steer 'n ale part 1

Steer 'n Ale is the name of a steakhouse right down the street from my house in Pasadena. Considering what big steak fans my friends and I were back then (and still are), I'm surprised I've never been there. I guess the exterior never looked that appealing, plus there's no way it could've beat the 50% employee discount we had at Outback Steakhouse. Anyways, I think of it only because steer 'n ale is the best way to describe my weekend.

Two of my teammates on Moe's Tavern are moving on to bigger and better things (more PT for me! j/k, we'll miss you guys!), so a couple of us decided to celebrate by taking the day off and having lunch at Peter Luger Steakhouse. This place came highly recommended, especially from my cousin Ken, a huge fan of steak and meat in general. Of course, prior to heading out to Brooklyn, I met up with Mike and James at Phebe's. They had already been drinking for an hour by the time I got there at noon. We watched a little ESPN (who else needs subtitles to understand Ozzie Guillen), had a few drinks and hopped into a cab.

Peter Luger's does not joke around. It's certainly got a Old-World feel, with a brick exterior and wooden interior that probably hasn't changed since 1887. My friends, Luger's veteran's, scoffed when I asked to see the menu. All you have to order is a round of Canadian bacon, and simply say "Steak for five" (or insert number of people eating). We ordered our steak medium rare, and it was the most perfectly cooked steak I've had in a long time. And of course, our steer was accompanied by ale (locally brewed Brooklyn Lager).


Everyone loves bacon


Grilled to perfection


Mike posing behind the steak sauce


The aftermath

The huge lunch kept us more than full the entire day, but we weren't done with the drinking. We caught the first half of the Korea vs. Switzerland World Cup match at Iona, a Brooklyn bar which unfortunately did not have their air conditioner on and turned into a sauna. At the start of halftime, we took the train back into the city. A few of us ran errands for a bit, while others (myslef included) went home for a quick power nap.

Phase II started off at d.b.a., a bar with an endless beer selection (which my friend James seems to have memorized). After a few beers downed, the rest of the evening was spent at King Size (which is actually tiny and intimate), Good World, Winnie's (James was disappointing with Prince's Kiss, but Jae and I made up for it with some rocking Bonnie Tyler), and finally Opus 22.

All in all, it was a quite a long day of meat and drink. Of course I was home by 1AM, as we had to rest up for the big Moe's Tavern BBQ on Saturday. More details to follow...

- Yours truly gets mentioned in a Dream League article!
- Thinking about SF taquerias make my mouth water.