Along with Derek Silverman ’09, Andrew Dermont ’09, the original Blargus Editor-in-Chief, and one of the more mischievous of our recent alumni, is making headlines with his triumphant revival of the beefsteak, an apparently illustrious New York tradition. In a hilarious article published last Friday, intrepid Argus features reporter Elana Metsch-Ampel ’12 grills Silverman and Dermont about their new venture, and whether it is, well, slightly retrograde in terms of vegetarian friendliness.

The beefsteak is not a sit down dinner. It is a guttural, all-you-can-eat smorgasbord featuring pink slabs of beef tenderloin and unlimited pitchers of beer. Utensils are not involved. In fact it is absolutely mandatory that there is a complete absence of silverware of any kind. McSorley’s Beer signed on to officially sponsor the beefsteak, and provided Dermont and Silverman with 12 kegs of light and dark ale.

That’s right. Apparently they managed to finagle McSorley’s Beer into sponsoring the event, which they held in the Bell House, “a current popular music venue and former paper factory from the 1920s,” according to Metsch-Ampel. And while Silverman gives credit for the “dynamic duo’s” entrepreneurial success to Director of Student Activites Tim Shiner, I’ve got to hand it to them: the whole thing is pretty impressive and awesome. In the story, Dermont defended the integrity of the enterprise, touting their use of free-range cattle.

“We are organizing this event to bring back what we feel is a beautiful New York tradition and to subtly remind people that eating beef does not have to be inhumane and unhealthy,” wrote Dermont in anticipation of the event. “We hope and anticipate our guests will enjoy celebrating New York, free-range cattle, and New York’s oldest beer as much as we do.”

But most of all, says Dermont, the event, which he plans to hold 2-4 times a year, is about revisiting an earlier and perhaps tawdrier time in New York history.

“Our goal [was] to recreate the raucous atmosphere of New York docks, backroom saloons, and Tammany Hall political fundraisers of years past,” wrote Dermont in an e-mail to the Argus.

Good work, Andrew! Don’t forget about your old pals at the Blargus when you start to rake in the money from this thing.

Argus: http://wesleyanargus.com/2009/12/04/for-alums-in-brooklyn-the-menu-is-beef/

EDIT: Brooklyn Paper: http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/32/43/32_43_gk_beefsteak.html

About Ezra Silk

I have been interested in journalism ever since I was an editor at my high school student newspaper, where I was involved in a freedom of speech controversy that was covered in the local newspaper as well as local television and radio outlets. The ACLU became involved, and the ensuing negotiations lead to a liberalization of my school's freedom of expression policy. I worked as a summer intern at the Hartford Courant after my freshman year at Wesleyan, reporting for the Avon Bureau under Bill Leukhardt and publishing over 30 stories. At the Argus I have been a news reporter, news assistant editor, news editor, features editor, editor-in-chief, executive editor, blogger, and multimedia director. I have overseen the redesign of wesleyanargus.com, founding the Blargus and initiating ArgusVideo at the beginning of my time as editor-in-chief during the spring of my junior year. During my senior year, I have co-edited the Blargus with Gianna Palmer and founded Argus News Radio, a 15-minute weekly show produced by WESU 88.1 on which I conduct a weekly segment interviewing seniors about their thesis topics. I have written over 70 stories at the Argus and continue to do reporting and blogging as much as I can.