Digesting New York, Part 5 - Big Meat

So, we took the train back to Williamsburg, and went to Laura and Jimi's to drop off the wine, and then I trudged back up to my place to shower and relax for a while - maybe even try to sleep.

It was a long climb up those four flights of stairs; I made a point of pausing on each landing, because I didn't want my heart getting speedy on me again. When I let myself in, I found Josh's boyfriend, Max, in the living room - another very sweet guy. We chatted for a bit, and then he headed into the city, and I went off to take a shower.

It was my first, and as it worked out, my last shower there. It was a perfectly fine shower set-up - I've dealt with far worse - but the water pressure was kind of iffy, and the hot water, while plentiful for the first five minutes or so, kept coming and going after that. The low pressure was probably due to our being on the fifth floor; I don't know what was going on with the hot water, but Laura and Jimi said it was a common issue. They suggested that I use their shower - they had good pressure, and no hot-water problems once you waited through a brief "hiccup" five minutes in. And that was what I ended up doing.

Anyway, that shower, even with the sporadic hot water, felt good. Resting on the bed for a while felt good. I relaxed, read a bit, and made my daily phone call home before heading back down to Laura and Jimi's.

It was dark when we set off for Peter Lugar's, and there were many Hasidic gentlemen and families out on the street. It gave the neighborhood an almost mysterious, out-of-time atmosphere. The men were wearing their special hats; there's a lot of information conveyed by the hats the men wear, and the dress, if you know how to read it, but of course I didn't. They seemed to speak a blend of English and Yiddish, kind of the way the second-generation hispanic kids here often speak a blend of Spanish and English, even starting a sentence in one language and finishing in the other.

Peter Lugar's was just a few blocks away. It's been in its current location since 1887, and for many years was pretty much the only reason to visit Williamsburg. I read somewhere that back in the day they used to serve just steak and potatoes. The menu has expanded slightly since then, but it's still pretty much all steak all the time. The place was packed when we got there; even with a reservation we had to wait a few minutes for our table. We were right next to a party that included a well-known TV actor, only he wasn't well-known to me, so I don't remember his name. We ordered salad, and were going to order steak-for-two for the three of us, but the waiter insisted that wouldn't be enough. "Look at that table!" he said, indicating the table where the actor was sitting. We cautiously looked over, trying to make it plain that we were staring at the food and not at him, and gave in to the waiter in order to avoid further embarrassment. We also ordered German-fried potatoes and creamed spinach.

Peter Lugar's is a place people come to celebrate, or at least that was the case that Saturday; the waiters (all men) were called upon to sing "Happy Birthday" at least four times while we were there. By the fourth time, their rendition lacked a bit in the enthusiasm department, although they were in good voice and all singing in the same key, which doesn't always happen when people sing Happy Birthday.

Our food arrived quite promptly, and service was interesting. When you order steak-for-however many (up to four) all the meat is brought on a big platter, and the waiter slices it and serves it to everyone. Same with the sides. Kind of like going back to childhood.

The steak was excellent - the best I've ever had, I think. And there was a lot of it; we'd have been just fine with steak-for-two, but on the other hand, it was nice to have left-overs. The creamed spinach and potatoes were good, too, but nothing amazing. The main thing at Peter Lugar's, obviously, is the beef.

While we were eating, a man approached the actor's table to pay homage; he even got down on his knees, although that was probably because if he'd remained standing, he'd have towered over the guy, which would have been weird. It was kind of weird anyway, though; it was clearly Not Done to annoy visiting celebrities, and all the waiters gave the guy the stink-eye, but he was oblivious.

We went ahead and ordered dessert even though we didn't finish all our steak - cheesecake, which was also excellent. The waiter was quite timely, by nyc standards, in bringing us the bill. When we left, the place was still crowded, and people were still coming in and being seated for dinner.

We went back to Laura and Jimi's and watched Orlando. I had never seen it or read the book, but I ordered both from Amazon when I got back to Cloverdale. The movie is wonderful, and Tilda Swinton is wonderful in it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Quentin Crisp played the part of Queen Elizabeth. I've read one of his books, Resident Alien, but I've never seen him in anything. After the movie, Jimi walked me back to my apartment, which I very much appreciated; it was 1:30. Since it was Saturday night, Williamsburg hipsters were still out in force, but I was tired enough to fall asleep fairly quickly despite the noise.