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The Beefsteak Explained

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Men – and later, women – sat cheek-to-jowl and feasted on platters of meat

Before Prohibition took over American life in the early 20th century, politics and bawdiness came hand in hand. What started out as a typical fundraising dinner for a political candidate in New York in the mid-1800s, the Beefsteak quickly became synonymous with raucous excess.

Guests of these banquets mostly used their hands to pile slices of beef on fresh bread, and washed everything down with pitchers of beer…and later Manhattan cocktails that were slammed down on tables to emphasize a liquor-fueled point. Much like the cutlery, napkins were unheard of – a butcher’s apron tied tight around a ballooning midsection was all that stood between diners and the Beefsteak.

Decades of rowdy beer, booze and beef-fueled dinners later, the Beefsteak sadly fell out of favor around Prohibition. But Flank has revived, re-imagined and more so refined the Beefsteak for the 21st century.

Flank’s updated Beefsteak concept artfully blends the robust blue-collar style of the original dinners with the aesthetics and taste of contemporary elite restaurants…where cutlery and napkins are mindfully provided, although certainly not required.