Another Fave Five brought to you by Luvvie's Zagat's

Steakhouse Edition

Early on in my parents' marriage my dad celebrated Valentine's Day by gifting my mom with a huge heart filled with sausages and deli meats --and she was in seventh heaven. I came across the home-made heart in my parents' basement as a child and (after being told what it had been filled with) had suggested Dad go out and fill it again ... this time for me. He'd laughed, and I'd stared at that empty container longingly, envisioning the cuts of meat that had filled that heart shaped box, all those years ago. You see, I inherited my mom's un-sweet tooth, or as I like to call it - the Meat Tooth. And the Meat Tooth is relentless.

My dad's a true Italian and for him no dinner is complete without that primo piatto of pasta. In fact, after he's polished off the traditional Christmas lasagna my dad often pushes back from the table and announces that the dinner is pretty much done for him. Sure, he'll pick at the honey-glazed ham, or the stuffed turkey, or the crown of lamb (for which I made such stunning little white hats) or whatever my mom has whipped up in her kitchen, but really, he's done and we all know it.

On the other hand, my mom loves to tell the story of when, early on in their courtship, she would often join my dad and his mother for a home cooked steak dinner. Her future mother-in-law was thrilled to watch the way my mom attacked her meal, polishing the bones with vacuum cleaner like gusto. "My parents always said I should have married a butcher" mom would joke to her future (accountant) husband. Years later a good friend of hers actually DID marry a butcher who worked for Schaller & Weber and brought boxes filled with assorted liverwurst, gelbwurst, bauernwurst, knackwurst, leberkaese, westphalian ham, and landjaeger every time he was invited to the house. He was like our crack dealer, and he kept us well supplied for years.

Mother's Day became a hunt for a Meat, Meat and More Meat dinner to assuage the Meat Tooth. We'd spent more than one mid afternoon dinner in a less than full steakhouse while the waiter invariably remarked "huh ... we're more of a Father's Day place ..."

It's worked out great for my parents who are going on 45 years of wedded bliss; they've developed a Jack-Sprat type relationship and between the two of them there's always a clean plate.

I have vegetarian friends, and I even have hardcore vegan friends, and I love them all dearly. They love me too. And we all just avoid the issue of how enslaved I am by the Meat Tooth, as I share a meal with them at one of the many vegan restaurants which pepper Manhattan and which I do, indeed, frequent. I'll enjoy my seitan meal -- who wouldn't? But, like Richard Burton and Liz Taylor ... or Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson, Meat and I are powerless to keep away from each other. Though I do get the sinking feeling that I love Meat a little more than Meat loves me.

So my 2nd installment of Luvvie's Zagat's Fave Five is devoted to Steakhouses who serve that meal which will always be in my heart, even when my heart is stuttering its last beat as I die from an overdose of my beloved Meat.

Ben Benson's
123 W 52nd Street

New York, NY 10019

Cross Street(s): 6th + 7th Avenue

212-581-8888

Neighborhood: West 50s

Cuisine: Steakhouse

Luvvie's Zagat's Review: Most Masculine of those I've been to, which is saying a lot * Standard fare, nothing shocking

Luvvie's Partner in Crime: Mom + Dad

Luvvie's been there: A Handful of Times

Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

148 W 51st Street

New York, NY 10019
Cross Street(s): 6th + 7th Avenue
212-245-9600
Neighborhood: West 50s
Cuisine: Steakhouse
Luvvie's Zagat's Review: Don’t bother saying "So and So from the radio show" sent you * They just go "Yeah, yeah, So and So … we know ..." * It's not like they give you a "You mentioned So and So!" Discount * They don't
Luvvie's Partner in Crime: Mom + Dad
Luvvie's been there: Once

Smith & Wollensky

797 3rd Avenue

New York, NY 10022

Cross Street(s): 49th Street

212-753-1530

Neighborhood: East 40s

Cuisine: Steakhouse

Luvvie's Zagat's Review: Big boys with their big steaks * Lots of testosterone here * Supposedly THE place, but they all think that * Size matters eh?

Luvvie's Partner in Crime: MEN

Luvvie's been there: A Handful of Times

The Palm

837 2nd Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Cross Street(s): 44th + 45th Streets
212-687-2953

Neighborhood: East 40s
Cuisine: Steakhouse
Luvvie's Zagat's Review: Dang, could there be yet another place to get meat in this city? * Really old, really good, but the best part is the ambiance * You come here to eat steak, so eat STEAK * But for dessert have The BEST VERY VERY BEST chocolate cake in the universe* It tastes like a 1950s housewife is making chocolate cake in the back room

Luvvie's Partner in Crime: Gallucio Family
Luvvie's been there: Once

Old Homestead

56 9th Avenue

New York, NY 10011

Cross Street(s): 14th + 15th Streets

212-242-9040
Neighborhood: Chelsea

Cuisine: Steakhouse

Luvvie's Zagat's Review: I always order the rib-eye * Taking a knife to this huge succulent slab of love is like slicing through to another place and time * You literally can imagine yourself shrunk down and living inside this steak for the rest of your life
Luvvie's Partner in Crime: Mom + Dad

Luvvie's been there: A Thousand Times

So go now, grab your bib and your steak knives and your big pants and Go Get Some MEAT!