WICKED PETER

On Friday, November 26th, we had a typical schedule that most tourists would do when visiting the Big Apple. We went to lunch at Peter Luger before the show Wicked. We took the D train, then transfered at Broadway-Lafayette Street for the downtown F train to Delancey Street, went upstairs to get the M train (Jamaica bound). We got off at the first stop (Marcy Avenue) after the train crossed over the Williamsburg Bridge. We walked to Peter Luger at 178 Boardway for lunch.

Inside, the local landmark since 1887 looked exactly the way I saw it being featured on the Food Channel as the best steakhouse in NYC. After walking thru the door, I noticed to the left was the regulars having their drinks at the bar. How do I know they were regulars? They were all men, talking at the same time to the bartenders, relaxing and looking very comfortable as if they were in their living rooms. On the right were many plaques lined the walls with front covers and articles displaying a who's who of culinary critiques and top stars.

We walked up to the bulletproof-glass cubicle in the foyer where two serious looking older women were sitting. It must be where the cash being kept. We were greeted fairly nice by a short middle-age woman looking like a Carla of Cheers, even with our appearance of casual attire and “poor people with no money” written on our faces!

Carla: Hello! How many?
TOTA: 2
Carla: Do you have reservation?
TOTA: No.
Carla: Well, I will see what we have available.

A few minutes later, Carla came back and led us to a table for 2. I almost fell off my chair when the waiter came to the table to give us the menu. He looked almost like the guy I dated in 1985. Whether it was really “Victor” or he just acted like all the other waiters at this establishment, tersely matter-of-fact. There were three other tables in the whole dining room, a group of Japanese tourists, a family of 4 and a young couple. I wanted to ask Carla why she had to double check whether she had a table available for us!

We ordered quickly as to prove our worthiness of eating in this establishment. CP selected the steak for one and a salad and I ordered the lamb chops. I made the mistake of asking Victor what kind of soup they had available. He responded, “No soup”, with the look that said, “You should know that we don’t offer soup here”!

The phones did not stop ringing the whole time while we waited for our steaks being prepared. It must be for the New Year Eve party. There was a card on the table that read, “New Year Eve reservations are subject to availability with required advanced deposit of $50 per person, for 2 hours sitting.” That would be $200 advanced deposit if you wish to reserve a table of 4 and try to eat fast because you are allowed only 2 hours.

Victor finally came, took away the salad and cleared some space on the table. Then the sizzling platters came out and they were very hot. The steak and the lamb chops were already sliced in sections off the bone with the bone staying on the plate. Victor placed a few slices on our plates and walked away as he asked whether we needed anything else. Our food was good and plenty. We even had a few slices to take home.

Victor brought out 2 gold dollar sized chocolates when he gave us the bill. After placing a $100 bill and a couple of $20 in the guest check folder, we waited for Victor to pick it up. When he walked by our table, he commented, “It is ok to leave it there” or something like that since he again mumbled the words as he continued to walk away. We got up and left because we knew no one would dare to steal the cash.

So we did it, spending our cash foolishly so we could say that we ate at Peter Luger. It was one of those sort of “bucket list” items that we had to do to fool ourselves into thinking that we deserved to have a taste of the good life.

We walked to the subway, took the Manhattan bound M train to Delancey Street, then F train to Broadway-Lafayette Street, transferred to the D train to Rockefeller Center and walked to Gershwin Theatre on 51st Street and Broadway.

Personally, I did not care much for the music, the over-sensationalized story lines, the characters of Elphaba and Glinda, and the whole show trying to be “catch-all” political correct, specially the role of the goat-professor. I was so bored while the audiences, including my husband, were laughing all around me at humor I found either annoyingly or somewhat idiotic! See Wicked if you wish, you might like it but for me I would have liked to see Al Pacino in The Merchant of Venice, James Earl Jones and Vanessa Redgrave in Driving Miss Daisy or Kelsey Grammer in La Cage Aux Folles. These shows were all sold-out, so I got Wicked!

After the show, we went to Park Slope and met my sister, CH for dinner. We walked to an Indian restaurant about two blocks from her building. After we came in, there were only a few more diners in the whole place. It was a nice quiet dinner. The wind picked up and it got colder when we walked CH back to her place. We decided that it was time to get back to Bensonhurst. It was another good day in NYC!