I know I spend way too much blogspace on What I Eat but I once made quite a fuss here about my love of Five Guys burgers so — out of sheer honesty, as Daffy Duck would put it — I should report that I've lost much of my passion for them. I had one a couple weeks ago that was ehh: Not at all bad but nothing to get excited about.
A few years ago here, I confessed that I had lost whatever love I once had for In-N-Out Burgers. I wasn't sure if it was me or them and I finally decided it was a little of each. My tastes have changed since my 2006 Gastric Bypass surgery, most notably in a complete loss of any Sweet Tooth. I no longer want to even be near let alone eat candy, cake, pie, ice cream, cookies or even fruit and fruit juices. A similar change seems to be happening slowly within me regarding beef.
Years ago, I read part of a book called Sugar Blues that urged people to drastically reduce their consumption of sugar, especially of the processed variety. The author further suggested the giving up of red meat, saying that it was easier to abandon one if you eliminated the other. At the time, I didn't think it was humanly possible for me to do without either so that was that. That was where I stopped reading Sugar Blues.
Now, I find myself not disliking beef but also not liking it as much. But I also don't think it's just me. I think the Five Guys I go to isn't as good as others I've been to, especially those back east.
My favorite place in the world (as much of it I've visited) to eat beef is Peter Luger's Steak House in Brooklyn. I haven't been to it — or for that matter, New York — in quite a few years. I'm eager to get back there soon and one reason is that I want to go to Peter Luger's and just see if I love it as much as I once did. I have a feeling I won't.
Years ago, I read an interview with one of the proprietors. Someone had asked them, "Why can't I cook steaks at home that are as good as what I get here?" His answer went something like this…
Well, you probably don't have a temperature-controlled room in your home devoted to aging beef and you don't know the specific process we use. You probably don't have a grill in your kitchen as hot as ours, nor are you as experienced as our chefs, who cook hundreds of steaks a day, seven days a week, and know precisely the right second to turn one or take it off the grill. But the main thing is that if you shop at any butcher store or grocery open to the general public, you probably aren't getting meat as good as the meat we can get.
Obviously, that "main thing" matters a lot. Peter Luger's has been cloned to some extent by a restaurant chain — Wolfgang's Steakhouse, unaffiliated with Wolfgang Puck — run by a former Peter Luger's headwaiter. I frequent the one in Beverly Hills and it's quite wonderful, especially if you can stand being at a table next to Larry King, which is where I always seem to find myself seated.
It's almost as good as I remember Peter Luger's being and I'm thinking that "almost" is a function of that "main thing." I'm thinking they age their beef the same way and they have an equally-hot grill manned by an equally-experienced chef. I'm thinking the difference is the quality of the meat available to them.
Or maybe it's me and my diminishing taste for beef. That's one reason I want to get back to Luger's for a meal and compare. And while I'm back there, I'll grab a Five Guys burger and see if I like 'em there more than I like 'em here. I have the feeling I will…but not as much as I liked them a few years ago.