Last updated: August 20, 2020

In the Weeds

I was staring into the soulful eyes of Danny Kaye, whose picture adorned the wall of my booth, when it struck me how much of a rarity Beef ‘N Bottle is in a city like Charlotte. Kaye, a song and dance comedian from the golden age of Hollywood, is now mostly forgotten by younger generations. Keeping his picture up is the restaurant’s invitation to the diner to take a trip back in time when fine dining meant one thing: the steakhouse.

Beef ‘N Bottle’s first iteration, House of Steaks, was opened in 1960 by George Fine on the land that Discovery Place now occupies. The restaurant was renamed Beef ‘N Bottle when it moved to its current location on South Boulevard in 1978. Though the name changed, most everything else stayed exactly the same, the way George Fine liked it, and the thing Beef ‘N Bottle has come to be known for. 

The restaurant itself is a low beige building that is easy to forget as you cruise past. Once you pass through the front door, any notion of a forgettable dining experience immediately dissolves in the tinkle of jazz standards and warm red light that bathes the restaurant in a nostalgic glow. From the walls of the entrance hall, the faces of stars like Steve McQueen, Rita Hayworth, Jimmy Stewart, and Elizabeth Taylor smile down on you like long lost relatives. 

Entering the main dining room, you are greeted by the same relaxing scene that has soothed generations. Dark brown paneling covers the walls. The booths are painted a dark crimson. Candles flicker on every white table-clothed table, as smartly-dressed servers patrol the room with attentive eyes and welcoming smiles. The polished wood bar is decked out in lights in the corner. The Rat Pack presides over the whole scene from their wall-length poster next to a table reserved for large parties. Once settled into your booth or table, the low ceilings and dim lighting create a cozy feeling, conjuring up images of nightclubs and cocktail lounges long since gone, minus the plumes of cigarette smoke. 

An unswerving commitment to tried and true classics has kept Beef ‘N Bottle at the top of the city’s list of  restaurants for decades, constantly ranking as one of the best places to get a steak in town. Before your molars can do their worst on a side of beef, you have to make your way through the obligatory salad served with every cut of meat.  Salad is often the overlooked portion of the meal, but at Beef ‘N Bottle this opening course is elevated by a portable salad bar of sorts that your server brings to the table for your enjoyment.

The filet mignon is probably the best steak on the menu, and one of their most popular. This lean cut is best when topped with red wine butter, blue cheese crumbles, or if you’re looking for some sinus-clearing zest, encrusted in horseradish. You can even have a taste of all three if you order the trio medallions. Add a lobster tail to the filet mignon and a side of garlic mashed potatoes ,or a loaded baked potato, and you have a meal that may imperil the integrity of your waistline, but will leave you grinning and sighing with pleasure through every bite of it. The lobster tail is larger and tastier than its counterparts at other Charlotte steakhouses with none of the chew or diminished flavor you often find with flown-in seafood. It also helps that a small bowl of melted butter accompanies the tail for dunking purposes. 

Another decadent meal ready to satisfy is the filet Oscar: ten ounces of center cut filet topped with asparagus, king crab, and hollandaise sauce. Beef ‘N Bottle honors this classic dish by sticking to tradition and trusting in time-honored cooking methods. For those averse to red meat, there’s a large seafood selection, and a chicken and pasta section of the menu as well. Full of flavor, these dishes are not neglected afterthoughts placed on the menu to give the illusion of choice.

Red wine is always the ideal pairing for steak. With a selection of reds and whites by the glass and bottle, you should be able to find something to please your palate. Though they do seem to have some shortage issues, considering more than one of the wines I wanted have been all gone by the time I got around to ordering them. The cocktails on offer at Beef ‘N Bottle are not innovative, smoke-infused, priced at $15 or higher, nor loaded down with a dozen different liqueurs and bitters. In fact, you won’t find a cocktail menu in sight. You’re expected to know what cocktail you want. Beef ‘N Bottle has a faith in its clientele that I find admirable and too often lacking in other Charlotte restaurants. When in doubt, you can never go wrong with an olive-laden gin martini or a stiff old-fashioned. 

There was a time when the only fine-dining experience in Charlotte was a steakhouse. That time has thankfully passed. Diners now enjoy a burgeoning dining scene that can rightfully claim to have some of the best restaurants in the region. With all of the rush and glee that comes with the new slew of establishments across the city, it can be easy to forget about the places that never needed to change to gain patrons. Beef ‘N Bottle doesn’t reach the hallowed steakhouse heights of House of Prime Rib in San Francisco, or Peter Luger in Brooklyn. It nonetheless offers an evening of memorable time travel as you enjoy steak, salad, and cocktails the same way they would have been enjoyed when guys like Danny Kaye were hamming it up with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show.

Driving home from Beef ‘N Bottle down South Boulevard towards uptown, I noticed that many of the hot new places that have sprung up along the stretch of South End were empty. That’s something that can’t be said of Beef ‘N Bottle. Their full house night after night proves they are doing things right. Let a little nostalgia take hold of you. You’ll find that food fads come and go, but certain culinary traditions never go out of style. —Travis Mullis

Unpretentious People Say...

Other Articles You Might Enjoy