Founded in 1887, Brooklyn’s Peter Luger Steak House introduced diners to the singular pleasures of dry-aged porterhouse steaks served broiled, sliced and sizzling in beef juice and butter. The restaurant’s signature steak cut is typically paired with German Fried Potatoes, creamed spinach, extra thick-cut slabs of bacon and perhaps a tomato and onion salad to start. Peter Luger’s classic menu has spawned countless imitators over the decades, and still ranks among America’s greatest and most influential steakhouses. Adam Richman, the Brooklyn-born gastronaut who gained fame hosting Man Vs. Food and now helms Pro Moves from First We Feast—the same food-obsessed platform that gave us Hot Ones—recently returned to the beloved Williamsburg meat mecca to determine the essential orders for the uninitiated.
“As a native Brooklynite, it’s kind of amazing to see my hometown be seen as this culinary destination, and capital of all things cool—streetwear, music, and otherwise,” Richman says. “But before there were Brooklyn food tours, before there were places winning Michelin stars, selling matcha, and Hollywood celebrities living in Bushwick—there was Peter Luger. A place Brooklynites would aspire to eat, celebrate milestones, and were fiercely proud of, as it was always an impressive feather in the cap of my borough. And in the modern, hyper food-savvy environment in which we now live, it’s an honor to be able to bring a show I host to a place where my family and countless other New Yorkers have celebrated momentous occasions. It is that rare phenomenon of timeless old school class, delivered casually.”
Pro Move #1 – Order The Burger At Lunch
This lunch-only favorite features a perfectly-seared, half-pound patty made from prime grade chuck blended with dry-aged trimmings from the restaurant’s porterhouses, along with a crunchy wedge of raw onion, melted American cheese and a freshly-baked sesame seed bun. “I admit I only found out about the burger on anotherFirst We Feast show, and it’s because I’ve only gone there for dinner in the past,” Richman says. “But being that the quality is as top notch as the steaks, and it’s actually made from the trimmings of those steaks, make it a burger really worth seeking out.”
Pro Move #2 – Get The Classic Apps
“If you think Peter Luger is just about getting a good steak, you are sorely mistaken. The tomato and onion salad is a lesson in letting quality produce speak for itself, the thick-cut bacon is a revelation and the sauce is so iconic they sell it all around the country. All of these things just whet your appetite for the glory of the beef ahead.”
Pro Move #3 – Use Your Plate To Adjust Doneness
“I didn’t realize this until after the show, but those plates really come out at 900 degrees. That’s not fake—they’re sizzling for a reason. A lot of people get apprehensive when they see pink meat, not realizing that the color is more intense from the dry aging process, and that it is, in fact, cooked all the way through. But if it’s still a little too rare for your taste, you can adjust it right at your table in the coolest way imaginable.”
Pro Move #4 – Always Order Medium Rare
“For the real beef eaters out there, this is a no-brainer. I admit I don’t understand the people that order it so rare that it’s still mooing, but a warm pink center and a nice crust on the outside sort of celebrates every texture that a good piece of meat can have, and every flavor profile you could get out of a good dry-aged steak. If you order your meat well done, I don’t want to be your friend.”
Pro Move #5 – “Vitamins” = Butter + Steak Drippings
Richman advises spooning the buttery beef juice drippings, known as “vitamins” in Peter Luger parlance, directly from the steak platter onto whatever is on your plate. “It’s a fun way to refer to arguably one of the best parts of the Peter Luger steak experience,” he says. “Put it on the meat, put it on potatoes, heck, put it on a loved one, just wait til it’s a little cooler.”
Pro Move #6 – Add Schlag To Your Coffee And Apple Strudel
Schlag is a German term for unsweetened whipped cream, and the exceptionally thick version is served as a topping for the apple strudel to balance the sweetness of the pastry. It’s also stirred into cups of black coffee, just for fun. “My grandmother would talk about the Schlag more than she would talk about the steak on her way to dinner at Peter Luger,” Richman says. “Somewhere I have a photo that I took sneakily with my mom of her mother—my grandma—eating a big old spoon of Schlag when we had both left the table. It’s such a fun memory. And none of us could blame her. It’s great on their strudel, but in the coffee it makes it somewhere between a warm affogato and the best cappuccino EVER.”
Watch Richman’s Peter Luger Steak House Pro Moves video below.
