Angus Club Steakhouse: A Midtown Gem Hiding In Plain Sight

Angus Club is a relative newcomer to the crowded New York City steakhouse scene, but it can certainly hold its own among the giants. We recently dined there at the invitation of the restaurant, and while they're forced to make the most of a potentially awkward space, the steaks are top-notch.

You'll most likely be seated in the upstairs dining room, which is adjacent to a small bar area. It's a relatively no-frills space with generic New York photos on the walls and seating for about 40. There seemed to be a lack of air conditioning; a portable unit didn't do the best job of cooling the room down. The downstairs, however (which they open up on more crowded nights), is absolutely sprawling, a seemingly endless warren of private dining rooms that can seat as few as eight (the Chef's Room, pictured) or as many as 25 people (Leather Room and Oak Room). The downstairs space was previously a nightclub, and the owners left many of the furnishings intact, including reclaimed wood walls, which add a nice touch. If all this was instead on street level, allowing for windows, it would make for one of the most attractive steakhouses in the area.

But on to the food. The menu is about as traditional steakhouse as it gets, although there's certainly nothing wrong with that. Appetizers include shrimp cocktail, fried calamari, crabcakes, and steak tartare; salads include an iceberg wedge and sliced beefsteak tomatoes and onions (one of several nods to Peter Luger, which also include slab bacon and a boat of cocktail sauce-like "steak sauce" placed on the table in the beginning of the meal).  Porterhouse steaks are dry-aged for 35 days (much longer than the traditional 21 to 27), and are available for two, three, or four (another nod to Luger). Also available are bone-in filet mignon, sirloin, and ribeye, as well as lamb chops and veal chop T-bones. Porterhouses and New York strips are sliced before service and plated by the servers; I'd never before encountered this type of service for anything other than porterhouse, so that was a pleasant surprise.

The extra aging certainly goes a long way; while the steaks could have benefitted from a deeper char, they were well seasoned, rich, perfectly cooked, flavorful, and slightly funky in the way that only a well-aged steak can achieve. Peter Luger, their clear inspiration, famously doesn't reveal how long they age their steaks for, but my guess is about 35 days.

There are seemingly limitless options if you're looking for a great steak in Midtown, but the fact that steaks at Angus Club are aged longer than its competitors is reason enough alone to add it to your steakhouse bucket list.