In my high school, there were the superlatives. Mike Allocco and Doreen Iossa were "best dressed". Bill Cooper and Mary Anne Tuggle tried the hardest.
And so on.
When it comes to steakhouse, everybody has a favorite but there are only a few in the top tier. Everybody from New York City raves about Peter Luger's in Brooklyn. I've been there. I've been there and I've had the Porterhouse. It is perfect. I've also had a burger. The steak was magical; the burger, not so much. Oh it was good. But it wasn't a rave. No a great steakhouse burger doesn't come from Luger's. A better steakhouse burger lives in Raleigh.
Yeah. And I'm not just saying that because I live here. The Angus Barn does a better burger that Luger's. Hands down.
Heresy? To some, perhaps. Indeed, some people may think that going to the best steakhouse in town and ordering a burger is just silly. Dave's Rules of Restaurants explicitly stated that one should never go against the establishment's DNA. Well, the Angus Barn has DNA that very bovine. And the last time I checked, their burger was all cow.
Her Imperial Majesty and I checked into The Wild Turkey Lounge one recent Friday night and parked ourselves at the corner. The place was packed with folks waiting for their tables, although a wise few were dining at the bar. Live music from a pianist tinkled in the background while we did a couple of Wild Turkey Manhattans before dinner. Dinner at the bar consisted of a warm spinach salad and a medium burger. The salad itself – with spinach, bacon, mushrooms and hardboiled egg – wasn't warm, but is served with warm vinaigrette. The burger (a guess-timated pound – we split it) perfectly cooked to medium and served with a portion of perfectly crispy fries. . Yes they grind their own meat daily so you can enjoy it in a non-overcooked state. As we worked out way through dinner, the missus remarked that she loved the place and could grow used to coming. I concurred.
The Wild Turkey Lounge is a very grown up place. Men dress in power suits. Women are iced out and bedecked in finery. All in all, it's a very sophisticated place to spend a few hours.
In the end, we left about an hour or so later, completely sated and utterly satisfied. We knew we have been to the best in town. And we were okay with that.The Angus Barn
9401 Glenwood Avenue
(Highway 70 at Aviation Parkway)
Raleigh, North Carolina 27617
TEL 919-781-2444
FAX 919-783-5568
Cuisine: A beefeaters paradise
Rating: *****
Prices: $$$$
Atmosphere: Coat and tie crowd.
Noise level: Moderate in The Wild Turkey Lounge
Open: MON. - SAT. 3:00PM-11PM; SUN. 3PM-10PM
Reservations: For the restaurant, yes, for the lounge, no.
Other: You can only get the burger in the Wild Turkey Lounge.
We rank restaurants in five categories: Extraordinary***** Excellent**** Above average*** Average** Fair*
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