My wife and I went to Musket Room this past weekend to try their tasting menu. Overall it was good, but I feel like, for the price, you really aren’t getting a lot of food. Some of it was aggressively acidic as well, but that I didn’t mind so much. I was still hungry when I got home, and after a $500 meal, that should never be the case.
First course; sourdough bread with chicken butter (nice that they gave this to us on the house), red snapper tartare, oysters three ways (half shell, grilled and fried), and prawns.
Of these, the prawns were the big winners.
Next course; duck confit (this was dry), and crab congee.
The congee, while a bit more “whole grain” than porridge style, was delicious. It had crab and sunchokes in it.
Main course; venison and pork ($15 upcharge for the pork instead of the tilefish).
These were both excellent, with the pork being slightly more excellent than the venison. But two slices and three slices? Come on…
Dessert was nice. We had some complimentary French Amer (amaro).
The chocolate cloud with orange cream cake was just slightly less delicious than the sweet potato gratin with toasted ice cream.
There was also a little platter of cookies and things. Very nice.
I probably wouldn’t go back, but the food was indeed very good, as were the cocktails.
MUSKET ROOM
265 Elizabeth Street
New York, NY 10012
My wife and I stopped into Domodomo for a quick early dinner. Check out what we had:
We started with some tuna cones and their 18-piece sashimi platter. Then we moved on to some Korean style fried chicken nuggets and squid ink pasta with uni.
Everything was good, and I would definitely go back to try their omakase.
Golden Steer just opened up in NYC, originally a Las Vegas native. They’re located down by Washington Square Park in the beautiful One Fifth Avenue location. My wife took me here for a Valentine’s Day dinner, so we went big.
Flavor: 8
We had the shorthorn, their boneless 16oz NY strip, as well as their “Diamond Lil” 20oz roasted prime rib on the bone.
Neither of these are significantly dry-aged, but they were cooked nicely and both tasty. We both preferred the prime rib to the strip, as the strip had a bit more chew. The prime rib was super tender.
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 8
The menu is full of options. They offer a tomahawk and porterhouse for larger format sharing, and both their rib eye and porterhouse are dry-aged. They also offer two sizes of prime rib (the “English Cut” is smaller), and two sizes of filet mignon.
Portion Size & Plating: 9
Portion sizes are good here. The veggies/sides are enough for two people to share, and the steaks come in on the larger size: 8oz and 12oz filets; 24oz rib eye; 14oz and 20oz prime rib; 45oz tomahawk; 50oz porterhouse; and 16oz NY strip. The plating was great. Definitely a bit elevated from the standard steakhouse experience. Our steaks came out on a cutting board, and each appetizer and side had its own deliverable.
Price: 7
The prices here are fair given the tremendous and, I presume, extremely expensive, commercial space. The only thing that I thought was hefty was my Monkey 47 martini, which clocked in at a whopping $40.
Bar: 10
The bar is stunning. Make sure you give yourself some time to take it in before you go to your table. Or, better yet, eat at the bar or in the bar room. They mix a nice martini, and the cocktail list is great. We liked their old fashioned.
Specials and Other Meats: 8
I don’t recall any specials being read to us before ordering, but, to be fair, we kinda already knew what we wanted. They offer lamb chops, a special chicken dish, and veal saltimbocca as far as non-steak meats go. Next time I will try one of those.
Apps, Sides & Desserts: 8
We started with the braised Spanish octopus, and filet mignon steak tartare. The octopus stole the show here. It was incredibly tender inside with a nice charred exterior, and served with tasty shishito peppers and chorizo.
The tartare was really nice with fried capers on top. The dish, overall, had a slight vinegar flavor, so having this with our third starter, the bone marrow, was a killer move to create balance.
Here’s that impressive marrow dish. The green sauce that came with it was incredible (Italian salsa verde).
On the side, we had roasted Brussels sprouts with honey crisp apple and bacon, as well as their “French cuff” fries. The Brussels ate a bit sweet when hot, but as cold leftovers at home they were dynamite.
The fries could have used a touch more crisp to them, but they were still really tasty and well seasoned.
For dessert we did the coffee and chocolate souffle, which was decadent without being too rich and sweet. The mascarpone ice cream and biscotti that came with were both so awesome.
Seafood Selection: 9
We each had a “Bloody Bull” oyster shooter to start, which was great, but otherwise the quality of the octopus really stood out. On my next trip here I expect to try the bone-in halibut.
Service: 10
Service here was best in class. Attentive and helpful without being too involved, very knowledgable and super warm/nice. Table bread is a warm bun with extra soft butter.
Ambiance: 10
The decor is incredible, and probably one of my favorite dining spaces for a steakhouse. The attention to detail in designing this place is mind boggling. Please take a look at my video below to see some of it.
I took my wife here for a belated Valentine’s dinner, mainly because they offer an all-you-can-eat uni add-on at the end of their omakase. This place was a bit pricey, especially with the sake pairing, but I feel like we got our money’s worth. The pieces were all high quality. In fact, the uni was probably lower in our rankings of favorite pieces here. Anyway, here’s a photo dump of everything they served us:
The sake:
SHINPI OMAKASE
121 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016
The Eighty Six is a new intimate steakhouse that opened up in the former Chumley’s speakeasy space on Bedford & Barrow in the west village.
The name derives from the address 86 Bedford, which is the birthplace of the phrase “86’d” (when a restaurant has run out of an item). I’m going off of memory here, but the space historically had two entrances: One on Barrow, which used to be the main entrance; and one on Bedford (number 86), which was used as a secret exit for speakeasy patrons in the prohibition era. The proprietor would yell out “86” and patrons would know to leave out the secret door. As such, it became synonymous with “running out” of items at an establishment.
Chef Michael Vignola, the head honcho for many of Tilman Fertitta’s meaty restaurant ventures (Catch Steak, The Corner Store, Strip House, etc.), was there cooking up our feast. We had a lot to eat, so let me get into it.
First, make sure you watch this short video, because some of the items we had are only featured here in the video (I had some light trouble in the beginning of the meal, so I didn’t take photos of everything).
Flavor: 8
We had the aged 32oz porterhouse for two, hailing from Nielsen’s Family Farm in South Dakota.
This was nicely cooked to medium rare (a hair overdone and more toward the medium side, but no matter).
The fat on the strip side was perfectly rendered out, so that you could eat every bit of it. Nice crust, good char.
Most of the aged flavor rested in the tenderloin.
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 10
The menu here, like Chef Vignola’s other steak-focused restaurants, is packed with variety and unique cuts. They offer a rip cap steak, Vaca Vieja (old dairy cow – popular in Spain), and every type of steakhouse staple cut you can imagine, along with daily specials like a citrus fed wagyu.
Portion Size & Plating: 10
The plating here is astonishing for every item, from the martinis to the meats. I was also really impressed with the portion sizes. They really embraced the concept of a steakhouse from the roaring 20s, where everything was big and bold.
Price: 10
My instant reaction was that all of the prices were very fair, given how beef prices are insane, rent is insane, overhead is insane, etc. The porterhouse for two was $150 and the duck, which can easily feed four, was $195. They also went over the top for our special occasion (my wife’s birthday), and threw in a bunch of desserts on the house!
Bar: 10
This is a beautiful bar. There is seating for eight, but it can get pretty tight if you’re eating a large meal like we did. The bartenders here are the best in the business. Not only are they making cocktails for the whole restaurant, but they are also your servers and waiters, and at the same time making polite and enjoyable conversation with the whole bar as you eat your meal.
The cocktails here are also incredible. The smoked olive martini comes with a show, and it was probably one of the most unique flavored martinis I’ve ever had. Creamy/buttery, smoky, and it came with a trio of stuffed olives (caviar, blue cheese, anchovy).
Specials and Other Meats: 10
There are a ton of specials up and down the menu, from starters like the langoustines, to mains like the citrus wagyu, and mid courses like the caviar and truffle pasta dishes. We had the duck as one of our mains, and this was served with a confit salad as well as a foie gras sausage stuffed into the neck – it was insane! This stole the show for us. We both liked it better than the steak!
The pasta special that we tried was a butter and caviar based sauce, served with a really unique cocks comb pasta. We also tried the langoustines which were a seafood starter special. Both were really great. I liked that the bartender thought we should have some bread with the langoustine sauce, which was sort of like a buttery and spicy ragout.
Apps, Sides & Desserts: 10
We started with the east coast oysters and langoustine special, followed by the potato croquette with caviar, and Spanish artichokes with tarragon emulsion.
For sides, we had the french fries, the brulee corn pot pie, and the truffle and leek creamed spinach. The creamed spinach really stood out as the winner here, but we brought the brulee corn home and it was even better cold from the fridge than it was at the restaurant. It firmed up into a pudding of sorts, and it was incredible!
Dessert was a blowout. First was a nice palate cleanser of lemon sorbet, followed by some Szechuan peppercorn and lemongrass dusted pineapple – a nice nod to Ernest Hemmingway, who used to hang out at Chumley’s and brought a pineapple there for the staff to try after returning from his travels (it was a foreign item to them). We also had the cheesecake, which was so good. I almost never enjoy cheesecake at restaurants, because none of the hold a candle to my sister’s. But this one was a killer. We also had a nice graham cracker, bananas foster and cream dessert, as well as mini ice cream sandwiches. Check the video above to see these.
Seafood Selection: 8
The items we tried were great (oysters and langoustines), but I’d like to go back and try more before I give a full review on this category. I’m holding this at an eight in the hope to expand on it further with some main course items.
Service: 10
I need to refer back to the end of the specials section and the entire bar section here, because the bartenders really impressed me. I saw how they remembered returning guests, took notes for improving on special request cocktails, and just overall exhibited the utmost care and professionalism.
Table bread is swapped out for some really nice pickles – a low carb treat! One with wasabi and horseradish, the other with chives.
Ambiance: 10
This is an incredible dining space. As I mentioned above, they really embraced the concept of a roaring 20s steakhouse, made intimate with the railcar aesthetic and actual art deco design elements. Bravo.
I know this place is tough to get into right now, but they just expanded their hours to accommodate walk ins. If you go there at 4pm you can put your name down, and you’ll likely get seated. Go do it!
THE EIGHTY SIX
86 Bedford Street
New York, NY 10014
Okiboru is a small ramen joint that specializes in tsukemen (concentrated broth for dipping noodles in). Since the tsukemen was a combination of fish and chicken broths, I skipped on that and went with the ramen, which was a pork and chicken broth.
This was excellent, and I was glad that I chose this over the tsukemen, since the tsukemen broth was a bit too pungent in terms of fish flavor (my wife had that).
Overall, I would definitely go back for more ramen.
This place is a sister restaurant to the Michelin-starred Jungsik restaurant. We went big here, so I’m going to make it quick. Check this out:
First off, the oysters here are probably the best I’ve ever had. I think that has to do with the jalapeno and cilantro granita (ice), and their version of a mignonette.
I also really enjoyed their steak tartare.
The prawn rolls, sticky rice sausage, and fried eggs were great too, but my focus on a re-visit might be on the other stuff above.
The stars of the show were the short rib special and the crispy pork belly.
I would get these every time I visit. The pork belly was the best version of this dish I’ve ever had. The fat was completely rendered and soft, the meat extremely tender (no stringy bits), and the skin was nice and crisp without being too hard and hurting your teeth/mouth.
The crab fried rice was a bit fishy, but beautiful nonetheless. It went nicely with the curry, actually.
The soft serve dessert sundae was a great way to end the meal.
I will definitely be back here again. I highly recommend it.
SEA BY JUNGSIK
151 W 30th Street
New York, NY 10001
This joint has a great burger menu, and I’m glad I finally made it in for a taste. They offer a burger and beer special for $20 (no fries though), or you can get the burger with fries for $20 (no beer). I went with the Grand Street burger, with American cheese.
