Category Archives: West Village

Carcass Club/Beast Feast, Japanese, Ramen, Restaurant Reviews, West Village

Takashi

July 18, 2014 Johnny Prime 3 Comments

To celebrate some good news, we decided to grab some meat at Takashi, a place which so craftily served us some delicious beef ramen just a week or two prior. For the run down on that, scroll down to the bottom of this review, or check out The Great Noodle Chase post.

This time around we wanted grilled beef the whole way. No broth. No noodles. Just the protein. And that’s kinda what Takashi is all the fuck about! They ONLY serve beef. No pork. No fucking chicken. BEEF. And not only that, but it’s all top notch kobe quality, and they ain’t afraid to serve up the nasty bits – the offal. Fuck… This place even has testicles on the menu, and they have no shame in putting the words BEEF BALLS on the fucking menu! Needless to say, this fucking place is made for guys like me.

First came some small dishes of Kim chi, bean sprouts and cabbage with soy ginger dressing. Yeah, I ate it…

Next was the raw sea urchin on top of a nice slice of kobe chuck flap with wasabi, shiso leaf and seaweed paper. This dish is called niku-uni. It was really clean and delicious. I could easily eat a dozen of these shits, no problem.

Then came the soft beef shank steamed buns with spicy mayo and scallions. These were tender and juicy, and fucking packed with bold flavor.

Then there was this awesomeness. Aged kobe prosciutto (whaaaaaat!?!!) with thinly sliced blue cheese and micro scallions, topped with a soy hazelnut honey mustard seed jam. It was earthy and robust. The characteristic aged flavors were highlighted with a nutty, funky-ass barnyard kick from the cheese. Yet it didn’t destroy the pallette. Props to the chef.

Then the grill heated up and the meats came out. Essentially the grill is just a heater coil element like what you have inside an electric oven. I think NYC has some shitty law that bans open flames in dining areas. So this is not technically the traditional open flame yakatori style you find in Japan, but it did fill the craving for grilled meat.

All of the meats were marinated in the house special Takashi sauce, and served with a small dish of sesame oil for dipping. They could have maybe brought out some lettuce leaves to wrap the meat, or a crunch element like fried crispy onion or shallot to sprinkle on top. The meat by itself was good, but I can see how maybe some people would want to mix up the textures a little bit.

Beef belly was the first plate of yum to come. Delicious. Not too chewy, not too fatty. It was cut about a quarter inch thick.

We ordered the chef’s selection of meats as well.

Here’s what came in that plate:

The front left is 1st stomach (cows have 4 stomachs, morons). It was chewy, and we were warned that this would be a lot of mouth work to get through. Why even serve it this way, I wonder? Better to braise it slow and low I would think.

On the front right we have beef heart. It cooked up like a very lean meat: good for a nice quick even sear.

The back right is 4th stomach. This was way more tender, thicker, juicier and flavorful than 1st stomach.

That’s liver on the back left. This was my least favorite. It was gamey, mealy, and very irony. I guess for my taste, liver is best served in pate form.

In the center are the sweetbreads. These glands were creamy and smooth. Very nice, with a great crisp.

The last meat we tried were the cheeks. This was the best of them all. It was sliced thin like bacon, and they crisped up nicely on the grill. Perfect.

Then we saw the table next to get the nose to tail beef platter.

Fucking bastards. We asked for it when we sat but they said we needed 4 people to order. Bullshit. We definitely could have finished it all, and I wouldn’t have minded paying 60pp for two instead of 30pp for four. Oh well. Maybe if there’s 4 of us next time…

Dessert was Madagascar vanilla soft serve ice cream, topped with soft chewy mochi balls, soy powder, sweet red beans, gold leaf and salted caramel sauce. Thankfully the sauce was served on the side. It was too bitter for our liking. The ice cream itself was great, and good with the sweet beans.

Pretty solid meal. It was a little pricey, but definitely enjoyable. I’d definitely go back to try out some more shit.

MIDNIGHT RAMEN

Real deal beef ramen DOES exist. I heard about some late night ramen joint in the west village called Takashi that serves up an all-beef broth ramen on Friday and Saturday nights only, from 12:00am to 2:00am. It was tough, but I ended up getting a seat for my wife and I to slurp up some of this delicious shit. We started with some beer and took in the surroundings:

As I mentioned, it’s a beef broth, but it contains crispy beef intestines, FUCKING BRAISED KOBE BEEF BELLY!!!, a soft boiled egg, and alkaline ramen noodles. The little blob of red you see in the middle is the spicy paste that my wife got with her bowl. I prefer no spicy paste, as it masks the beef flavor too much for my liking (though I DO love very spicy foods):

If you’re in town overnight on a weekend and are up for something bold and adventurous, give this bowl a try. The only problem is that you will need to try for a reservation on the Monday prior at 5pm. That’s when they start taking reservations. I emailed on Tuesday afternoon for my rez and they were already booked solid. They asked if I wanted to be on a waiting list in case someone cancels: I said yes. I found out on Friday at about 4:00pm that they had an opening for me and my wife at midnight. SWEET!

NOSE-TO-TAIL BEEF

I finally got to try the nose-to-tail cow feast here, thanks to the good people at Tabelog. We started with some really amazing apps though:

Kobe beef tartare:
This was delicious. Clean, earthy, cool, and lots of texture. Our awesome waiter Reese mixed in the quail egg for us after patiently waiting as we snapped photos of all the apps.

Soft boiled egg with beef prosciutto and caviar:
This was difficult to eat. The glass egg made it tough to allow for proper mixing of the components within, but the flavor was really nice. Egg was cooked perfectly.

Raw beef liver sashimi:
Much better than you might expect. Raw liver tastes WAY better than cooked liver. There is no iron taste and no mealy texture. It’s soft, creamy, and clean.

Crispy tripe salad:
Chewy, but for those who dig tripe, this is a win. Dip into some of the spicy sauce they serve it with, or the more traditional sesame oil + salt combo, and enjoy.

We also had the kobe beef prosciutto with blue cheese and micro greens that we had last time, along with the uni dish that we had last time as well. They were too good to pass up, and I wanted to make sure the Tabelog folks tasted them (you can see pics of those above).

I should also mention that we had a really great waitress as well, named Yuki. As the restaurant got more and more busy, she had to multi-task a bit, and Reese sort of relieved her at our table. But at one point we caught a glimpse of her serving up this monster set of ribs to the table next to us. Looked amazing! My wife’s Instagram feed (@thecakedealer) has a nice pic of it on the grill.

Now on to the main course – 16 cuts of cow.
Top row (from right to left):
tongue, cheek, shoulder, rib eye, between the ribs, tail.
Middle row (from right to left):
sweet breads, heart, liver, first stomach, second stomach.
Bottom row (from right to left):
short rib, skirt, belly, fourth stomach, large intestine.

If you’re an astute reader, you may be wondering what the fuck happened to third stomach. It’s only served as an app, so that will have to be a “next time” item. Anyway, Reese gave us a run down on each cut, instructing us on how long each piece should be cooked, and what to expect for each (soft, chewy, creamy, etc). Rather than labor on with the monotony of each and every cut’s flavor, texture, and rating, I’ll just give you a quick list of our favorites. Cheek, shoulder, rib eye, between the ribs, short rib, and belly. The rest were all good, but if I go back, I’ll probably focus more on the faves.

Here’s some additional meatporn for you:

TAKASHI
456 Hudson St.
New York, NY 10014

Filet Mignon, Other Cuts, Porterhouse, Rib Eye, Steakhouse Reviews, West Village

Old Homestead

April 27, 2014 Johnny Prime 2 Comments

Old Homestead overall score: 81

UPDATE 5/18/2023: I came back with a nice Ride & Review, which you can watch HERE:

The Prime Rib was an easy 9/10 or maybe even a 10/10. Good aged flavor. The Porterhouse was small but still tasty. The rib eye was good too. Both 7 or 8/10. No real score change here other than to say that I would come back for that prime rib any time!

UPDATE 4/27/14: I came here with my dad, my brother in law, and my nephew for a quick lunch after checking out the NY auto show. There was definitely a slight improvement since my last visit, as I bumped it two points.

We started with the sweet chili fried calamari. They were good – nice and crisp, good flavor. We had to ask for the bread basket, which was kinda strange, but the highlight of that was the raisin nut bread. Very nice.

I had the 19oz bone-in filet, some onion rings, and the truffle mac & cheese. Big respect to our fun waiter Sarko, who guided me in the right direction to order the filet medium rare instead of rare. He explained that if it was boneless, then rare would be the way to go. However, since the bone inhibits the center from warming up fast enough, he cautioned me that some of the fat near the bone may not render properly unless I went to medium rare. It turned out perfectly. I was really happy with my hunk of red meat.

The onion rings were a bit too juicy but otherwise really tasty. The truffle mac and cheese didn’t have the truffle abundance I was expecting, but they were still pretty yummy regardless.

I still need to come back here for a proper dinner seating, as I feel like the experience would be a bit different for that service. But this visit definitely re-sparked my interest in the joint. Like Arnold, I’ll be back.

My wife, who is awesome, took me here for a birthday lunch after shooting some .22 rifle rounds at the pistol range. Talk about a guy’s perfect day! I thought it would be difficult to review a steakhouse based on the lunch menu, but Old Homestead basically offers the same food for lunch that they offer for dinner, the only difference being that the lunch menu is a little bit cheaper (by $2, generally, for each item) and they don’t offer some of the more massive steak cuts at lunch time (Shame – I probably would have gotten the larger cut too – oh well – their loss).

Flavor: 9

The steak tasted great. I ordered the gotham ribeye, a bone-in 22oz cut that tasted like a prime rib that kissed the grill. It was juicy like a roast, and had a little crisp going (more would have been nice). Great taste but one point off for missing the mark with not enough crisp and a bit more non-chewable gristle than I like to see. They let it rest just the right amount of time, so there was no blood loss and it stayed very juicy.

Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 9

This place has lots of sizes and cuts available for the four main steaks. I think I counted five filet mignon items of varying preparations, sizes and bone structures. Two sizes for the ribeye (not at lunch, however), and a prime rib to boot (essentially, a slow roasted ribeye). They offer two sizes of “New York Sirloin” as well as an au poivre and a top round – not quite sure why they were calling some steaks a sirloin and not a strip. Perhaps it is from the T-bone (the lesser porterhouse, not good enough to be called a strip when cut off the bone). They also offer a “Kobe” sirloin for a big price upgrade. The porterhouse is only offered for two, which is common at many steakhouses.

Portion Size & Plating: 9

The portions here are average to above average, but they also offer items for smaller appetites. The filets ranged from 10oz (still a good size for a filet) to 18oz (biggest I’ve seen), the “sirloins” from 14oz to 18oz (a little on the average side, but not bad), and the ribeyes from 22oz to 32oz (good). Plating was nice. Usually you just see bare bones stuff at steak houses, but here they went that extra step to make the presentation pop. The tuna tartar was served with some crispy fried wanton chips, and the oysters rockefeller were served on a bed of rock salt that looked like ice, and garnished with seaweed pods. Also of note were the tots/fries – they were served in mini deep fryer baskets. Very cool (see service section as well). I took off a point because the creamed spinach was a little small, though enough for two at $7, and the tots were not numerous enough, but probably enough for one.

Price: 8

The prices are average to slightly high for NYC steak. You certainly don’t go home hungry, so that is a plus. The prices seemed to match nicely with the size and quality for the steak, so no exceptional marks here, but there were a few bad marks. First the oysters rockefeller: There were only four on the plate, which may be normal (I don’t know), but they were essentially a dollop of creamed spinach on top of an oyster and then broiled for a few minutes. Nothing spectacular. I wasn’t impressed, and I think they essentially ruined four perfectly good oysters for the high price of $17 (that’s $4.25 each, dicks). The dessert sundae was pretty expensive too at $11 for what you could get at Friendly’s for $3. The martini was a bit high at $15, the beer average at $8. Our total was $204 with tax and tip included. As for the steak ($40, actually not too bad), you get a good slab of meat for the price, and that’s all one can really ask for these days.

Bar: 7

The bar is small, but very elegant – nice wood cabinetry and wine racks up behind he serving dugout, and a nice selection of top shelf potent potables (Alex Trebek would be happy). This isn’t the kind of place I can see myself hanging out for a drink or a bite at the bar though. It is essentially just a restaurant. The martini was made perfectly, however, so that is a plus. Also the bar has some nice basket weave black & white tile flooring – real classic looking. I like that.

Specials and Other Meats: 7

Old Homestead has a narrow range of alternative meats – rack of lamb, which is semi-industry standard, and a chicken item. It would have been interesting to see a pork porterhouse or a veal chop of some kind. The word “homestead” makes me think of game too, like perhaps venison. I think this would go over well in a place like NYC, where diners are more culinarily curious. Specials were not offered, but I imagine that is because it was the lunch hour. They DO offer some secret menu items that you need to know about in advance though, like the really awesome sounding burger specials. Look into it, asshole. You won’t be let down.

Apps, Sides & Desserts: 7

Before we even came here, I knew what I was ordering because I looked at the menu online. I’d never had oysters rockefeller until now. I was always the kind of guy who ate them raw and raw only. Cooking an oyster is blasphemy! Sadly I have not turned a corner; I didn’t like the oysters, but everything else was pretty good. The oysters had some bits of shell in them, and the topping was just a blob of creamed spinach – no special care was given to make them different. My wife had the tuna tartar, which was very nice, served with avocado mixed into it, but it was not as good as Primehouse’s take on the dish. To go with the steak, of course, we had creamed spinach; it was just average: nothing to write about (though I just did). The steak came with a mound of fried onions, which were nice and crisp and flavorful. We also ordered the “Kobe” slab bacon, which was sort-of out of place based on the flavor profile. It was really charred, smokey and piggy. It had some rubbery fat on it, but it was really delicious. It just felt so “BBQ” that it almost seemed like it was from a different restaurant. It was tough to mix that flavor (which was awesome by the way) with the steak flavors. Tots were crispy and nice – a fun alternative to fries. For dessert we had the drug store old fashioned sundae. That was pretty yummy, and I found myself continually digging into it even though I was stuffed.

Seafood Selection: 8

This section of my reviews is starting to become increasingly important to me, since my wife has been staying away from red meats after her gallbladder surgery. Old Homestead offers a nice selection of fish cuts for entrees, like salmon, tuna and sea bass, in addition to the shellfish appetizers and basic broiled lobster and crab cake crustacean fare. The sea bass was a big hunk of fish (probably 12-14oz). I was amazed that it was properly cooked through without any over- or undercooked portions. It was bold (fishy) and rich, but it had a nice crisp to it on the outside, served on a bed of green beans in a dark fish broth.

Service: 9

The waiters are all male, wearing ties and aprons. They were attentive, nice, and not in our faces. The menu says that bread will not be served unless you ask. I wasn’t going to, but my wife insisted for the integrity and consistency of the blog. So here goes: the bread was not warm, the butter was semi-solid/cool. They did have two types of bread though; a raisin nut roll, and a ciabatta type of roll. One thing I will add here: the fries and tots come in these really cool mini deep-fryer baskets lined with old fashioned newspaper print (wax paper with print on it). That was fun in terms of plating/presentation. I guess the steak sauce can go here too. And no, asshole, I didn’t put it on my steak. It was delicious however. I would use that shit for BBQ ribs or chicken any day. It had hints of orange, tamarind, horseradish, molasses and fried garlic (okay we peeked at the ingredients too). Try it.

Ambiance: 8

Old Homestead is long and narrow, unlike other steakhouses that are very large spaces. The dining room is dark. The tables are all very nice dark jacobean colored wood, and they match the paneled wainscoting that goes all the way up the wall and meets with the elegant build-out ceiling that has a fancy painted pressed-tin pattern that is illuminated by built-in up-lighting. Hanging below that are modern, Japanese looking square block lights covered in what looked like paper or tightly woven burlap. A stark contrast to the cheap, ugly rust-colored tile floor that adorns the dining room. Old Homestead – replace that shit with some nice wide-plank bamboo flooring. Come on! The bathroom was unisex for one – neat and clean, but with cheap-ass paper towels.

OLD HOMESTEAD
56 9th Ave.
New York, NY 10011

Italian, Restaurant Reviews, West Village

Scarpetta

April 19, 2014 Johnny Prime 1 Comment

UPDATE: THIS JOINT IS NOW CLOSED

Scarpetta is a legit excellent Italian restaurant. Scott Conant, of “Chopped” judging fame, is the owner. My wife and I went here to celebrate our 5th anniversary. Here’s a quick photo dump with some info about each item. Eat here. Fucking do it.

First is the table bread. Its a really amazing selection of warm & crispies that comes with olive oil, mascarpone butter, eggplant tomato sauce and a pair of stromboli: broccoli rabe and salami. So much for not eating meat on Good Friday!

Next is the creamy polenta topped with truffled mushrooms. Really decadent and delicious.

And the sfornato: duck leg atop a savory custard with pickled sunchoke. Amazing.

Now the pasta. First was the saffron cavatelli with oxtail. Delicious, though a touch too salty for my preference.

My wife had the agnolotti with marrow and braised short rib inside. These were great, and unexpectedly light.

At this point we were fucking stuffed, but there’s always room for meat. Goat meat in fact. This capretto was in the style of ossobuco or braised shank, though made up of many parts of the animal. Served with chopped broccoli rabe. Scrum-diddly-umptious.

We were too full for dessert unfortunately, but we did have a fake sighting of Alex Guarnaschelli on the way out. Both my wife and I could swear it was her, but I asked her on twitter and she said that it wasn’t her. Pretty cool that she even responded.

SCARPETTA
355 W. 14th St.
New York, NY 10014

American, Full Points for Flavor, Italian, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Restaurant Reviews, Rib Eye, West Village

Piora

September 28, 2013 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, you have to watch this video:

Okay… So that is the whole reason we went here. I needed to do an honorable mention here just for that alone, despite the joint not being a true steakhouse. Well, I needed to try that steak AND sample their ridiculously delicious sounding menu, which you can see HERE. I think we tried most of the items on the menu. Seriously.

We started with a few of their awesome drinks from the cocktail menu, which were painstakingly crafted by this dude, who shaved chunks of ice by hand to fill the glasses.

Check out his arsenal of wizard potions too:

Okay so after that we ordered up some monkey bread for $6. A dollar per lump, each about the size of a mini-muffin or small cupcake. My biggest negative of the dining experience – this item should’ve been free. It was small, and I’ve had better bread for free at places like BLT Prime, Quality Meats, Quality Italian, Tellers, etc. This was essentially the same bread as the stuff at Quality Italian, but it cost $6 instead of nothing. Oh – it came with a seaweed butter (big deal) and some nice lard (that was yummy).

Next we shared some starters: BBQ octopus and duck confit. Unfortunately I forgot to snap pics of those items, but they were both really delicious.

An amuse was brought out to us next: apple with chartreuse and beet:

For pre-entrées we shared four items between the four of us: black garlic bucatini with Dungeness crab and chilis; (Riders of) Rohan duck (that’s a LoTR reference, by the way), suckling pig, and sea trout. All were small portions, so it was easy to sock away with four hungry diners. I won’t get into the serious specifics here, since this is a fucking steak blog, not a duck and pig blog, but the pasta was really nice with the crab meat on top. The aged duck was frigging awesome – may as well have been a steak; that’s how flavorful and legit this fucker was. The pork was soft inside with a nice crispy outside. See pics below. And as for the trout – some of the best crispy fish skin I’ve had to date.

Sea Trout. See Trout Swim. See Trout Get Eaten. — Sea Trout.
See Trout Swim.
See Trout Get Eaten.

We sided that shit up with an order of sunchokes with hazelnut, topped with parmesan cheese. Really great shit.

Now for the good shit – the steak. The special, secret, off-menu, bone-in, 40oz rib eye/cote de beouf was … Well … You saw the video. It was fucking great. It ranks #2 in best steaks from a non-steakhouse; behind only the great and powerful Marc Forgione (who just opened a new steakhouse in Tribeca, by the way, called American Cut). This steak was nice – it had a bacon candy-like taste on the edges; great sear, locking in the flavor. The meat was tender, cooked just right. Take a look at the pics, before and after slicing:

It came with two side items: olive oil potato balls, and spigarello (which is best described as broccoli flavored kale, sautéed with garlic and oil). I didn’t care much for the potato balls, but the spigarello was nice. You can sorta see those items here in the plating:

For dessert we had a scoop of salted caramel ice cream (not pictured), and an order of the white peach shaved ice, which sat on a coconut panna cotta with some blueberry sauce. THAT was really flavorful. I wish I had ordered three or four of those for my entrée. The coconut panna cotta was so light and fluffy. Totally gobble-worthy.

And then the bill came:

And then I took a dump in the bathroom. And they all lived happily ever after. The end.

PIORA
430 Hudson St.
New York, NY 10014

Flash Deals, Porterhouse, Steakhouse Reviews, West Village

Abe & Arthur’s

June 15, 2013 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Abe & Arthur’s overall score: 82

Unfortunately this place is now CLOSED!

Flavor: 9

My wife and I came here with a deal from Gilt: $76 for a shared app, a porterhouse for two, two sides, and a dessert. The porterhouse was really good. It was a shade above medium rare, but I do recognize how difficult it is to cook a porterhouse properly: two different meats that should really have different cooking methods and times. The strip side was cooked better than the filet, but both were great. The meat was well seasoned, juicy (except for the edges that went a little over), and well rested before serving. I was shocked at this, since most times porterhouses come out sizzling like the obnoxious fajitas at fucking Fridays, which, in my opinion, completely destroys the steak. Bravo Abe (or Arthur) for knowing not to participate in that most fucked up of steakhouse cliches. The steak sauce was nice but better for something like chicken.

Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 7

They fall short here because they don’t have a rib eye on the menu. They have a strip, a filet, a porterhouse, and some other beef (and non-beef) meats, but the lack of a rib eye is a three-point loss right off the bat.

Portion Size & Plating: 8

The plating was cool here; the porterhouse was served up on a cast iron skillet. This place clearly knows how to serve meat the right way (rested rather than sizzling). The portion size was a bit on the small side at 38oz for two. Don’t get me wrong; I was full, since my tiny wife didn’t eat more than a third of it… but two grown men going at this thing? A bit on the small side.

Price: 10

I can’t really complain at all here. We nailed a big score with that Gilt deal, so the total for the bill was something like $72 (with tax & tip) plus the initial $76 layout for the coupon. Not bad. See the before and after for the bill:

Bar: 8

The bar is okay. it’s close to the window for people watching in a hot neighborhood, and I would imagine it gets a good crowd since it’s the famous meat packing district. They offered some interesting cocktails that were actually pretty good and boozy, and the martini I had was just right (though they didn’t have blue cheese olives for me – oh well).

Specials and Other Meats: 8

The waiter didn’t read off any specials to us since he knew we were there for the Gilt deal. The place had a lot of non-steak items on the menu, so I assume there were specials of all kinds for the regular diners (of which there seemed to be few; everyone had the Gilt deal in hand. As far as other meats go: they had lamb, pork, and some alternative beef items to chow on. A decent showing.

Apps, Sides & Desserts: 8

We had a mixed bag here. Our octopus app was incredible. Soft, succulent, and tasty. The creamed spinach was borderline bad. I didn’t like it. It seemed like it was too watery in the cream department, but also not cooked down enough as far as the spinach goes. Tough to explain. The mac & cheese was good though. It had nice crunch on the breadcrumb layer, not too assertive or biting on the cheese, not greasy at all… but a little on the dry side. For dessert we had the doughnuts, which were great (soft, chewy inside, and slightly crispy outside). However the caramel sauce wasn’t too good (too salty). The strawberry and chocolate sauces were nice though.

Seafood Selection: 8

Sorry guys – I didn’t even fucking look. I have to insert the standard 8 score here. The online menu shows a decent selection though, if you go by that. Good looking raw bar selection, apps (octo was awesome), and three different fish entrees plus the standard scallop item.

Service: 9

Good service. Our waiter kept out of our hair, he was nice, and he did a good job. Refills were often, the table was clean and neat, etc. One thing to note here is the nice table bread: popovers. They’re not quite as awesome as BLT Prime, but still fun to gobble up before the meat comes.

Ambiance: 7

The ambiance wasn’t really my cup of tea. It’s modern and classy, but it felt like it was in need of a revamp. From what I hear about this place, there is going to be some new ownership or management in the near future. I think they will go the more trendy route based on what I think I know of who is taking over. That could be a very bad thing, or it could be a really good thing, depending on how tastefully it is done. Let me also put it this way: I am not a fan of what this area of NYC has become in general. It used to have character and ruggedness. Now it’s a quiffy mess of wanna-be socialites and forced trendiness. Fuck that, and fuck those people even harder. No offense to the ownership of this fine establishment is intended here, but I think they could remodel so that they stick out as a beacon of uniqueness simply by going back to the cobbled and rugged roots of that special corner of Manhattan. Even a Quality Meats style “new-but-made-to-look-old” treatment of the interior would fit right in with the history of the meat packing district neighborhood. Meat hooks, bare bulbs, thick wood and marble slabs. You get the picture.

MIDNIGHT RAMEN

NOSE-TO-TAIL BEEF

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Old Homestead overall score: 81

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Abe & Arthur’s overall score: 82

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carnivore connoisseur