upper east-siders? Because they'd get caught. Might work once or twice, but after that they'd be establishing a pattern that the police could easily spot.

[edited for gender inclusiveness]

Edited February 25, 2004 by iain (log)

[tommy]

Plus - why don't thugs hang don't outside Daniel and mug rich old ladies?

for a different reason than why they don't steal the cars from outside of Rao's.

[juuceman]

Oh please. I thought that by this point in time, we'd progressed past the "oh my, Brooklyn is scary" crap. Plus - why don't thugs hang don't outside Daniel and mug rich upper east-siders?

you're right- we're well past it.. uhhm.. but to answer your question- no matter how facetious it might have been, i'd say it's because most people aren't walking into daniel with bundles of CASH like the majority of luger's patrons are likely to be..

[tommy]

you're right- we're well past it.. uhhm.. but to answer your question- no matter how facetious it might have been, i'd say it's because most people aren't walking into daniel with bundles of CASH like the majority of luger's patrons are likely to be..

but i bet one of those necklaces is easier to snatch than a wad of cash, and worth a lot more. sign me up for the old lady muggings outside of Daniel.

[picaman]

Oh please. I thought that by this point in time, we'd progressed past the "oh my, Brooklyn is scary" crap.

I used to walk to Luger's from Greenpoint after dark and never had problem one. I agree, the "danger" is largely a myth.

tommy Posted on Feb 25 2004, 11:21 AM

but i bet one of those necklaces is easier to snatch than a wad of cash, and worth a lot more. sign me up for the old lady muggings outside of Daniel. 

Who's your fence?

Jamie

[SteveW]

There's an feature in tomorrow's NY Times food section on Wolfgang Zwiener, & his new steakhouse. Here's the link to the article http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/28/dining/2...d=all&position=.

-Steve

[Cpalms]

I hate to blow up a new place that has yet to work the kinks out but....whoever is running the front of the house needs to go back to restaurant 101 (andy the intern would fit right in).... we arrived for our 8 pm reservation and were promptly seated at 9:30. The place is so loud that its not only impossible to converse, but my ears were ringing when we left. the low tiled concaved ceiling reflects all the screaming. The steak was good, but, not lugers. the bacon was good. The wine list was all ridiculously overpriced boring american. Lugers can make up for many of the same issues, but for me this place can't.

[Juanito]

After reading the New York Times piece this morning, I've concluded that Wolfgang should keep his son away from the press. One shouldn't bad mouth the competition. ("Luger's is a factory") Wolfgang seems like a nice gentleman, who has learned a thing or two after forty years in the business. His son would do well to talk less, and listen more.

[gmi3804]

I got the sense from the article that Wolfgang is trying to be diplomatic but Peter is telling it like (he thinks) it is.

Did something happen to Wolfgang to make him want to go up against his former employer? Or is this just good old-fashioned entrepreneurialship?

[LJC]

For what it's worth I had very good meal here about a month ago. The steak had a great crust on it and was cooked to the perfect temp. Bacon was good too. That said, it's not Lugers and I won't be in a hurry to return.

On a side note, as it pertains to the Lugers Credit Card, I am very proud to say (brag) that my father has the 28th Card issued (mine is something like 20,000+). When I was growing up we would eat there every wed. night and believe it or not I had the bacon for the first time only about 7 years ago. I could not believe that in all of the years I had never seen it or heard of it, in fact a cop from the Bronx was the one to tell me about it.

[TrishCT]

I was initially very excited about the thought of a Manhattan Luger's because schleping from CT to Brooklyn is a major traffic nightmare. But now I'm wondering...

The thing that sets Luger's apart from everyone else is the quality of their meat, which is selected by eye, by one buyer (I don't recall her name, sorry).

Does Wolfgang's have access to the same calibre beef as Luger's and who is selecting Wolfgang's product? Is it a person with the same level of expertise who doesn't get fooled by "prime crime?"

Edited to add: Fat Guy have you tried Wolgang's?

Edited April 30, 2004 by TrishCT (log)

[tommy]

The thing that sets Luger's apart from everyone else is the quality of their meat, which is selected by eye, by one buyer (I don't recall her name, sorry).

does lugers not age their meat on premises as well, with their very own special secret formula of temp/humidity/light/etc?

Edited April 30, 2004 by tommy (log)

[Fat Guy]

Everything you ever wanted to know about how Peter Luger buys its beef but were afraid to ask, by Mr. Cutlets in The Daily Gullet, reprinted from his book Meat Me in Manhattan . . . Incidentally, Wolfgang's does age its meat on premises, though I have no idea whether the "special secret formula" is in use.

Though the son's comment was impolitic, it was also true: ""Luger is a factory. You're seated, then you're pushed out." I essentially refuse to go to Luger's for dinner anymore, because it's just not pleasant to be treated that way: reservations are only theoretical and you often have to wait, you're in and out in an hour, and it's a lot of cash to drop that quickly on a meal. Lunch is the only time when I can really enjoy myself there.

Of course, if Cpalms had to wait 90 minutes to be seated, and if that turns out to be standard operating procedure, I won't have much interest in Wolfgang's. I'm going tonight, but if I have to wait more than 30 minutes I'm out of there.

Aren't the MarkJoseph guys ex-Luger? It seems this formula has been tried before. How are they doing?

[Fat Guy]

Well, they seated us promptly at 8:30pm, the time of our reservation.

Consistency is the hallmark of a great steakhouse. You can occasionally get a Luger-quality steak at a steakhouse other than Luger's. But at Luger's you almost always get one.

Now, I've only had one porterhouse at Wolfgang's. So that's not any kind of useful sample. I can say, however, that if Wolfgang's can consistently serve a steak as excellent as the one I had tonight, then I will never, ever go to Peter Luger for steak again.

The porterhouse I had tonight at Wolfgang's was on par with the best I've had at Luger's. All the Luger's knockoffs -- the German potatoes, the tomato-and-onion salad, the onion rolls -- were pretty much the same as at Luger's. And everything else about the dining experience was, like, oh, about a million times better than Luger's.

The main dining room is breathtaking, with its Guastavino ceiling and vintage bar. (The Vanderbilt hotel, overall, is a hideous mess -- one of the worst mishmashes of architectural styles I've ever seen -- but the restaurant space Wolfgang's occupies has a great interior.) It's loud in there, but certainly not louder than the average steakhouse. And there's a back room, essentially this restaurant's Siberia, that is far preferable to the main room if you like quiet. It has a Guastavino ceiling as well, just not as high, swooping, and dramatic as the one in the main dining room.

Service was very friendly, totally knowledgeable, and efficient. There were a couple of minor slipups, but nothing I wouldn't chalk up to the newness of the establishment. The pace -- ah, the pace -- was leisurely. We enjoyed a totally sane and relaxed two-hour meal and paid by credit card.

Oh, and a nice thing happened at Wolfgang's that has almost never happened to me at Luger's: the steak was cooked exactly to the requested temperature.

[Pan]

Thanks for that great report, Steven.

Are the prices about the same as Luger's?