A Bar Menu Loophole Makes Del Frisco’s a Midtown Lunch!

***UPDATE: The price of this deal has gone up to $11.95 since this piece was written*** 

This is not a typo people.  You are not seeing things.  This week I made an amazing discovery, that adds Del Frisco’s (the enormous, upscale and extremely expensive steakhouse in the middle of Midtown Manhattan) to the list of official Midtown Lunches.  THE Del Frisco’s.  If you work in Midtown you have been to or know someone who has eaten, or more than likely work for someone who has eaten, at Del Frisco’s.  All on the company dime, of course… after all, nobody pays for Del Frisco’s themselves!

Until today.  Do not mistake this for a drill.  This is real.  I have discovered a loophole in the Del Frisco’s cortex that may stop the space time continuum.  There is a meal…. at Del Frisco’s… that is delicious… and filling… that involves steak… and it is $9.95.  I am not shitting you!  While reading Andre Mika’s review of Del Frisco’s for dinner on his blog “Fork New York” I noticed this little mention:

I’ve been preaching about the filet tips and mashed potatoes on the bar menu for 2 years now (yes, they are still there for $10)…

That can’t be, right?  $10?  The burger there is $13.95.  How could steak, in any form be less?  But sure enough- I went to this place where Onion Rings cost $12.95, and poor men dare to dream, and there it was.  Right there in plain English.  At the top of the bar menu…

Filet tips w/ Chateau Potatoes.  $9.95.  Meaning that if you ignore the tax & tip (which we clearly will), eating at the Bar of Del Frisco’s is now… a Midtown Lunch!

Steak tip porn, after the jump…

 

From the first bite, you know you are in for a treat.  Despite the average price, these are not your average steak tips.  They are Del Frisco’s Steak Tips, and they tasted every bit like Del Frisco’s steak tips.  The bartender recommended getting them cooked Medium, so I obliged.  They came out on the Medium Well side, but they were still perfectly tender… especially when compared to your average crappy bar in NYC steak tips. 

6 decent size tips, surrounding a big pile of “Chateau Potatoes”, which are basically seasoned mashed potatoes with the skins left on.  (When my boss heard that “chateau” just meant they left the skins on, he commented that he made potatoes like this all the time, but called them “lazy man potatoes”.)  The potatoes were delicious, and the steak tips were out of this world.  Of course, I’ve never eaten off the real menu at Del Frisco’s so I have nothing to compare it to, but after trying the filet tips, I can honestly say I will gladly eat the throwaway bits off of rich peoples’ expensive steaks any day (especially for $10).

If you are not a big fan of black pepper, you might complain a little bit about how much pepper the steak tips are seasoned with– but to that I’d say, “Quit your freaking complaining,  you’re eating at Del Frisco’s for $9.95.”  The one thing to remember is the Filet Tips are on the “Bar Menu”, which you have to ask for specifically, and only available at the bar.

If you want to skip out on the whole tipping thing, call and order it to-go.  For me, it’s worth the extra couple bucks to sit at the bar of Del Frisco’s and see how the other half lives…

THE +

  • Delicious steak & filling mashed potatoes at a restaurant that nobody can afford to eat at without a corporate card… for only $9.95.  What bigger + do you need?
  • If you eat at the bar, you get free bread & butter!
  • It’s pretty quick, ordering at the bar.  We were in and out in about 40 minutes.

THE –

  • No complaints here!  (Although for some, the $4 sodas and copious amounts of black pepper that cover the steak might be cause for complaint.)
  • The plate looks small when they first bring it out, but don’t let your eyes deceive you.  For $10, it’s plenty of food…

Del Frisco’s, 1221 Ave. of the Americas (btw. 48+49th), 212-575-5129.

36 Comments

  • You gotta be shitting me.

    Are they on the bar dinner menu for $10 or is this a lunch deal only? Del F is good but the black pepper is out of control. But this is a heluva deal. Great find!

  • I believe the Bar Menu is available all day long, at the Bar only…

  • Oh man. I might have to try that some night where I have to stay late at work (I occasionally get out at 5:30, but have to be back at work at 7:30). This sounds perfect.

    THis sounds so awesome, actually.

  • I’ve been saying it for years. This was my secret meal…. but I’m glad Zach has shared the news…. it is one of NY’s best deals.

    See ya there.

    Andre Mika
    ForkNewYork.com

  • Are you sure that the Del Frisco door didn’t open into a Malkovich hole that dropped you onto the line at Tad’s? No, you have photos…that is indeed Del Friscos…

  • Mmmmm….Del Frisco’s. There might be a rip in the space-time continuum if too many people try at once to pay with something besides a corporate AmEx, though!

    By the way, Zach, have you noticed that Spice Fusion took your review, blew it up huuuuuuuuuge, and plastered it all over their front door?

  • i am getting this TODAY. thanks for the steak “tip”!

  • Just finished the tips, wonderful! Take out was no problem and under 15 minutes.

  • wow, that looks awesome. i have to try that for lunch one of these days.

  • This was a terrible suggestion:

    1) When I saw the pictures, I drooled so much, my keyboard almost shorted out.

    2) After thoroughly enjoying the tips and potatoes (damn they were good!), I’m probably going to get fired because I’ll be in full nap mode for the rest of the day.

  • What better way to soak up 3 luncheon martinis???

  • All of the steaks at Del Frisco are seasoned with that black pepper.

  • that steak was spectacular! medium is the way to go. i had this during lunch, but would it be distasteful if i ordered it during dinner? can i even order it during dinner?!?

  • this is the stupidest fucking website ever. it has gone downhill so much in the last 6 months. i quit.

  • never mind “fuck you,” zach – he/she’s smoking the get fired sauce. IMO this is exactly the kind of new avenue this site should be pursuing. with a (tragically) limited number of cheap eats venues in midtown, finding cheap *options* at pricier places is realy the only new direction to go in (without opening up the midtown boundaries, that is).

    i for one can’t wait to grace the swells at del frisco’s with the presence of my (in all likelihood drunk) meat-gobbling, penny-pinching ass.

  • Zach – I think I’ve fallen in manlove with you. That was the best lunch in quite a while. 10.78 with tax. I even ate the entire loaf of bread and 1/2 a stick of butter, JUST BECAUSE IT WAS THERE.

    Thanks a bunch.

  • I’ve been a big fan of the Del Frisco’s bar lunch for a while, though I always go for the burger (which is pretty damn good, albeit above the ML threshold). Will have to try the tips after seeing that pic…

  • I have finally arrived at a point in my life (financially) that I can eat just about anywhere I please. However, Del Frisco’s is NOT a place that I would eat under any circumstances.

    Their prices are ridiculous, despite a “come-on special” $10.00 “beef tip” dish with mashed potatoes.

    Too many people in New Yawk City (as well as here in D.C.) have a lot more money than they have brains. However, I suspect that their “money” situation may be short-lived due to their love affair with joints like Del Frisco’s.

  • Doc, fuck off back to offthebroiler.

  • I had this on Friday, and when I went back yesterday to try the burger, I noticed it was no longer on the bar menu. Instead, they had something like “Steak Tips with Angel Hair Pasta” for $19.99. Maybe I just missed it, or there was a huge explosion in people ordering this dish that they had to get rid of it?

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