Bern's Steak House: Reflections & Recipes from a Remarkable Restaurant
What would you call a restaurant where steaks are aged five to eight weeks in special aging room, where a wine cellar is, perhaps, the largest in the world, where vegetables served are organic and cooked to order, where only freshly squeezed juices and superb quality liquors are used to prepare your cocktail, where customers enjoy out-of-water seafood, where the finest kona coffee beans in the world are hand - sorted to eliminate every single defect? There is only one word for such a place: Remarkable. That was the word the highly regarded Esquire columnist John Mariani chose after his first visit to this legendary restaurant located in Tampa, Florida. Visitors flock to Bern's from the far corners of the globe to experience their exquisite prime beef and glorious vintage wines. Why? What makes this steak house so remarkable? Author Joyce LaFray, food and travel journalist, and close friend of founder Bern Laxer for over 25 years, answers those questions and more, in this compelling story of the wunderkind restaurant. Just recently, after a long illness, founder Bern Laxer passed away. --Tampa Bay Magazine