Lobel’s Original, which opened in the concourse beneath Rockefeller Center this June, is steeped in history.
Black and white family photos, documenting the legacy of one of New York’s most famous butcher shops dating back to 1840, adorn the walls of Lobel’s first-ever sit down restaurant, which opened this summer.
“Family is everything to the Lobels,” said Brian Lobel, part of the sixth generation of Lobels operating the family’s butcher business. “We are as close as a family could be in business and outside of business, being able to learn from my father, my grandfather, my uncle, my cousin, there’s nothing like it. It doesn’t feel like work.”
If you’ve been to a New York Yankees game, you know of Lobel’s. Their steak sandwich has been a mainstay since the new stadium opened in 2009. And up until this summer, Yankees games were the only place you could get one.
A longstanding family business
The Lobel’s story dates back to the 1840s in Austria.
After the family moved to the United States, they opened their retail butcher shop in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, on 82nd Street and Madison Avenue, in 1954.
Lobel’s prides itself on delivering fresh, never frozen meat across the United States. Quality and customer service, Lobel explained, has always been the standard.
“As far back as I can remember, that’s what was instilled in us,” Lobel said. “My father, my uncle, my cousin, my grandfather, my great uncle, it was just, ‘treat everybody like family.’”
Lobel credited his grandfather, who passed away last November, for teaching him everything he knows about the business and being a butcher. He always enjoyed their hour-long drive home from the shop, where they’d catch up and talk about the business and life.
Lobel’s at Yankee Stadium
Sixteen years ago, the Yankees brought the Lobels on as consultants.
The family envisioned a replica of the Madison Avenue butcher shop in the stadium, offering the highest quality of protein.
A few weeks before new Yankee Stadium opened in 2009, Lobel’s decided that they were going to sell steak sandwiches at Yankees games. The stadium operation began as a mobile cart in section 134.
The sandwiches became so popular that Lobel’s expanded to a permanent concession stand. Lobel’s now offers a wide selection at stadium events, including pastrami sandwiches, burgers, chicken sandwiches and loaded tater tots. The company’s meat is sold in 13 locations across Yankee Stadium.
“Where else are you going to get prime dry aged New York strip or prime filet mignon at a stadium or an arena?” Lobel asked. “It just doesn’t happen.”
Lobel’s Original opens at Rockefeller Center
This summer, Lobel’s opened its first sit-down style restaurant, Lobel’s Original on the concourse beneath Rockefeller Center.
The restaurant also features a quick serve grab and go section for those in a rush.
Lobel said the company is adding more menu items in the future. The current offerings include steak, pork, broccoli rabe and turkey sandwiches, desserts like banana pudding and chocolate chip cookies, breakfast — bacon, egg and cheese and egg and cheese — served every morning and a full bar.
Last month, Lobel’s Original launched a new weekend brunch offering, featuring specials like a pastrami breakfast sandwich, the cro-nana — a banana pudding stuffed croissant — and a bloody mary with an all-spice rim and bacon garnish.
In the restaurant’s first month of operation, Lobel found a mix of customers who recognized the brand from Yankee Stadium and the Madison Avenue shop, and people working nearby or visiting. What’s important, he said, is that Lobel’s Original caters to everyone.
“We offer that casual, but not too casual here,” Lobel said. “If you wanted to come in on your lunch break or for dinner from your office building upstairs, you come in your suit, your jacket, your tie, you don’t feel overdressed or underdressed, or if you want to come in with your children and a stroller, we’ve catered to everybody, and that’s super important to us.”
But nothing is as important as New York — the place the Lobels call home and have operated their butcher shop for more than half a century.
“New York means everything to us,” Lobel said. “It’s where my family is, it’s where my business is. All the Lobels live very close to each other. My parents are three minutes down the road, my grandma’s five minutes down the road. My uncle’s probably 25 seconds down the road. So New York is home.”
