Steak with a side of music
People like heading over to Wolfgang’s Steakhouse for a delicious classic New York steakhouse experience. But there’s another reason to go: music.
At the Newport World Resorts branch, guests can enjoy live performances daily from 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., with Gino Cruz as musical director. At the One Bonifacio High Street resto in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), W Nights mean vinyl sessions with Cocoy Puyat on Mondays and DJ sets on Wednesdays. At Wolfgang’s Steakhouse at City of Dreams, vinyl sessions happen on Wednesdays.
You can enjoy the music with a full meal at Wolfgang’s or you can also choose to grab a few drinks and pair them with the bar specials, like fresh oysters, USDA Prime dry-aged salpicao, truffle fries, buffalo wings, mini cheese platter, crostinis, burger sliders, and more.
Music and food are a good combination, says Peter Zwiener, Wolfgang’s Steakhouse president and cofounder. “It’s something that I think goes hand in hand. People, when they go out to eat, they want to enjoy. They want to have a fun place to enjoy the evening. If you can introduce great music with great food, it makes that evening so much more enjoyable.”
Wolfgang’s Steakhouse, which traces its roots to Park Avenue in Manhattan, arrived in the Philippines nine years ago.
First branch
“It’s been phenomenal growth,” Peter, whose father, Wolfgang, founded the steakhouse, told Lifestyle during an interview at the first Wolfgang’s Steakhouse in the country—at Newport World Resorts. “In any new environment, when you open a restaurant, you have to understand the culture, you need to understand the eating habits, you need to get the whole system right. The key was to find a good partner. We may have the greatest concept, we may be able to bring the best beef in, but in order to work, we need a great partner that knows the culture, the local environment.”
He called the first branch a learning curve. “The way that we serve the beef, our service, the environment, was something new to the Philippines. We had to find the right staff and we had to train them. It took a few weeks, even a few months to get that training done. Once we were able to do that and dealt with some of the initial issues, we made this restaurant into a great success.”
Since then, they’ve opened more restaurants—they now have five in Manila and one in Boracay, at Boracay Newcoast.
Peter said, “The strategy that we used in Manila is because there’s so much traffic, instead of creating very large Wolfgang’s like we do in other big cities, we created smaller footprints in many different areas so we could bring the Wolfgang’s concept to different parts of Manila.”
There are also Wolfgang’s Steakhouses in The Podium and Araneta City. And Wolfgang’s is just getting started. “We plan to grow a lot more over the next year and a half. There’s gonna be one in BGC Uptown, two in Cebu, one in Alabang, and we’re going to be opening one in Iloilo.”
Filipinos have embraced the concept. Peter said, “The palate of the Filipino is very sophisticated. They travel all over the world. They have gone to the United States and New York, and they realize what a great steak is. It was one of our big successes because people knew who we were already. Also, many young people here want to understand different types of cooking and different cultures as well … There’s a market for great food and people are willing to experience it. If they find what a great dish is, they’re willing to pay for it and enjoy a great meal.”
Taking care of customers is something Peter learned from his father, Wolfgang, who passed away in January of this year. Peter continues his legacy of making sure diners are happy. He told Lifestyle, “He was a true hospitality person where he focused on the customer. He wanted to make sure that all customers left happy and that everyone felt like they were truly important and a VIP. He wanted everyone to enjoy the service and the food … He always had this big smile and he made people feel very comfortable. It’s really all about the customer.”
Favorites
What’s Peter’s usual order at Wolfgang’s?
“I always start off with one of our soups, our soups of the day. And then I will get a shrimp cocktail. I love salads so I love the Beverly Hills Chopped Salad. And then I’ll go right for one of the steaks. I typically will either order a porterhouse or a filet mignon, although the rib-eye is fantastic too, so it’s very difficult. I like to trade them all up. But our signature is the porterhouse. Then side dishes, I like the German potatoes and the cream spinach.”
And for dessert? “Dessert’s always fabulous. My favorites are the cheesecake or apple strudel a la mode. And then all our desserts come with our famous schlag, which is our whipped cream.”
Oh yes, if you’re going to Wolfgang’s Steakhouse, you cannot miss the desserts. We love the New York-style cheesecake and also the pecan pie and chocolate mousse cake.
And even if you’re not crazy about steak, you’ll find plenty to enjoy at Wolfgang’s. Peter said, “Other than just a steak, we have great seafood, we have great side dishes, we have a wonderful wine selection. The ambiance, the service, that’s what they can expect from a Wolfgang’s.”
Contact Wolfgang’s Steakhouse at the following numbers: Newport World Resorts, tel. no. (0999) 842-7954; The Podium, tel. no. (0917) 702-8913; Bonifacio Global City, tel. no. (0917) 710-1682; City Of Dreams, tel. no. (0956) 794-0075; Araneta City, tel. no. (0977) 412-0670; and Boracay Newcoast, tel. no. (0915) 757-2867.
