There are many historical restaurants in New York; none of them have been around quite as long as this iconic steakhouse. The Old Homestead has been serving a carnivorous dining crowd since 1868, fittingly located in the now hip and trendy Meat packing district, this classically elegant wood finished steakhouse has been owned by the Perry family since it’s conception.
The menu consists of lavish yet simply timeless dishes prepared with over a hundred years of expertise. I was greeted by a busy staff member, and was instructed that I had just missed lunch, meaning that I was obligated to order off the more expensive dinner menu, I thought this to be quite strange seeing as though it was only 1:00pm. I proceeded without a drama, opting that the reason of their strange policy was, maybe people ate dinner earlier back in the 1800’s?
There were 4 types of burgers on the menu all of them worthy of ordering, the Prime steakhouse burger, the Maytag blue cheese burger, the pepper slab bacon cheese burger and the $41.00 Kobe beef burger, the latter of which I was going to pass on, too rich for my blood. I decided on the pepper slab bacon burger and anxiously waited for mine whilst other random burgers passed me by on their way to their happy customer’s bellies.
After a while mine arrived at the table, my first thought was how am I ever going to finish this? This burger was a monster! A pure beef beast, served with lettuce, tomato, homemade pickles and Old Homestead’s signature spicy ketchup, everything else was a la carte French fries sold separately.
The first bite was a warm comforting flavor of beef, accented by a peppery salty spice of the bacon and creamy richness of the Vermont cheddar, meat juices oozed out as I was struggling to maintain correct dining etiquette, instead viciously devouring like there was no tomorrow.
The flavor was very different, as the burger is cooked under a broiler there was a pure meat flavor only, which is not a bad thing, just don’t go expecting a charcoal or grill flavored burger. My experience at Old Homestead was good, however I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed and cheated by the fact that the same burgers were featured on a lunch menu $10.00 cheaper than the dinner menu. All in all the Old Homestead pepper slab bacon burger was a rare treat and but at $27.00 in my opinion was a little over priced, and I would advise visiting before 1:00pm on the weekends to make sure they’re serving lunch which will definitely save you some cash! However I recommend picking up a bottle of their spicy ketchup if you decide to go to, this condiment was high on my scale for taste, texture and overall usefulness.
Keeping in mind, as I have been writing this blog there are many different kinds of burgers; fast food, gourmet, char-grill, diner style etc…..
I class this burger as a premier style bistro burger with a slightly better than average taste.
http://www.theoldhomesteadsteakhouse.com/
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