FOOD+DRINK
S E RV E D H I STO RY
Legend Has It
A native Charlottean visits Beef ’N Bottle steakhouse for the first time BY VIRGINIA BROWN PHOTOGRAPHS BY PETER TAYLOR
IN 1958, the U.S. was toe-deep in the Space Race. Ike was serving his second term. Golf great Arnold Palmer had earned his first green jacket, and “At The Hop” rocked the transistor radio waves. The same year, in Charlotte, the first steaks sizzled at one of the city’s most legendary restaurants. Beef ’N Bottle is a Queen City staple, a standalone steak joint with the vibe of a ’60s cigar club. Before my husband and I enter, we smell summer: ribeyes sizzling on the grill—a solid start. “I’ve been coming here for 45 years,” says a portly man in the parking lot. I’ve lived in Charlotte since 1982, and this is my first time. In the compact foyer, black-and-white portraits of Hollywood greats hang on the walls. Elvis near Elizabeth Taylor. Ava Gardner, sultry, by a pensive Katharine Hepburn. Giants from a bygone era. The classics, they never die. A casually dressed older couple sits across from us at a table next to a large family celebrating a birthday. A few younger couples, dressed a bit more elegantly, walk in and take seats in booths. Next to them, a man date—two good ol’ boys out on the town, sipping drinks as they await their steaks. Benita is our waitress. She’s a sturdy woman with a commanding warmth. I tell her I’ve never been to the restaurant before. “Never?” she says with highpitched surprise. “Well, you’re in for a treat.” Each steak ages in house for 21 to 28 days, she says, and the salad dressings are homemade, too. Tonight’s special is the Delmonico, a 12-ounce ribeye—with shrimp.
BEEF ’N BOTTLE 4538 South Blvd. 704-523-9977 beefandbottle.net
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CHARLOTTEMAGAZINE.COM // APRIL 2020
(Top to bottom) Shrimp cocktail; the Delmonico, a 12-oz ribeye with shrimp; hand-breaded onion rings.
