Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors
In the fall of 2023, I was commissioned to shoot for a permanent visual archive at the new Peter Luger Steak House in Tokyo—a project developed in collaboration with Wondertable and Designpost. The assignment called for a series of 50 photographs that would capture the raw, unpolished spirit of the original Brooklyn institution and its surrounding neighborhoods.
My goal was to document the unseen Peter Luger—the dry-aging rooms, the rhythmic heat of the kitchen, and the storied faces of the staff who define this Brooklyn institution. By capturing these moments in a high-contrast, noir-inspired aesthetic, I aimed to bridge the distance between Brooklyn and Tokyo, proving that geographical borders do not define the human factor in this New York icon.
To my jubilation, I was granted rare access to Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors—the restaurant’s sole source and a place where tradition is carefully guarded. In the shadow of the old elevated rail lines, now reimagined as the High Line, the rigorous code of an older New York still persists. As the city moves forward, constantly reinventing itself, here, tradition remains uncompromised.
In one frame, two butchers stand quietly among rows of aging beef—surrounded by steel, meeting the camera not as subjects, but as keepers of a process that predates them. In another, the act becomes more intimate: a heavy cut is lifted, examined; its weight both physical and symbolic—before receiving the mark that determines its final destination.
At the center of it all is a gesture both simple and absolute. Carried out by the matriarch of the Luger family, her approval is neither ceremonial nor symbolic—it is final. In a space defined by endurance, she holds a presence that is both respected and unquestioned; her authority earned over time and recognized by those who work in a craft that few men can withstand.
Here, tradition is not preserved—it is practiced. And in a city that is constantly redefining itself, this kind of continuity feels almost defiant.
