A.J. Maxwell’s Gives You Good Steak for $10
In a lot of ways steak is like sushi. You can find it cheap, but if you want the good stuff you’re going to have to shell out the cash. It’s tough to get good versions of both for under $10 in Midtown, but at least in the steak category there have been a few exceptions. Surprising everybody, my trip to Tad’s Steak brought me a lot of joy– but clearly the best option is when a nice steakhouse offers up some sort of special. The Del Frisco’s bar menu loophole was the best by far, but as soon as Midtown Lunch’ers got on that, they raised the price from $9.99 to an understandable, but out of the ML price range, $11.95 $12.95.
Well, with a recession comes the recession specials… and A.J. Maxwell’s (on 49th btw. 5+6th) has created a take-out-only lunch special for those of us who’d like to enjoy a steak sandwich made with quality steak (or mini burgers, or a chicken sandwich) for just $10. You get your choice of any one of the three, plus a soup or salad, for $10.
A.J. Maxwell’s is one of those wannabe old school steakhouses that probably wouldn’t exist if the tourist or expense account had never been invented. I don’t know if their steaks are good, or worth the money, but I’m guessing they’re not bad. And they must be better than Tad’s or the Steak Truck. So, I called the number and ordered my $10 lunch specials (I didn’t want to choose… so I just got all three!)
It may look huge in the photo, but the sandwiches are only slightly bigger than a half sandwich, and although the chicken sandwich was fine… we didn’t come here for no chicken!
You get 2 mini burgers for your ten bucks, plus your choice of cheese, and these were definitely tasty. Good quality meat, nicely cooked medium rare, and really flavorful. It’s what you would expect a steak house’s burger to taste like. Far superior to Pop Burger, but also more expensive. If only they came with french fries! Can’t decide if this was worth $10 though…
The steak… now here’s what you’re looking for (ok so the photo does not look super appetizing, but trust me. It was good.) Not a huge sandwich, but a good amount of steak. Perfectly cooked, medium rare. The bread is a good french roll, cut in half, and perfectly tasty. But in the end, all that really matters is the steak… and esaentially you’re getting 1/2 of a quality steak with bread and soup (or salad) for $10. Not bad at all.
Sadly both soups we tried (the pea soup and the cauliflower soup) were watery and just not that great. The salad was perfectly fine (if you’re into that thing) but the thing that might put the special over the top is the “bread basket”.
Along with our three lunch specials, they gave us a bag of bread and breadsticks… with a massive plastic container full of tasty salted butter. Niiiiice. Sure, it’s free when you eat there… but it’s a nice touch to see them include it in the lunch special. Especially nice if the two mini burgers or the (half) steak sandwich doesn’t end up filling you up (which for some of our bigger eaters, might be a problem.)
All in all, it’s a pretty good lunch… although not as great a “deal” as it sounds. If you order mini burgers off the bar menu, you get 4 (instead of 2) plus fries and onions rings (preferable to bad soup), all for $20. So technically, you could order that to go for two people and split it for the same price as two lunch specials. Sure, you have to share the fries and onion rings, but I didn’t really eat my soup anyway- so it’s win win. Next time I might try to talk them into giving me fries with the special instead of soup. (Why didn’t I think of that before damnit!)
THE +
- Quality red meat, in Midtown, for lunch, for $10
- Pefectly cooked mini burgers, and steak for the steak sandwich
- The give you bread, breadsticks and butter!
THE –
- The two soups we tried were pretty bad… and without eating the soup it may not be filling enough for lunch (unless you eat all the breadsticks)
- The sandwiches were more like half sandwiches
- No french fries! That would put this special over the top…
- Not sure if the burgers are worth the money… they were really good, but there are a lot of good burgers for under $10 in Midtown
- It’s take out only
A.J. Maxwell’s, 57 W. 48th St. (btw. 5+6th), 212-262-6200
Posted by Zach Brooks at 11:45 am, March 30th, 2009 under 49th btw. 5+6th, A.J. Maxwell's, Burger, Steak.
21 Comments | RSS comments feed for this post
21 Comments
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menupages lists everything on Zocalo’s entrees at over $10, more around $17. What do you order?
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The Del Frisco Special is now 12.95 – I went last week. Also, I didn’t get the complimentary sesame loaf of bread with whipped butter that I got when I went in Fall ’09. Seems like the same amount of steak and mashed as the last year, though I can’t speak for when it was 11 dollars.
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Golden headline opportunity missed Zach
“AJ Maxwells – You Can’t Beat Their Meat”
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Steak – my favorite animal.
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I would order you a Kobe-wagyu sirloin, mama.
With beef dripping chips….and a bottle of girly stella.
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Mmm, that sandwich looks gooooooood. Is that accidental cheese smeared on there though or was there cheese in the sandwich?
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@ Rafi – i’ve tried the sandwiches at Zocalo and they are indeed large and very tasty. the steak sandwich is great, as is their cubano. best part is you can get beer there, too. it’s my go-to meal when heading out of town on metro north.
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@Yvo – If you are talking about the white stuff, that’s mayo.
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The heck with those “mini-burgers”. I’m gonna head over to the park for a filling, tasty, seared, juicy, cheesy, fried-shroomy Shack Stack as soon as the line dies down. And it is under $10 too!
Signed,
No longer imprisoned in a midtown cubicle.
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I had swiss cheese on my steak sandwich this afternoon, so it does come with cheese if you want…MMM MMM Good!
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I have been reading your blog for a few years while working in midtown. The reason for your blog is justifiable since the food is so average at best and the pricing is just hilarious. Now that I am working in Jersey and eating great food again from real italian delis, crazy authentic korean restaurants, thai, getting real bagels for breakfast, etc i am going to stop reading your blog as it serves no purpose for me anymore accept to feel bad that you still have to resort to eating stuff like the above sandwiches for $10. It’s kind of pathetic. Brown bag it dude. Not to mention the cockroaches and rats in all of those establishments.
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Geez, Rocky, I know spending time in Jersey sucks, but you don’t have to lash out in your pain at Zach.
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Right Rocky… Rats and cockroaches don’t cross state borders… Has anyone known of an incident with a rat, mouse or roach in Manhattan that they care to share? I mean in the restaurant, not on the street…
I have one to share. My gf and I sat down for a semi fancy french place probably around 28th or so? Not sure, it was a long time ago. After getting about halfway through the meal, I noticed a mouse run almost over my leg (we were sitting by the wall) I bolted right up and motioned for the waiter.
He came by, and I told him about the mouse, so he offered to move me to a different table! I said no and we walked out.-Black Zack (nickname! not racial.)
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Aj Maxwell- Way to use the same font as the widely recognizable re-branding of “Michael’s” crafts stores…. gross
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Zack – I thought I was allowed to vent about it a little. I did not mean to offend. I am sure you eat better at home and around your ‘hood, which I am assuming is not in North Jersey. Woops, I checked your blog again! By the way, my favorite place to eat in midtown was Wendy’s, even though they didn’t have $1 menu.
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rocky has his head so far up his ass he might as well be from philly
philly, jersey, camden – all the same thing
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Just went to AJ Maxwell’s today and had the steak sandwich – absolutely amazing and delicious and yes for only $10.
But their service was very slow, despite the relatively empty restaurant, AND there was no bread or breadsticks! Only slightly disappointed in this regard -
Tell your readers that the Palm (West) has a KILLER lunch special-$22 for an awesome appy (soup) + BIG! Main Dish and choice of desert Key Lime or Cheese cake WELL WORTH THE FEW X TRA $$- M LUNCHERS enjoy
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@ Zach – no, lol, I meant the little bit of yellow cheese on the bottom right of the steak pieces in the steak sandwich. But someone else answered my real question :) (Can you get cheese on that? Yes you can!)
A few weeks ago, we went to Del Friscos again, and laid down the big ($12) money for the steak tips. Was good, but I felt like there was less steak and even more mashed potatoes than the $10 days. Maybe I’m just seeing things, but I now don’t feel the need to go back (although I’m starting to think I still need a good steak fix).
Have you tried the sandwiches Zocalo, the Mexican place in the Grand Central food court? Massive amounts of meat, with massive amounts of fries for $10.