Brooklyn, Flash Deals, Porterhouse, Rib Eye, Steakhouse Reviews

Embers Steakhouse

April 11, 2016 Johnny Prime 2 Comments

Embers Steakhouse overall score: 81

I recently grabbed this Groupon deal for Embers because my buddy recently moved to the area, and I figured we would give this place a shot on my next visit to see his new place. I was pleasantly surprised with some aspects of the meal, and a little disappointed with others. Read on, my friends:

Flavor: 8
We had a group of four with us, so we went with the porterhouse for two and the tomahawk rib eye for two, that way we were able to try all the major cuts in one shot.

The tomahawk was a solid 9/10, and with a slight amount of tweaking I think this could be a 10. The sear was great, and the cook temperature was perfect. Also this is one of the larger bones I have seen come to the table in a while. The steak had to be about 50oz, if I had to guess.

I was impressed with the quality of the fat cap and how it was still pink through the center. Lots of times the cap can get overcooked since the fat in there gets hot very fast while cooking, and since it is on the outer edge of the steak, it can get overcooked. Check it out though – still nice and pink:

Keep in mind, this massive tomahawk chop was only $75, too. Amazing value here.

The porterhouse was unfortunately a bit overcooked. It lacked flavor and seasoning as well, despite a few parts of each side being salvageable. I’d say this comes in at about a 6/10.

Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 9
There are a lot of different cuts to choose from here, and several variations of each cut in terms of size and quality. They have a skirt steak to boot, in addition to the four main cuts of beef. Actually, one of the four rib eyes they offer is even advertised as grass fed and hormone free. As you can see, a couple are labeled as Angus, too. I have to say, I was impressed with this selection. And even though I wasn’t a fan of the porterhouse and didn’t award top points for the tomahawk, I can confidently say that this is some near perfect beef in terms of quality. Maybe some additional aging time and another filet, along with more delineated sizes/ounces would take it to 10.

The selections up top are all dry-aged right next door at Vinnie’s Butcher Shop, where they source their meats, so they could easily push the aging time from 20 days to something like 35.

I went in there to take a look before we ate, and I can assure you that the quality is good, and the prices are very affordable, even for dry aged Angus beef.

Portion Size & Plating: 8
Portions are good here, especially for the price point. Sides weren’t too big or too small either. If you don’t notice the portion size too much either way, then that usually means they are correct.

Price: 10
Amazing prices here. They rival the suburbs, but with city quality food. I think I paid $92 for the Groupon, which got me $200 worth of food. With tax and tip, each couple threw in another $65. So all in I spent $111 for two people’s meals (we split the Groupon as well). Also, if you come on the weekend, they offer a $16 brunch special. Pretty good deal.

Bar: 8
Embers is located on a major avenue in Bay Ridge where people congregate to go to bars and restaurants. There’s a nice bar that can seat maybe 10 people near the window, and they make some nice drinks as well.

Specials and Other Meats: 8
There were a bunch of specials offered on a separate paper menu, and the joint does offer veal, lamb and chicken in terms of alternative meats. They also have an Italian sausage platter for a very fair price ($18).

Apps, Sides & Desserts: 7
We had some stand-outs here, but also some that fell short. We started with one of the stars of the meal, the “bacon steak.” These two slabs cost just $10 for both.

They were amazing. Perfectly crisp and seasoned, nice and meaty, good quality fat, and served with a tangy and robust steak sauce.

Next was the octopus and calamari app that was on special. They were braised and grilled, nice and tender.

Our two steaks came with two sides and a vegetable each, so another notch on the price/value belt. We tried roasted corn, baked potato, french fries, grilled zucchini and potato pie. What is potato pie? It’s mashed potato with mozzarella cheese and prosciutto. AWESOME! Not really photogenic, though. I totally got lazy and phoned it in on these pics, folks. Sorry.

To sum up: get the fries (awesomely crisp) and the potato cake. Pass on the baked potato, for sure. It came with no accompaniments.

Dessert was similar: hit and miss. The creme brulee was good. It was creamy and made correctly.

The cookie cake was good. Like a thick, soft cookie in cake format with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The peach melba was flat. The peaches tasted like they were maybe canned rather than fresh. Otherwise nice whipped cream.

Seafood Selection: 7
There’s shrimp, salmon and a catch of the day in terms of seafood, aside from the standard shellfish type items on the app menu. From what we tried, I would probably consider ordering a fish entree from here on another visit, or maybe sharing one with my wife as a snack while devouring another tomahawk.

Service: 8
The service here was good, and the waiters were friendly and attentive. They missed one minor item with my buddy’s martini, but this was nothing to make a stink about. Bathrooms could use a remodel or a freshen-up, but table bread in the afternoon on the weekend was interesting, as it consisted of brunch mini-muffins.

Ambiance: 8
This is a nicely appointed mom & pop joint. The dining room isn’t trying too hard to be fancy or elegant. It doesn’t feel like it needs anything. It’s perfect for what it is, yet you still know you’re eating in a steakhouse. They even have a small side room for larger parties.

I would definitely go here again. I think I would go with the Tomahawk again, the slab bacon, the french fries and I’d maybe try one of the spinach items. With the Groupon deal in hand, this joint is a no-brainer. You should definitely go. Just listen to my recommendations and you are all good.

EMBERS STEAKHOUSE
9519 3rd Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11209

Japanese, Midtown East, Ramen, Restaurant Reviews

Momosan Ramen & Sake

April 10, 2016 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Momosan is Iron Chef Morimoto’s newest joint that specializes in ramen and sake. It’s a smallish-sized joint that seats 66 people and has lots of bar seating.

Speaking of the bar, they have some really interesting beers and sakes. I tried two great beers: a hazelnut Morimoto bottle and a soba ale draft, both by Rogue.

My wife went with a really good sake that the bartender recommended (Suehiro was the brand), It was just the right balance of sweetness, served in an overflowing shot within a wooden box.

So not only does this place have great ramen, as you will see below, but they also have really good and unique apps and entrees. The executive chef is Korean, so there are some Korean-inspired items on the menu like various kimchis and bibimbap-like dishes. We started with the pork jowl and tofu kimchi.

As you can see, it’s sitting on a nice pillow of silken tofu, which you will definitely need a spoon to pick up, as the chopsticks cut right through it.

The next two dishes were the clear stand-outs of the three. Crispy pig ears and braised pig feet. They may sound disgusting to the average person, but let me assure you they were absolutely incredible. First the ears: these were like crispy pig fries. They had just the right amount of crunch on the outside and tenderness on the inside to make you not even know you were eating meat. But so packed with flavor. I could eat a bucket of these without blinking.

These came with a spiced mayo for dipping, but I recommend dipping them in this hard to find chili garlic paste as well (it’s on the tables and the bar here). It had an almost mustard-like flavor profile to it, even though the ingredients are pretty simple – chilies, garlic, water and vinegar.

Now the pig’s feet. Amazing. You get two parts here. One is the gelatinous hoof-like part – which is melt-in-your-mouth delicious, like pork jelly – and the other is braised and crisped meat.

Hoof part:

Braised and crisped part:

It’s nice to eat a little together at the same time to mix up the textures. I think this might have been my favorite of the three, but it was very difficult to make that call up against the ears. So when you go, just man-up and order them both.

Okay, so now for the ramen. I tried the tonkotsu with an added slab of miso-braised pork belly on top.

The broth was very flavorful with a nice layer of fat on top, paying homage to the real-deal Japanese versions of this style. I was distinctly able to taste the use of kelp in the broth, which was nice and refreshing. The egg was perfect, but the $4 added slab of pork belly was a bit small (though incredibly delicious).

My wife tried the tantan, which is a spicy coconut curry broth with pork and saffron. The deep red color is absolutely stunning.

I liked it very much. The sweetness of the coconut cut the spice of the curry really well. When I come back, I will be getting a bowl of this for myself, for sure.

The ramen all come in two sizes, and if you are really torn between choosing, then get two small bowls.

The tsukemen, however, does not come in two sizes. Tsukemen is concentrated ramen broth with a bowl of dry noodles and meat that you dip into the concentrated broth before eating. My buddy ordered this. He’s pretty reserved and particular when it comes to judging noodle shops, but he really did like this one a lot, and Morimoto kept coming to our table to check on him and what he thought when he got wind that there was a true tsukemen aficionado in the house who had not been impressed by any other NYC ramen shops’ offerings to date.

Below is a shot of the tsukemen noodle bowl. You’ll notice a lime wedge in there. The chef recommends eating the first half without the lime, and then using the lime to punch up the second half. I think it’s a smart move because the citrus acts to cut through the fatty layer that forms over your mouth and tastebuds from eating the first half. The lime essentially cleanses the palette so you can taste all that goodness again on the second half of the bowl, only this time with some added citrus kick. Delicious.

I think that about covers it. Great first few days for this new opening, and I am excited to go back in for their lunch specials, which will consist of a small ramen and an app or rice “don” item for just $16.

MOMOSAN RAMEN & SAKE
342 Lexington Ave
New York, NY 10016

Burgers, Flash Deals, Full Points for Flavor, Italian, Nolita/Soho, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, NY Strip, Parms, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, Rib Eye

Osteria Morini

April 7, 2016 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Morini has a new burger and I tried this strip steak too. BOTH INCREDIBLE!

My wife was recently browsing around the Instagram foodporn landscape when she came across this image of a massive rib eye:

osteria morini — Photo Credit: Osteria Morini: @OsteriaMorini on Instagram

I was immediately intrigued when she shared it with me, but I kind of just put it on the mental list of places that I needed to try. Like any fool who is just looking at photos and not actually READING captions, I missed the integral part of what was going on and why my thoughtful wife sent it to me:

“BIG news. Literally. Tonight only we are serving 120 day dry aged Tomahawk Steak. It’s on a first come basis and there are only 7, so call to reserve yours now.”

120 fucking days?!?? Wow. So a few days go by and I get this frantic text from my wife: “GET YOUR CAMERA AND MEET ME AT OSTERIA MORINI TONIGHT AT 6PM!”

I responded. “Okay. Why, what’s going on?” Then she proceeded to explain to me the details of what I had glanced over a few days earlier. She’s a very patient person. I do this often, apparently. But my mouth dropped. She had secured us one of the seven 52oz, 120-day dry-aged Pat Lafrieda/Creekstone Farms rib eyes just a week or two in advance of our 7-year wedding anniversary. They only offer them on the first Wednesday of every month, so scheduling is limited. Anyway, I ran home and got my camera, because we were about to celebrate with the best steak we’d ever eaten.

The steak is not trimmed of any excess fat, and the bone is left with all the meat still attached prior to cooking, as you can see in the Instagram photo above. This is ideal when dry-aging, because eventually you have to trim off the outer bark and you inevitably lose some meat when that happens. Better that it be fat and gristle than your spinalis dorsi. Even still, this particular cut is still left with tons of surrounding meat and tenderized fat. Ours came out to the table pre-sliced, beautifully plated and ready for gorging:

Everything is edible on this. Even the fat breaks down into a really delicious beef jelly after that much time aging.

The cap was truly something to behold. Packed with tons of flavor and so fucking tender. As for the eye (longissimus dorsi), just take a look at this perfectly cooked masterpiece of a slice:

I half expected something so funky and nutty that it would almost be unrecognizable as steak, and more akin to blue cheese. But it was mild and pleasant, not so robust that it became odd tasting, like what can happen with some long aging processes. This was just right. I was smiling the entire time. This is the best steak I’ve ever eaten. 10/10, and still a 10/10 on a second visit years later.

But let’s not brush aside the other great Italian cuisine going on here at Osteria Morini. The bar has a great selection of Italian-inspired cocktails that are really unique and interesting.

The atmosphere is home-ish and comfortable. It’s warm and inviting, with lots of wood tones.

By 8:30pm the lights had dimmed significantly and the place was wall-to-wall jammed. The food is so great, it is no wonder why. But when you take the stellar service into consideration, a packed house becomes a no-brainer. GM Phillip Buttacavoli made us feel very much at home, and all employees from servers, to kitchen staff, to bartenders were really helpful, pleasant and nice.

The foccacia table bread was warm, toasty and nicely seasoned.

We started with the stracci pasta: long, wide ribbons of egg-forward pasta with a braised wild mushroom sauce and rosemary oil.

Perfectly cooked, and delicious through and through. The other pasta dishes all sounded great too. I will definitely be back to survey more of those selections.

The steak, which was a very fair $145, came with our choice of two sides as well. We went with the parmigiano roasted asparagus and the parmigiano fingerling potatoes.

The asparagus reminded me of the kind my mother used to make. Very simply cooked but with parmigiano over the top to add in some salt and flavor. And the potatoes were perfectly crunchy and nicely seasoned all around.

For dessert, we tried the gianduja budino: a baked chocolate and hazelnut custard with candied hazelnuts, brown butter and salted chocolate cake crumbles.

I loved it. It had just the right amount of sweet and savory to strike a great balance. They even gave us some complimentary glasses of saffron and cardamom amaro to go with the dessert.

We ended up using a great Gilt City deal on this meal. My wife paid something like $145 for $200 worth of credit to apply to the bill at pretty much any Altamarea Group restaurant (except for Marea). That left us with a little bit to cover at the end.

What a fantastic meal. I can’t wait to go back!

UPDATE 8/1/18

Had a bunch of pasta dishes, which were all excellent:

Octopus was really tender, and had a nice char on the outside.

Incredible “White Label Burger.” Custom Pat LaFrieda beef blend with tomato, speck aioli, and fontina cheese with sides of parmesan and parsley onion rings and fonduta.

And crispy breaded veal wrapped in prosciutto and covered with truffle cream sauce.

OSTERIA MORINI
218 Lafayette Street
New York, NY 10012

Italian, Pizza, Press Reviews, Queens, Restaurant Reviews

Via Vai

April 3, 2016 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Located right at the end of the N/Q in Astoria is an amazing Italian joint called Via Vai (translation: Coming and Going).

I was invited here for a free press dinner, but I can tell you honestly that this is some of the best Italian food around – especially the pizza. The flavors are not hidden with grated cheese or pepper on top at this place. You’re dealing with naked and natural dishes made from top quality ingredients. Everything comes to the table already nicely seasoned, and with great cooking technique there is no need for extra grated cheese or cracked pepper.

The first thing I noticed was that the staff can all speak Italian. In fact both people we met were from Italy. Valentina was from Genoa, and Manuel was from Rome. The crowd was good too; a full house by 7:30pm. Lots of neighborhood regulars were coming in, and the staff was eager to greet them. They even waved to people walking by on the streets – more neighborhood regulars that they know by name and sight. In fact the people next to us had clearly been there before, based on the conversation I overheard. They also spoke constantly about how great their pasta, shrimp and grilled veggies were. It seems like they had a great meal just like we did.

We started with some drinks: a Picus red wine, which was a nice blend of sangiovese and montepulciano. Very smooth. We also had a Staten Island hefeweizen from Flagship. It was the filtered wheat style: good flavor.

The first thing that our lovely waitress Valentina brought to us was this plate of warm flatbread foccacia, which was like a pizza crust that was ever-so-lightly salted. It was served with olive oil that had a garlic clove and a rosemary sprig in it. Light. Perfect. I could eat this shit all day.

Next up was a pizza, fresh from the brick oven:

While I’m more of a traditional margherita pizza guy, this shit was so fucking good that I could see myself having this shit at least two or three times a week. A light, airy dough is made in house and allowed to rise for 48 hours. It gets crispy, soft, fluffy and absolutely perfect in terms of texture. This particular pie was topped with a fig marmalade, prosciutto, gorgonzola, truffle oil and arugula. This was Valentina’s favorite pizza on the menu, and Manuel told us that this is how he used to eat pizza in Rome.

Next up was polpette (meatballs). The sauce was chunky and fresh, nicely seasoned. The balls were very soft, and made from all beef, which I like. Lots of times the pork, veal and beef mixtures can get too dense. I tend to be a picky meatball guy and I really liked these. I still like my mom’s better because she fries them in a pan first to give them a crispy crust before plopping them in the sauce – so you get crispy outside and soft inside.

Then we got to try this really interesting gnocchi special. The purple color is from the beet and ricotta based pasta dough (all pasta is made fresh in house). The sauces on top were twofold: parmesan fondue porcini mushroom. The dish was then finished with some truffle oil and crushed hazelnuts. This was unique and very different, and stunningly gorgeous to see in person. They were like pasta bubble gum balls. I didn’t really taste any beet, but the flavor was really good.

Last, we had some kickass desserts. The absolute best panna cotta I’ve ever had. It was insane. Realllllly smooth and creamy consistency. The texture was flawless. Not overcooked at all. It was like creme brulee but not as eggy, not too sweet.

Last was tiramisu. This was super light and whipped, with cocoa sprinkled on top. There were thin layers of cake between the ricotta, and there was just a light hint of coffee flavor, which I appreciated (I’m not into heavy coffee flavors in dessert).

Clean bathroom too – that is always important!

UPDATE 4/3/16

My wife and I came back here to try out their brunch/lunch options. They offer a great deal where you get two entrees/items and a dessert for $28. This is probably enough to split between two people, but my wife and I each did our own to maximize the items we wanted to try out.

Our “starters” were a spinach and egg pizza, and a spinach and asparagus crepe. The pizza was great, once again. The egg really brought home the breakfast feel, and Manuel even drizzled some truffle oil over the top to give it an earthy punch.

The crepe was light and fluffy, and thicker than one might expect when hearing the word “crepe.” It was somewhere between an omelette and a crepe, I would say. It was covered with a light tomato sauce and filled with cheese, spinach and asparagus. Beautiful to look at, and even better to eat. This was a perfect brunch item.

We tried two pasta dishes for the “entrees.” First was this bucatini carbonara. Bucatini, if you don’t know, is a thick spaghetti that has a hole through the center, like a straw. The sauce was nice and creamy without being too heavy. The portion size was great for the price, and the onion, pancetta and seasonings were all top notch.

The other pasta dish was a rigatoni alla grecia, which was similar to the carbonara but without the creaminess. This ate much lighter, but both dishes contained perfectly cooked pasta that was just the right amount of al dente.

By then we were full, so we brought some of the pasta home with us, but we couldn’t pass up on the dessert. We shared the panna cotta, which we knew that we loved from our earlier visit. I had forgotten how smooth and creamy this was. Just perfect. This time the plating was a bit nicer too, with some orange slices and pistachios.

I highly recommend this place, especially for the pizza and pasta.

VIA VAI
31-09 23rd Ave.
New York, NY 11105

Italian, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, NY Strip, Restaurant Reviews, West Village

Crispo

April 3, 2016 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Crispo is a gorgeous Italian joint down on 14th Street near 8th Avenue. My buddy and his girlfriend have been coming here for years. I had never heard of it, but when he told me about it, I knew we had to try it out together as a group.

We started with a bunch of apps. For that reason, and because I knew we were also going to eat pasta and steak, I took it easy on the delicious and generously portioned table bread.

First, we had a sampler app trio of speck, aged goat cheese and mozzarella rice balls. The meat and cheese came with dried fig and an apricot/fennel jam. Both the speck and the cheese were great, top quality products.

The rice balls were addicting. You can easily catch yourself popping a bunch of these in a row without even realizing what’s going on. They were perfectly fried to a golden crisp on the outside, and the inside was both firm from the rice yet oozing with delicious melty fresh mozzarella cheese. Not heavy, salty or greasy, which is the opposite of what you sometimes get when these are done wrong.

The next app was a nice, simple fried calamari. This also came with fried zucchini. There was a cornmeal aspect to the breading here, which made for a nice crisp crunch. That’s fried parsley on top, too.

Our favorite app was this crispy pork belly topped with a melted gorgonzola-stuffed fig. Underneath the pork belly was crispy polenta, and a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

This was one of the most tasty apps I’ve had in a while. In fact, I think this could be an incredibly successful entree as well if just magnified in proportion. Seriously, I could eat this all day. The fat is cut with the acid, and the funk of the cheese takes the flavors off onto a ride that’s more wild than the fucking Great Space Coaster.

So after all of that, we were finally ready for some pasta. This place seems to be somewhat famous for two pasta dishes in particular: the Spaghetti Carbonara and the truffle ravioli. I know what you’re thinking. “Spaghetti Carbonara? I can get that crap at any halfway decent Italian joint.” But here’s the rub: most Italian joints fuck up their Carbonara with cream, making a dense, salty and overly-heavy pasta eating experience. Real Carbonara, from what I understand, doesn’t have any dairy, other than the cheese you grate over the top! The creaminess is achieved via egg yolk.

Break the yolk, mix it around a bit, and you’re ready to rock. Just sprinkle in a green veggie and some crispy pig bits. I must say, this Carbonara was divine, and like none I’ve ever really tasted before. Not only was the pasta cooked just right, but the ingredients were well-balanced, and nothing was too salty. A big problem I usually have with Carbonara is sweating like a pig while I eat, because of all the FFFFFFFFFFUCKING salt that’s usually in it…

The hand made truffle ravioli were nice and al-dente, served in a simple brown butter type sauce, and the portion was large for a very reasonable price. I was expecting like six somewhat large ravioli in the bowl, not a dozen.

Now to the meat. My wife and I shared the New York Strip steak, which was simply grilled and then topped with a mound of red wine reduced onions.

The steak was cooked perfectly to medium rare.

While I wasn’t a huge fan of the onions (I’m a purist), I did find myself going into them every so often out of an enjoyed curiosity. The meat itself was nice, tender and flavorful. 8/10.

The steak also came with parmesan herb fries. These were really crispy, and the parmesan acts as a cheese-funk seasoning that replaces the standard salt. Very nice.

Last, we had some creme brûlée, pot de creme and pistachio gelato. I didn’t snap the gelato pic for some reason, but I did pull the trigger on the cremes (the two come in one dessert order – bonus).

I was blown away by the quality of the food here, the service, the ambiance and decor, and the portion sizes. I’m ashamed that this place never made it onto my radar in all its years in operation. But not just that: the prices are really fair. All of the food described here, plus about two or three alcoholic drinks per person (wine, cocktails, beer, after dinner drinks), plus a round of coffee for everyone with dessert, only came to $105 per person, with tax and tip included (we had four people at the table total). I was shocked.

Needless to say, I’ll definitely be back here, because there is a lot of shit on the menu that I want to try (like the pork shank).

CRISPO
240 W 14th St
New York, NY 10011

Johnny Prime

Monthly Archives: April 2016

Embers Steakhouse

Embers Steakhouse overall score: 81

Momosan Ramen & Sake

Osteria Morini

Via Vai

Crispo

carnivore connoisseur

Embers Steakhouse overall score: 81

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