Bern's Steak House
TypePrivate company
Founded1956 (1956)
Headquarters
Tampa, FL
,
United States
Key people
OwnerDavid Laxer
Number of employees
>300
Websitewww.bernssteakhouse.com

Bern's Steak House is a steak restaurant in the Hyde Park district of Tampa, Florida, founded in 1956. It is known for having one of the largest wine collections in the world.

History

Restaurant founder Bern Laxer was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1923 and grew up in the Bronx. He served in the Army in World War II, returning home to earn a college degree in advertising from New York University, where he met his wife, Gertrude; they married in 1950.[1][2] Bert and Gert (as she preferred to be called) moved to Tampa in 1951, opening up a small restaurant in 1953 called Bern and Gert's Little Midway.[1] Two years later they purchased the Beer Haven Bar into which they relocated their restaurant, which was in a strip shopping center in south Tampa, and is the site of the present-day "Bordeaux Room" in the steakhouse.[1][2]

According to the restaurant's historical account, Bern and Gert were equal partners in the restaurant and planned on both of their names being on the marquee. They decided, however, that in order to save money they would repurpose the letters from the "Beer Haven Bar" sign, and purchasing the letter "s" to create a sign for Bern's, and name the restaurant Bern's instead of Bern and Gert.[2][3] The word "steakhouse" was eventually added to the name to satisfy a telephone company requirement that phone listing not be single names.[2]

The restaurant's footprint expanded over the years, eventually occupying the entire strip shopping center, and dining capacity increased from 40 to 350 guest seats.[2] In 1985 Bern built and opened the Harry Waugh Dessert Room, named after the Director of the legendary First Growth French wine estate Chateau Latour, with 48 private dessert rooms for guests and typically serves over 50 desserts, wines, ports, sherries, and madeiras.[4][5]

The restaurant is owned and operated by David Laxer, son of original owner Bern Laxer.[6]

It has a sister restaurant, Haven (previously SideBern's).

George W. Bush ate at Bern's twice during his presidency.[7] [8][9]

The restaurant once kept live fish in tanks inside the kitchen but the fish tanks were removed before 2011 for logistical reasons.[6]

In 2013 Bern's opened a hotel across the street called The Epicurean, with 137 rooms, restaurants and conference facilities; located in the hotel lobby is Bern's Fine Wine and Spirits.[10] A 2023 expansion of The Epicurean will add 51 rooms and suites, office space, and additional conference facilities.[11]

The Farm

In the early 1970s, Bern Laxer established a small farm in nearby Town 'n' Country to help supply organic produce for the restaurant.[12] The farm became a prominent part of the restaurant's image, and first-year training for servers included 40 hours of work there.[6] In 2012, production ceased at the original farm, which was redeveloped into a Wawa and a practice field for the Tampa Bay Rowdies, of which David Laxer is a part-owner; Bern's moved its farming operation to a "much smaller" field across the street.[13]

The farm has never been the restaurant's primary produce supplier; David Laxer estimates that at its peak, 20 percent of the restaurant's fruits and vegetables were grown there. By the time of the original farm's shutdown, its share was "less than 5 percent".[12]

Wine Cellar

Bern's boasts the largest private wine collection in the world of over 600,000 bottles.[14] Bern's is one of three locations that annually host "Winefest", the second largest private fundraiser for charity in the Tampa Bay area, the first being "Taste of Tampa".

In its cellars can be found depression-era French red wine, pre-war Sauternes, and Madeira from the 17th century.

A $30,000 bottle of Chateau Latour from 1947 was found in 2011.[15] Other notable old wine finds include a 1957 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, estimated at $25,000, and a bottle of 1845 Chateau Gruaud-Larose Bordeaux priced at $49,000.[16]

The tour feels like a drop into a deep basement but Florida has a shallow water table so this is not possible.[6] The walls are covered with insulation made from newspaper to keep the temperature controlled.[14]

The entire collection has never been catalogued and staffers sometimes find surprises in the stacks. There are about 100,000 bottles in the cellar at the restaurant and another 500,000 in a building next door.[14]

Awards

In 1996, Wine Spectator rated Bern's in a tie for the best steak house in the United States.[17] Bern's has been a recipient of Wine Spectator's Grand Award since 1981.[18] In 2009 Rachael Ray rated Bern's as the best restaurant in America, having beat out over a dozen top-rated steakhouses across the U.S. In 2010 industry magazine Nation's Restaurant News deemed Bern's a "Top 50 All-American icon." The 2022 Michelin Guide for Florida rated Bern's as "Recommended".[19]

Bern's has the largest wine list of any restaurant in the world.[20]

Harry Waugh Dessert Room

The establishment has a private dessert room upstairs with wine-barrel booths and a jukebox at each table.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Prial, Frank J. (2 September 2002). "Bern Laxer, 78, the Creator Of Popular Steak Restaurant". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Learn The History and Story of Bern's". Bern's Steak House. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  3. ↑ Huse, Andy. "The birth of Bern's Steak House". Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  4. ↑ "Harry Waugh Dessert Room". Bern's Steak House. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  5. ↑ "INSPIRATION FOR DESSERT ROOM COMBINES TECHNOLOGY, TRADITION". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Houck, Jeff (30 May 2012). "The Bern's legend: Separating fact from fiction". The Tampa Tribune. Archived from the original on 26 September 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  7. ↑ "Secret service: President dines discreetly at Florida steakhouse". Nation's Restaurant News. 18 June 2001. Retrieved 25 August 2007.
  8. ↑ Karp, David (17 February 2004). "Tampa mayor's day has no time for Bush". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 25 August 2007.
  9. ↑ Whitaker, Aja (9 April 2004). "Bern's shapes Winefest to serve many purposes". Tampa Bay Business Journal. Retrieved 25 August 2007.
  10. ↑ "Epicurean Hotel opens as legacy to Bern's Steak House founder". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  11. ↑ "Tampa's foodie Epicurean Hotel in Hyde Park gets a $21 million expansion". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  12. 1 2 Reiley, Laura (19 May 2012). "Most of Bern's Steak House produce is not organic or locally grown on its own farm". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  13. ↑ Business Observer Staff (22 April 2013). "Bern's farm to become Wawa, soccer field". Business Observer. Retrieved 26 July 2022. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  14. 1 2 3 Walker, Hunter. "This Is What It's Like Inside The 'World's Largest Wine Cellar'". Business Insider. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
  15. ↑ "Rare Find: A $30,000 Bottle Of Wine". NPR.org. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  16. ↑ I_Jones (25 May 2021). "5 Unique Bottles from the Bern's Wine Cellar - Tampa Magazine". Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  17. ↑ "Rating Steak Houses". Wine Spectator. 31 March 1996. Archived from the original on 17 December 2002. Retrieved 25 August 2007.
  18. ↑ "Bern's Steak House". Wine Spectator. 1 January 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  19. ↑ Freund, Helen (9 June 2022). "No stars for Tampa as Michelin Guide honors Florida restaurants for the first time". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  20. ↑ Mariani, John (Winter 1993). "Ready for Prime Time: A Good Steak Is Hard to Find". Cigar Aficionado. Archived from the original on 10 October 2007. Retrieved 25 August 2007.
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