Beefsteak (banquet)

A beefsteak is a type of banquet in which sliced beef tenderloin is served to diners as all-you-can-eat finger food. The dining style originated in 19th-century New York City as a type of working-class celebration but went into a decline in the mid-20th century. Resurrected by caterers in New Jersey, the beefsteak banquet style is now popular in that state's Bergen and Passaic counties, and is enjoying a revival in New York City, where the style originated, due to the reemergence of a biannual beefsteak in Brooklyn.

Beefsteak banquets originated among the working class of New York City in the mid-1800s as celebratory meals or "testimonials". The meal would generally be set up by an organization wishing to laud or raise money for politicians, newly promoted friends, or celebrities. Tammany Hall regularly threw beefsteaks as political fundraisers, often enough that it was a large portion of beefsteak business in New York and "when Tammany Hall [got] a setback, beefsteaks [got] a setback".Sophie Tucker and Bill Robinson had beefsteaks thrown for them in the 1930s.

Early beefsteaks were held in a relaxed, men-only atmosphere, with diners sitting on crates and eating with their fingers off of rough, improvised tables in saloons, rental halls, or residential basements. Food and drink were the focus of the evening, and entertainment often consisted simply of those present telling stories and singing amongst themselves. Brass bands were sometimes hired.

Though the centerpiece of beefsteak culture was indisputably the frenzied consumption of beef and beer, with diners eating with their fingers and drinking with abandon, serving styles varied. 1930s-era beefsteaks could be grouped into two styles, referred to by Joseph Mitchell in a 1939 The New Yorker article as "East Side" and "West Side" and roughly corresponding to the geographic separation of New York City into the same-named areas. Each group claimed to Mitchell to have originated beefsteak banquets and to have the most authentic serving and eating styles.

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