South Florida Restaurant tops “National 38” list of Essential Eateries
What South Florida iconic restaurant made the “essential” U.S. restaurant list of Eater.com? Bern’s Steak House, the extravagant south Tampa palace of premium beef and fine wines that was established more than 50 years ago by restauranteur Bern Laxer, is legendary for an outstanding wine cellar, taste and presentation that it is one of the country’s top steakhouses.
Bern's Steak House, which opened in 1956, quickly grew into a major Florida attraction. In season and on a busy night, it can draw 1,000 customers. The huge menu offers three pages of steak choices -- 16 cuts of steak and 50 ways to prepare them. Three 1,200-gallon tanks in the kitchen each hold 650 pounds of live local fish. At least 20 kinds of caviar are available. The 179-page wine list features 6,500 labels, and more than 500,000 bottles are stored in the restaurant and in four warehouses nearby. The restaurant's current wine list, the 49th edition, is a scaled-down version of a 2,500-page list Mr. Laxer offered into the mid-1990's. That list was chained to the dining room tables to keep it from becoming a guest's souvenir.
Eater.com is the source for people who care about dining and drinking in the world's best food cities. “It’s our guide not to what is newest or trendiest, but to what defines and anchors us,” writes Eater’s editor-in-chief, Amanda Kludt, on the “Essential Restaurants” package, released Wednesday. “The restaurants on the list are young and old, upscale and accessible, and together, they go a long way toward cohesively defining the food scene of our great nation and its multifaceted, ever-changing dining landscape.”
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