Not too bad for a store brand jerky. I tried the teriyaki turkey flavor.
Predictably, it was a little brittle and dry, but once you got going, it became tender.
I would buy it again.
All posts by Johnny Prime
Marseille
My wife and I went to Marseille in the Times Square / Hell’s Kitchen area to help them promote a special menu for Stinky Cheese Week.
We started with some drinks, and then had a few more. They were all good. Coffee old fashioned, Stinky Cheese Week special negroni, Lillet spritz, and some champagne.
In fact I really liked the bar here as well.
I also really liked the bread and butter they served us with dinner.
We started with the Stinky Cheese Week special French onion soup. I enjoyed the cheese, and the beef broth had a pretty good flavor.
I’ve had better elsewhere, but it was certainly satisfying.
The escargot were a bit light on flavor. I was able to pick up the herb flavors easily, but the garlic and butter application was much less than what I’m used to. In fact it may have been an oil instead of a butter. At least that’s the concensus my wife and I came to. I didn’t dislike them, they were just very light and unexpected.
My wife ordered the duck, which had an interesting preparation. It struck us as more German than French: It came with boiled potatoes as opposed to gratin (menu said gratin). And it also came on a bed of sauerkraut, which seemed to throw off the flavors and compete with the duck.
Unfortunately the duck itself was tough and overcooked in parts.
I had the steak frites. While I ordered it medium rare, it came out at about medium well or well done. It had decent flavor though, despite the awful sin of overcooking, and the fries were actually great. 5/10.
Continuing with the Stinky Cheese Week theme, we shared the blue cheese ice cream profiteroles for dessert.
I kinda liked it. It was like eating a cheese plate in profiterole form, as the ice cream had the cheese in it, the cream puff represented the toast, crackers or bread, and the apples and honey came in the form of a sauce for pouring on top.
It was very interesting, but admittedly not for everyone. In fact stinky cheeses in general would fit that chatacterization, but what can I say: I love some stinky cheeses.
MARSEILLE
630 9th Ave
New York, NY 10036
Harolds Meat + Three
Last night I tried a ton of really great American, and specifically NY/NJ, comfort food here at Harold’s Meat + Three. There’s a lot to discuss, so I might as well get right down to it.
WINGS
Brined, smoked and grilled, these are some of the best, most deeply flavorful wings I’ve ever had. They have a great charcoal, wood-fired flavor to them.
PIZZA
We sampled two wood fired flatbread pizzas. The first, an arugula, cheese and ham:
The second, egg, cheese and Taylor ham. Amazing. Off the menu, but you can ask for it at brunch time.
BURGERS & SANDWICHES
Breakfast burger with sunny side egg, taylor ham and American. This tasted like a great white castle slider mixed with a classic deli style egg sandwich.
The South Jersey Soul Crusher: five thick cut, griddled slices of Taylor ham (or pork roll, depending on which part of Jersey you’re in), on an everything bagel. Perfect hangover food.
Egg sandwich with American cheese, salt, pepper and ketchup. A classic, but on a potato bun, and with some pork roll added for good measure. So tasty.
The award winning burger. This baby is simple and delicious. Two smash patties, lots of american, pickles, and a smear of ketchup and mustard, all on a potato bun. Perfect.
BLT. Perfectly executed with Harold Moore’s smoked bacon and crispy Taylor ham bits.
Speaking of smoked bacon, we had a plate of that as well. Incredible.
CHOPS
The rib eye steak.
This is wet aged and simply grilled to a perfect medium rare. Served with an array of veggies so you feel good about yourself.
The lamb blade chop.
I love when places offer interesting and less common cuts of meat. Harold nails it with a citrus marinade, Italian herbs and crushed red pepper. A squeeze from the grilled lemon really made this do backflips on my tastebuds. Check out the perfect cook temp inside:
PASTA (sweet potato tortellini)
There’s smoked ricotta, sage and brown butter in those beauties.
TRIPE STEW
That’s garlic bread on the side there with it. Super tender, great sauce with aji panca chili.
BISCUITS
This biscuit with pork roll bits inside was incredible. Great way to start the meal (sorry I’m adding it here so late).
DESSERT
Miniature soft serve vanilla ice cream cones. My favorite kind of ice cream. I’m a simple man.
Chocolate cake with ice cream on top. Gotta have the rainbow sprinkles on the frosting too.
Not one bad bite in the bunch. I really suggest you get down here and try this place ASAP. So good, and currently still somewhat “under the radar” of people who like to line up like assholes for food. Not for long though. This place is amazing.
HAROLD’S MEAT + THREE
2 Renwick St
New York NY 10013
PQR Pizza
When my wife and I were in Italy, we went bonkers for Bonci Pizzarium near the Vatican, and we’ve been craving it ever since. A brand new pizza joint on the upper east side, PQR, brought me right back there.
I have to say this is one of my new favorite spots in the city. Roman style pizza just works on so many levels. If you’ve never had it before, this is an exemplary representation. The dough/crust is perfectly crisp yet puffy and airy, and they’re generous with their high quality toppings.
Get the spicy soppressata with grape tomato and the sliced potato with truffle sauce. You’ll thank me later.
Spicy Soppressata:
Sliced Potato & Truffle:
Sliced Potato & Porchetta:
Traditional Mozz & Tomato Sauce:
PQR
1631 2nd Ave
New York, NY 10028
San Matteo Pizza
San Matteo is a Neapolitan style pizzeria and restaurant on the Upper East Side. Neapolitan style pizza is characterized by a puffy and doughy crust with, generally, pure and simple ingredients on top. See below:
This style of pizza isn’t crispy with a crunchy bottom like NYC style pizza, but I assure you that it’s still awesome. That was the Margherita Regina pie, $18. They have daily special pies too, like this pesto and spicy coppa pie.
Their meat and cheese boards are pretty incredible too:
After eating this delicious stuff, I was surprised that I had room for dessert: profiteroles.
UPDATE 6/2/18
On a second visit, I came in to test a new burger that the owner Fabio was formulating for a competition (Burger Bash). The thing was amazing. Piedmontese beef in a 70/30 lean/fat ratio, topped with Blue Moon beer caramelized onions, radicchio, and lots of gooey and funky taleggio cheese. It was all housed in a freshly baked ciabatta bun, right from the pizza oven.
We also enjoyed numerous Aperol spritzes at the bar.
Some salumi:
An incredible porchetta and arugula sandwich:
Eggplant parm:
The meat you get in the pork chop Milanese, which is one of the best I’ve had, is raised on chef/owner Fabio’s farm.
And of course more pizza:
This one had guanciale on it:
Fabio even made us a nice risotto dish with fresh porcini mushrooms, mixed up right in a cheese wheel:
I really love this place – such amazing Italian food.
They serve up some great LaFrieda steaks too.
And my favorite arancini rice ball of all time.
SAN MATTEO PIZZERIA E CUCINA
1559 2nd Ave
New York, NY 10028
Le Coq Rico
Le Coq Rico is essentially a steakhouse for fowl. They serve whole, half and quarter birds – everything from chicken to duck to guinea hens. The menu is quite impressive.
My wife and I went in with a photographer who shoots food photos and runs social media accounts as a side business, so we got to try a bunch of things.
First off, they make great cocktails. We tried their old fashioned, and it was excellent.
Since we went in for brunch, we also got to try a pair of their fresh juices. The orange one is called Sirocco Breath, and it’s made with celery, carrot, apple, turmeric and nutmeg. Pop a shot of vodka in this and it is an amazing cocktail as well. So tasty and fresh.
The reddish purple drink is called the Root Twist: beet, ginger and orange. Very nice.
To start, we had the Caesar salad with chicken croquettes. This was a great salad.
The foie gras terrine en croute was so amazingly flavorful. This has won competitions all over the world. A definite must order.
Okay now on to the main feature. This is a 120-day old Brune Landaise pastured chicken, poached and roasted to perfection.
After slicing:
Some plating:
I really enjoyed this. All the dark meat was juicy, succulent and flavorful, and even the breast meat was incredible – especially when you drizzle some jus on it.
We snacked on this with some fries and a mixed greens salad with vinaigrette.
Now, I know the chicken is the main star, but you NEED to save room for dessert. I’m serious. These are some of the best desserts I’ve had. Every one of them was incredible. Perfectly executed French classics.
Mille Feuille:
100% Chocolate Profiteroles:
L’Ile Flottante:
Chef Westerman’s Vacherin, Ice cream side:
And Sorbet side:
I highly recommend this place. Share a fowl for the table, and go ballistic on desserts. You won’t be disappointed!
LE COQ RICO
30 E 20th St
New York, NY 10003
Mifune
I was invited into Mifune with my wife to sample some of their meat dishes and post some photos on Instagram. But we started with some cocktails, because Shingo Gokan, the man behind the cocktail menu, is an award winning “mixologist.”
This is the Seven Samurai, which is made with rye, aged sake, East India sherry, bitters and smoke:
Pretty beautiful, and really tasty. The smoke aroma was as intoxicating as the booze, and it was similar to a smoked old fashioned.
The Throne of Blood is made with Japanese whisky, Bourbon Antica, Torino and bitters. This is similar to a Manhattan.
The Hidden Fortress, made with bourbon, milk, honey shrub, orange cordial and bitters, is super smooth and tasty.
Finally, we tried the Drunken Angel, made with Hibiki, Umeshu and shiso. This was also great. Very light and crisp.
Now on to the food. The first thing we tried was the steak tartare.
This is made with Angus beef, poached egg and tosazu sauce (a seafood style vinegar). Watch the video as the egg breaks into the tartare:
It was delicious. More like a beef tartare soup – very interesting.
This next item was on special: bluefin tuna temaki. It’s a rib section of bluefin tuna, served with seashells for scraping the meat out and making hand rolls with all the fixings.
Check out this video. Pretty insane!
At just $40, this is a great deal. We probably got about 10 or 12 hand rolls out of this baby.
Okay now on to the meats! First, a straw smoked rack of lamb!
The lamb was perfectly cooked to medium rare.
It came with roasted garlic and grilled fennel. But the real treat about this dish is that when it comes to the table for eating, it’s served in a clay dish that has a smoking chamber underneath, so you get to smell that awesome straw smoke aroma the whole time while you eat.
Next up was washugyu tenderloin.
Washugyu is an American Black Angus and Japanese Wagyu cross breed that achieves a great balance of beefy flavor and tender marbling. This is the same stuff I sell in my shop, pretty much. Anyway, it was incredibly tender and flavorful. They got a nice sear on the meat too. 9/10.
It’s plated up with a shallot puree and some roasted veggies.
This was easily one of the best meals I’ve had in a while. I highly recommend this place, especially for that bluefin tuna temaki. You should go ASAP if you have any interest, because I don’t know how long that will be available on special.
MIFUNE
245 E 44th St
New York, NY 10017
Jax BBQ
My wife and I popped into Jax BBQ on a Saturday afternoon just before they closed the kitchen at 4pm for a one hour break between lunch and dinner service (the bar stays open though).
We started with a beer and one of their frozen margaritas.
Speaking of drinks, they have a great every day happy hour from 3pm-6pm, where both the beer and margaritas are just $5.
We started with gator and crawfish fritters. Both were great.
The Memphis style ribs were excellent. We started with a few.
But then we ordered a lot more because they were so good.
Not a lot of people know that ribs aren’t supposed to “fall off the bone.” They’re supposed to have a bite. When you chomp on a rib, your teeth should make a mark. Like this:
We also tried a burger. This was overcooked, but the caramelized onions, truffle ketchup and cheddar cheese definitely added that juiciness back in, no problem. Just make sure you order medium rare.
We finished off with a slice of Mississippi mud pie for dessert. This was like a super soft brownie cake. Awesome.
JAX BBQ
496 9th Ave
New York, NY 10018
Mastro’s Steakhouse
Mastro’s overall score: 89
My wife and I came here with her uncle to celebrate his birthday and to use some accumulated Open Table credit that we built up with reward points. Check out the verdict:
Flavor: 9
We had two steaks. The first was the Australian wagyu tomahawk from Broadleaf. This thing was impressive.
It had a great crust, it was cooked perfectly to medium rare from end to end, and it was so damn tender. 10/10.
The other steak we tried was the 20-day wet aged prime porterhouse.
This was pretty good too, but I felt that it needed a bit more crust and lacked a little bit in terms of tenderness and flavor. 7/10.
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 9
There is a massive selection of cuts here, with several different types of cuts within each category, and then some. Very impressive. The quality is all wet-aged prime or wagyu. I took a point because they have no dry-aged offerings.
Portion Size & Plating: 9
Portions here are good, and they do some really nice plating for the chilled seafood. Everything else is pretty standard for steakhouse fare.
Price: 7
We had $120 of credit to use but the bill was still hefty.
Overall I think there is a better value for the tomahawk at Del Frisco’s (same steak is $95 instead of $115 – and just as good), and better value elsewhere for the porterhouse. For $63, a mediocre 24oz cut is a bit of a stiff price to pay.
Bar: 8
This joint has three bars; two upstairs and one downstairs. That splits up the crowd a bit, but each bar is still pretty nice.
I liked that they served my martini to me with the shaker, rather than taking it away. This allowed me to have that briny, watered down gin as a second serving when I finished the stiff drink. At $26 all in with tax and tip, that martini was pricey though.
Specials and Other Meats: 10
There were lots of specials read off to us, both in the meat and non-meat categories. As for other meats, they offer veal, lamb, chicken, and pork. They run the full gamut.
Apps, Sides & Desserts: 9
We tried the “steak bacon.” This was really good and thick. Loved it.
The chilled seafood was pricey but really delicious. We built our own tower with three jumbo shrimp, colossal crab meat and a dozen oysters.
For dessert we had butter cake and chocolate cake. The butter cake was awesome, and truly rivaled Del Friscos. It was bigger but lighter than theirs.
Seafood Selection: 10
There’s bass, tuna, swordfish, salmon, scallops, crab and lobster. Damn! I didn’t try them, but based on the quality of the seafood in the apps section, I have to bump this from my placeholder of 8/10 to a solid 10/10.
Service: 10
Let me start with the bread – amazing little basket here:
As for the wait staff – really top notch. They were very attentive, nice and non-intrusive. They gave us a freebie dessert since we were celebrating a birthday too. What really sent me over the top, though, was that they even called my wife the following day to ask how everything was, and to make sure that her uncle enjoyed his birthday celebration. That’s crazy!
Ambiance: 8
This place can get loud and rowdy, a little bit clubby upstairs. But the downstairs is a little more intimate and chill. I like that split personality aspect. Hopefully, when you go, they seat you in the location that corresponds to your mood.
STEAKHOUSE NAME
Address
Address
Beefsteak at RiverPark
In case you are unaware, a “beefsteak” is an old timey party that involves people who dress in fancy get-ups and eat copious amounts of beef, typically without utensils and with their hands. They date back to NYC in the mid 1800s, pretty much the time period in which I should have existed. Essentially, this is Tux-Con + Carcass Club. I’m all about it.
I was invited to attend and help promote for the most recent beefsteak event at Riverpark, where there have been three such meals to date at the famed Tom Colicchio’s behest. He is credited for reviving the banquet, and I love him for it.
Anyway, my role consisted of taking photos of some dishes and posting them ahead of the big night. Then I was allowed to attend for free with a guest. Here are some of the photos I snapped:
There was even King Cake, leg of lamb, some marrow toast and potatoes au gratin. The food was pretty much the same on the night-of, with the exception of the steak being a proper rib rack roast (I was very happy about that).
And we dressed the part to a T. Check out me and my buddy all topped up.
All of this to say that point of my post is really just to share the above photos and tell you that the chef at Riverpark is excellent, so it is worth going in to eat from the regular menu.
RIVERPARK
450 E 29th St
New York, NY 10016