The Oldest Steakhouse In America Serves Portions So Big They Had To Invent The Doggie Bag

Lamenting the supersizing of American meals has become a modern day cliché, but some spots have been packing on the portions from the earliest days of restaurant dining as we know it. Old Homestead Steakhouse in New York City — the oldest of its kind in the United States — has been serving extra-large plates for so long that it is often credited with having created the doggie bag. Is this to say that restaurants the world over forced guests to go home with pockets full of bourbon mushrooms and mashed potato packed décolleté prior to the restaurant's 1868 opening date? That seems somewhat unlikely, but somebody has to stake a claim as a pioneer, and Old Homestead's present leadership have done so with gusto.

"We buy the finest cuts of USDA prime beef available, and we cut it as big as we possibly can," says current Old Homestead co-owner Marc Sherry in a YouTube video. Sherry's grandfather was Old Homestead's original owner, and the tradition of generosity necessitates those to-go containers. "This is the restaurant that created the doggie bag," Sherry says, "because the steaks were so large that people needed a vessel to take it home, and that's where the doggie bag started."

Old Homestead serves all the steakhouse classics you might expect, and the best way to order a steak is to simply pick what sounds good to you. If you're shopping for size, its center cut sirloin and steak au poivre both clock in at a hearty 16 ounces, while the Gotham rib steak on the bone leaps to 24. The kitchen also makes a couple of steaks intended for two, including a substantial prime porterhouse. Old Homestead's drink list is also vast and varied, but we tend to stick with red wine and ice cold martinis in environs such as these.

It can seem like a prudent idea to pull back on apps and sides with such a tremendous amount of meat incoming, but starters like the very on-theme "colossal" crab cakes, wedge salad, creamed spinach, and all manner of potatoes can be hard to skip. Plus, you can always bring any leftovers home, of course — without even resorting to a cleavage carrier.