|
Review content:
People will tell you the The Bears Steakhouse is in the middle of nowhere, or that it's hard to find, but neither is really true. It's on NY Rt. 7, only 1.5 miles south of the intersection of U.S. 20, a very busy intersection running through Duanesburg, NY. You wouldn't expect to find a notable steakhouse out here, but it's not like it's a place all by itself out in the wilderness. In fact, there's an ice cream stand right across the street, a lodge practically next door, and two diners within a couple of miles.
The restaurant is in a moderate-sized room (holds maybe 15 tables) of the home of the owners and has a bit of a hodgepodge rustic-industrial-grandma's-house feel. On the Grandma side, there's floral wallpaper all around and a display of mostly cheap modern teddy bears (vintage bears would be a nicer touch). The Rustic comes from some exposed wood here and there, and also from a few hard wood western ""wagon wheel"" chairs that a handful of diners are provided. The out-of-place Industrial look comes from the vinyl covered institutional steel chairs that most of the patrons are provided with.
Our waiter was very pleasant and cheerful, though I wish that he - or my wife! - had pointed out that the laminated single-sheet menu listed items on BOTH of its sides, as I entirely missed seeing the list of appetizers and deserts on the reverse, thinking that the later must be on a menu of its own (not that I EVER order desert, I just like to enjoy reading the descriptions!). As for the appetizers, I had half-heard another server shout the list of appetizers (twice) to diners seated at another table, so I assumed our server would eventually be doing the same (I say ""half-heard"", because the restaurant was VERY loud, thus the need for the other server to shout in order to be heard by the people she was serving (the gals at this long table, in fact, were in a particularly loud and frisky mood, sharing sexual innuendo with our server - and he with them - frequently drawing stares from all around the room).
Dinner began with a bowl of rolls, most of which where actually stale (at least two of them were hard as stone through-and-through). Then came the mixed mescalin salad, that was fine, but not as tender as I would have expected from a restaurant with the pedigree of this one.
No matter.. this place is about meat, and there was no disappointment in the quality or amount of food we were next served. I ordered the Delmonico steak, which was about a foot long, 6"" wide, and 2"" thick! Easily enough meat for 3 meals, and in fact, I barely ate any of it, cutting off a large slab from one end in order to sample a few slices from nearer the center. The meat was a bit on the rare side of the ordered medium-rare, but it was still a marvel. It also came with a baked potato and a large pile of perfectly cooked, glazed baby carrots, every bite of which I devoured.
My wife ordered the pork chops, and they arrived about 2.5"" thick, each chop measuring something in the neighborhood of 4"" x 6"". Again, enough meat for several meals. In fact, I ate a healthy portion of one of hers, and she finished that one off, saving the remaining chop for another day.
Our server came over to check on us, after the other server had taken away our meat to be wrapped, and - since he asked if everything had been to our liking - I decided I would mention the stale rolls. He was very apologetic, and sent us home with 4 soft, fresh ones, which I thought was a nice touch.
There was one final disappointment, however. When my wife and I got home, we discovered that the person who wrapped our meat tossed out the large slab I had separated from rest in order to get at the center. I'm sure there was a lot of fat along the edges, but there was also a heck of a lot of meat still in that slab!
|