Raleigh, NC is home to two classic steakhouses. Readers picked this one as the best
On the same suburban stretch of Glenwood Avenue, about five miles apart, there are two Raleigh steakhouses from the same era, but worlds away from each other.
There’s the giant Angus Barn, a steakhouse destination on a hill, famous as a seasonal wonderland in the winter and one of North Carolina’s most popular restaurants. Closer to the Raleigh Beltline there’s The Peddler, a small strip mall steakhouse with generations of regulars, a dark and intimate dining room with saloon doors leading to the bar.
Sometimes small is mighty.
The Peddler has been named the Triangle’s top steakhouse by readers of The News & Observer, collecting 70 percent of the vote over the Angus Barn in a Final Round of the Triangle Steakhouse Bracket.
Despite the whims of taste and trend in restaurants, the steakhouse endures. Today The Peddler, open since 1969, offers something timeless in a region that’s constantly changing.
“Raleigh is such a new city, but nothing changes at The Peddler,” said Emily Barefoot, who now largely runs The Peddler, taking over for her semi-retired father and late mother Gale and Joyce Barefoot. “It’s an old school steakhouse with a clientele devoted to how we’ve always done it. People depend on it to not ever change.”
The Peddler opened in Raleigh in 1969 and was at one time part of a chain of Peddler steakhouses, but all are now independent, Barefoot said. As a teenager, Gale Barefoot started working as a dishwasher in the restaurant and in his early 20s had an opportunity to own it. Emily said she grew up in The Peddler and that the restaurant and its staff are family.
“I grew up taking naps on the bench seats, vacations were canceled if staffing issues came up — this restaurant is so much a part of the way I was raised,” Barefoot said. “We have servers who have worked here on and off for 30 years. A bartender drives in from Greensboro to work one shift a week; she trained me when I was 19 and I’m 41 now.”
The name The Peddler refers to the restaurant’s shtick, where diners can ask for “The Peddler” to wheel a cart of whole ribeye and New York strip steaks to the table, which are then sliced to a desired thickness. All steaks are aged 28 days and then grilled over live charcoal on a grill that’s open to the entire dining room, wafting the smell of sizzle and smoke all around. Barefoot said her favorite is the prime rib, which is slow roasted for hours to a rosy pink and offered daily.
Maybe there’s something elemental to steakhouses that makes them timeless, the simple combination of fire and beef that creates something exquisite. But becoming a timeless restaurant requires a buy-in from diners, regulars who have found something to love in The Peddler’s wood-paneling and its darkened corners, its stiff drinks and special dinners.
Barefoot said there are regulars who come multiple times a week —a man who is often there waiting at the door before it opens, couples with standing date nights each Friday.
“I saw a review that said Tony Soprano ate here and I love that,” Barefoot said. “People will come in and say its their parents’ anniversary and they died 20 years ago, but this is where they came to celebrate. It’s a part of people’s traditions.”
Barefoot said she’s seen the popularity of steakhouses come and go, but says we’re now in the midst of a new embrace.
“It’s just Americana, it’s always been part of our culture,” Barefoot said of steakhouses. “There’s always an ebb and flow but we’re in a resurgence. Old school steakhouses are popular again.”
The Peddler won all four rounds of the Triangle Steakhouse Bracket, a first in The News & Observer’s series of restaurant polls.
Barefoot said the Angus Barn is unquestionably a Raleigh institution and that she’s taken staff members there for a meal before when they say they’ve never been. For The Peddler to prevail and step out of the long shadow of the Angus Barn, Barefoot said it’s meaningful to the restaurant.
“We’re always the underdog, the hidden away neighborhood joint,” Barefoot said. “This means a lot to us, it’s a serotonin shot for us. Our staff is stunning. I just love this place. We’re just this little tiny family-run restaurant.”
Runner-up The Angus Barn
Like Raleigh’s The Peddler, the Angus Barn is also a family-run restaurant, but there’s nothing tiny about it. The scale of this legendary restaurant is unmatched in North Carolina, made up of giant dining rooms and banquet halls, a lofted bar in the Wild Turkey Lounge and decades of hosting the important meals of countless diners.
The Angus Barn was opened in 1960 by Thad Eure, Jr. and Charles Winston and is today owned and operated by Van Eure and her husband Steve Thanhauser.
A table at the Angus Barn during holidays usually requires weeks of planning, but even showing up on a whim is rewarded with cocktails on the porch, horseradish-spiked cheese and crackers and eventually, a memorable meal.
The Angus Barn is perhaps most magical during its month-long celebration of the winter holidays around Christmas. The restaurant and grounds are strewn with lights and garland, and diners might feel like they’re inside a snowglobe.
In its enormous scale, Thanhauser said the Angus Barn aims to match the moments it often hosts.
“One thing that’s remained so constant forever at the Angus Barn and at steakhouse in general across our country is they’re synonymous with big celebrations,” Thanhauser said. “Birthdays, anniversaries, major corporate events, you go out and celebrate with a steak.”
Recently the Angus Barn suffered an enormous and tragic loss in the death of its longtime executive chef Walter Royal. A giant in the Triangle’s food scene, Royal guided the Angus Barn through countless services and events over two decades.
Thanhauser said Royal launched one of the Angus Barn’s most popular events, which returns this weekend, the Father’s Day cooking class. The class has been on pause since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, but in years prior hosted 200 dads working on eight grills learning how to cook the perfect steak.
“That was his brainchild and he was the proudest papa,” Thanhauser said. “He would say ‘There are no secrets (to perfect steaks), let everyone learn.’”
This story was originally published June 16, 2023 at 12:44 PM with the headline "Raleigh, NC is home to two classic steakhouses. Readers picked this one as the best."
