THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Ben & Jack's Steakhouse

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Ben & Jack's Steakhouse Restaurant Review:

Peter Luger steakhouse in Williamsburg is the stuff of legend---primarily for the quality of its buttery beef, but also for the lengthy trek that must be made before worshiping at the bovine shrine. Several former employees have escaped to open a more conveniently-located temple of carnivorous pleasure, including the titular Ben and Jack (two brothers formerly toiling as Luger waiters), in the hopes that the mythical name will extend its magic reach beyond the Brooklyn border. Here, in a brocade-and-gilt room flanked by smaller ones separated by sliding wooden panels, the sorcery begins with the usual complement of shellfish appetizers, salads or the deservedly popular Ben and Jack's salad for two, where chopped tomatoes and onions serve as a bed for nuggets of lobster and Canadian bacon (also available by the slice). The main event could be lobster, yellowfin tuna or lamb chops, but let's face it: mostly everyone is here for the beef, which comes in a choice of filet mignon, sirloin, rib-eye or simply steak (i.e. porterhouse) for two, three or four. The slabs of steak come pre-sliced on a broiling-hot ceramic platter, where the waiter finishes cooking the meat to your liking by rubbing it along the rim. The waitstaff is genial but can be overstressed. And what a completion: almost every dessert, even fresh fruit, arrives mit schlag (with whipped cream), a decadently rich bowlful of bliss.