Bern's Steak House

On a trip from New York to California, Bernard Laxer and his wife Gert stayed in Tampa, where they opened a small restaurant. In 1956, they moved to Howard Avenue, which is the beginning of Bern's Steak House story. Obsessed with quality, Bernard started his farm to grow to produce for the restaurant and assembled the world's most extensive restaurant wine cellar with more than 500,000 bottles encompassing around 6,800 different labels. Yes, you read that correctly: the world's most extensive restaurant wine cellar is Tampa, Florida.

Bern's Steak House Restaurant can seat 740 diners in many different rooms, including the Harry Waugh Dessert Room upstairs (named after an English friend of Bern's who suggested having a separate space for the sweets). There is an ultra-private room with a back entrance for the high-rollers, celebrities, and U.S. presidents. Bern is responsible for many decorative items throughout the spaces, which he collected over the years, including numerous photos he took himself.

Menu of Bern's Steak House Restaurant with a whole page of caviars, soups, and salads, including a tableside-prepared Caesar, foie gras, escargots, vegetables, fresh fish flown in daily, shellfish, live lobster, lamb, duck, top-quality chicken, sauces and, of course, the steaks, which are aged in-house for five to eight weeks. You can choose from a list of dozens of items, priced according to the cut and thickness, with even a ruler to remind you of the meat's measurement, so you don't under-order or over-order. Suppose you need assistance from your waiter, who will be happy to help you select the steak of your dreams. Save room for a sweet from the 35-plus-item dessert menu that you will eat in a private booth equipped with a phone for requesting songs from the resident pianist. And do allow time for the 15-minute kitchen and wine cellar tour.

At Bern's Steak House Restaurant, you will find anything you desire, including pre-war Sauternes and seventeenth-century Madeira, 200 wines by the glass, and over 80 in the Dessert Room.

Detail information:

Address: 1208 S. Howard Ave. (Marjory Ave.), Florida

Website: http://www.bernssteakhouse.com/