Primal Cut

Primal Cut overall score: 80

Primal Cut is a newly revamped steak restaurant within the Sapphire gentleman’s club. I was invited in for a free meal to help promote the joint. Take a look below:

Flavor: 7

Chef Thomas Perone does a great job with the 40oz tomahawk rib eye for two.

The 37 days of dry aging gave it a really nice aroma.

And Perone and his team nailed the crust on this thing.

Perone leaves soon for The Lambs Club, but he assures me that his staff runs the kitchen extremely well, so you’ll still be in great hands.

With new chef Daniel Fleming at the helm, I tried the porterhouse, as well as a repeat of the tomahawk.

Slightly over on the edges, but there was a good flavor throughout. 7/10.

This baby didn’t have as much flavor as the porterhouse, but it seemed to be more evenly cooked to a medium plus. as opposed to parts medium rare and parts medium well. 7/10.

Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 9

Two sizes of filet, two sizes of rib eye (a cowboy cut and a tomahawk for multiple diners), a porterhouse for multiple diners, a strip, an A5 wagyu strip and a wagyu spinalis round out the menu here. Really fantastic showing, and the majority of the beef cuts hail from Strassburger Steaks. Can’t go wrong there.

Portion Size & Plating: 9

The 40oz tomahawk was a great size for sharing with another person. And all the other items were well-hung too. The plating is basic steakhouse style: minimal and elegant.

Price: 9

I was expecting skyrocket prices for a joint that’s located in a pricey strip club. But $55/pp on the steaks for two is really fair, especially if ogling tits and ass while you dine is your thing. All soups and salads are $12, and apps range from $14 to $25. Very fair.

Bar: 7

The bar here is on the small side, but they do mix a nice martini. The bartenders are sporting some revealing lingerie style attire – which I think is actually sexier than the gowns that the dancers walk around in – so that boosts up the “stay for another drink” factor in what would otherwise be a not-so-impressive stretch of bar.

Specials and Other Meats: 8

There were a couple of specials that weren’t on the menu, usually a different kind of house-made pasta that’s rolled out on specific days (like their lasagna, which all the strippers love). Big points here for the wagyu presence on the menu, otherwise there is just chicken and lamb for alternative meats.

Apps, Sides & Desserts: 8

We tried a few apps and sides. The salmon poke bowl was really tasty and tropical, with a nice pop of flavor from the pineapple.

The half pound slab of bacon is great too, with a nice sweet and savory sauce that will change your expectations of bacon.

The 5-cheese truffle lobster mac is decadent and tasty, and had a great crispy crust on top. You should definitely order this.

I was disappointed with the asparagus. These are the thin, limp, fibrous kind and not the thick, long, stiff ones you expect to sprout up at a strip club… I mean steakhouse.

This French toast style ice cream sandwich dessert not only tasted great, but for some strange reason I kept subconsciously seeing caramel drizzled tits every time I looked at it.

Maybe because I was in a strip club?

Focus, man!

On another trip, I had this awesome carpaccio with fried capers. This was one of the best carpaccio I’ve ever had.

Seafood Selection: 7

There’s salmon and sea bass on the menu, aside from the nice array of appetizers.

Service: 10

If you dine here, try to get Alfonso as your waiter. He’s really friendly and helpful, knows what to recommend, and is just really on top of his shit. Everyone is friendly, there are no pushy dancers trying to get on top of you while you eat, and aside from the occasional girl walking around in a skimpy outfit as you hear the DJ calling her name to the main stage, you’d never really know that you were dining in a strip club. Whether that’s good or bad depends on you.

Ambiance: 6

I know, I know: How can you rate a steak joint within a strip joint anything lower than a 10 for ambiance?!?? That aspect is excellent, obviously, especially for the waning existence of hetero-normative, straight, cis-gendered alpha males like the majority of my readers. But the dining room is in need of a little sprucing up. It’s a relatively small spot too, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but they certainly have the ability to upgrade this place to the level of the untouchable midtown giants. There are low ceilings, it’s a bit stuffy (I think there was a ventilation and AC situation when we went), and the overall feel is very cavern-like. I think they should go all out in this place, maybe throw a few dance cages or a stage in there too. They don’t need to be topless dancers, but just embrace the strip club vibe! All that said, I went in at 6pm. Maybe things heat up later in the night.

PRIMAL CUT
333 E 60th St
New York, NY 10022