Pleased to Meat You
By B.A. Nilsson

The Bear’s Steakhouse

Route 7, Duanesburg, 895-2509. Serving dinner Wed-Fri 5:30-8, Sat seatings at 5:30 and 8:30. MC, V.

Cuisine: no-nonsense steakhouse

Entrée price range: $19 (pork chop) to $35 (chateaubriand)

Ambiance: like being home

The year began with the Tet Offensive and ended with the election of Richard Nixon to his first term as president. While I doubt that Walter Cronkite or Chet Huntley got news cameras up to Duanesburg, in 1968 the Bear’s Steakhouse—then known as Duane Manor—opened its doors. Without bothering to advertise or publish a telephone number.

Bob Payne already had put in time cooking at Schenectady’s Van Dyck Restaurant, but decided that a scaled-down format highlighting the steaks he enjoyed was preferable. A loyal following of customers has agreed with him.

I last wrote about the restaurant seven years ago and couldn’t praise the place highly enough. This time, trying to schedule a last-minute visit, I ran into a few sold-out nights. So I knew they were doing well.

When I finally got in, I understood why. They haven’t changed the formula one bit. It’s still very much a family operation, although Bob Jr. now has taken over the kitchen. His father still orders the meat, however, because he’s a man with very strong beliefs about how a cut should look and how old it should be and a myriad of other details that set the threshold of the product. And without an excellent cut of meat to begin with, you don’t get an excellent steak.

I’d all but forgotten how simple an excellent steak can be. For what I think may have been the first time in my life, I ordered a surf-and-turf combo, which in this case paired a filet mignon with an order of sautéed sea scallops.

Ah, but did I want a Mama Bear or Papa Bear size? They carry the bear thing to great lengths here, but, after all, it’s Bob Sr.’s nickname and this was enough to persuade him not only to name the restaurant thus but also to decorate it with all manner of bear-related knickknacks and memorabilia.

About a dozen tables fill the single dining room. They’re nicely white-linen appointed, with accents of blue from the napkins. What with the ongoing struggle to come up with ever wackier ways to dress a dining room, this seems old-fashioned. But old-fashioned, as implemented here, works well.

John, another one of the Payne boys, runs the floor and does it with unsurpassable elegance. He’ll make whatever you order seem like the true and only choice, as if you’ve been seized with some innate menu genius. He’ll talk to you and your party throughout the meal, with progress reports and any anticipated courses.

My party of three watched with envy as a spectacular looking platter of appetizers went to a much larger party. “Would you like one of those?” asked John. “We can do it for three.” Although his father would later visit our table and complain about the smallness of the shrimp, we saw no such diminution. Several well-cleaned jumbo shrimp were accompanied by a nicely tangy cocktail sauce as well as a sauce melding wasabi and cream.

Nova Scotia-derived smoked salmon was nearby, beside an order of homemade mozzarella cheese interleaved with juicy tomato slices. Each of those three appetizers is $10 alone. We also got a small wheel of baked Danish brie, a former menu item that the chef had on hand and added to the mix. And there was subtle, delicious wine-marinated herring. ($4.25 as an appetizer). The platter also was dressed with fruit and provided a substantial quantity of leftovers.

With all the food you’re bound to get, you probably don’t want a cup of soup ($3). But if it’s the beef and vegetable blend, which uses end cuts from the filet mignon, you’ll miss an amazing recipe, something that will put all future tastes of the same-named brew to shame. A beef soup with plenty of beef!

House salads are fresh and chilled and served with respectable dressings.

As the regulars know, you not only need a reservation on weekends, but also have to phone ahead for the chateaubriand, the house specialty ($35 per person), typically cooked for parties of four but available to a deuce on weekends. And the prime rib ($29) should be ordered in advance as well.

There are non-steak items available, like the poached salmon or sautéed scallops ($21 each), as well as a nightly chicken special. Other non-beef items are a pork chop ($19) and lamb chops ($25). How many you get of each item depends upon the size of the cut and the chef’s whim. You won’t be left hungry.

Then there’s the three-in-one mixed grill ($28) that presents a slice of filet mignon, a couple of lamb chops, and a fat pork chop slice. A great combo and a study in contrasts, as my table discovered through many samples.

That classic rib-eye cut, the Delmonico ($24) is a plate-dwarfing behemoth that also varies in thickness along its body. So what looked, at the edges, to be a little overcooked proved to be perfectly medium rare in the middle.

My own filets—I was served two because the chef thought them too small—also were perfectly finished. No complaints about the food here, except for the excess, which turns into torment when the desserts arrive. They’re huge, too, and also homemade, with a carrot cake that’s simply one of the best.

Sure, it’s not the world’s best diet. But it’s rare to find a restaurant that understands its clientele this well, and offers exemplary food and service to anyone who makes the trek.

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