Taking over the old Maloney & Porcelli space is Monterey, a gorgeous mid-century modern decor and cuisine inspired restaurant.
The cocktails are fun here, especially the martini cart, where you choose between three gins or three vodkas, then you choose your vermouth as well as bitters and garnish. While a bit small and not so strong for the high price point ($26), it was a great presentation and idea.
They have a nice big gin and tonic.
For starters we tried the special pork trotter with sweetbreads and coddled egg.
This was richly delicious.
To balance that, we cut it with some crisp fried artichoke that came with a bright citrus aioli.
On a second visit, we tried the steak tartare, the sweetbreads and the foie gras. Of these, the foie was the best.
For my main, I ordered the prime rib, which comes to you on a classic table side cart.
While mine was a bit diagonally mis-cut, it was a perfect chuck side beauty. Check out the pronounced spinalis and complexus.
Very nice medium rare temp and with a great crispy seasoned coating on the edges. 9/10.
The prime rib comes with a generous sized cup of buttery, whipped mashed potatoes. We added the red pepper broccolini to go with it.
On a second visit I had the porterhouse. 8/10.
My wife had the crab and uni spaghetti with lime butter sauce. Really nice! The sauce tasted almost like a roux.
On our second visit, she had this really awesome Iberico pork chop that came on a bed of corn and with garnishes of mushrooms and bacon. This was the winner that night.
On the side we had Cy Eats’ Romano Beans with her chili oil.
For dessert, we had the dark chocolate tart and the ricotta beignets. Both good, but we preferred the donuts!
On a second visit, the cloud cake dessert really hit the spot. Light and airy like a strawberry shortcake almost.
We were both very happy with this meal, and I definitely want to come back to try more of their offerings – especially the pork chop! Here’s the damage – not sure why the header says “Book and Fox.”
Carne Mare is a great Italian steakhouse down in the seaport. My wife and I went with another couple this past weekend, and we really dove in!
Flavor: 10
We had both the prime rib and the 45-day dry aged porterhouse for two. If I had to pick a favorite between the two, it would be the prime rib.
It was “porchetta spice” rubbed on the outside, and cooked to a perfectly tender and juicy medium rare inside. It floated in a shallow pool of veal jus. Amazing. This baby now ranks in my top 5 for sure.
The porterhouse was nicely cooked and served on a metal platter with bone marrow, herbs, a light watercress salad, and blistered cherry tomatoes. Great aged flavor, and even cook temp all over.
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 10
I wanted to take a point here because they ran out of the duck that we wanted to try, and also because the prime rib is very limited. By 8pm on a Friday, there were only two pieces left. Go early! However, I decided to restore the point, since I wanted to try the veal over the duck anyway, and that’s what we ended up having.
Portion Size & Plating: 10
The prime rib was 16oz, and the porterhouse was 45oz. Both are robust. Other portion sizes were healthy as well, especially for the carpaccio apps, which I find are typically small.
Price: 7
This joint is definitely pricey. At $66 for the prime rib and $185 for the porterhouse, you are well over the average for NYC pricing. However, the quality is top notch, so I didn’t feel too burned over it. In hindsight, I probably wouldn’t order the porterhouse again since it comes out to $92.50 per person. That’s high!
Bar: 10
The bar here is beautiful, as is the entryway into the bar room.
With views of the water, this is almost unbeatable. They have a great selection of cocktails and booze, and I definitely enjoyed the martinis they mixed for me.
Specials and Other Meats: 7
There were no real specials read to us, but I didn’t expect much from a steakhouse with such an extensive menu. We did try the veal milanese. This was good, but it could have been better. It was breaded and fried whole, without being pounded flat like a traditional milanese dish.
Because of that, it had a bit too much chew. I also expected a mix of greens to be on there as well, which is common with a milanese.
Apps, Sides & Desserts: 10
What an awesome set of apps and desserts. First off, the octopus and veal carpaccio apps were probably the best apps I’ve had in a long time. Please make sure you get them.
On the side, we had a roasted and smoked beet (which was actually a veggie entree item), mushrooms and roasted carrots. All of them were great, but when you go, you should focus on the mushrooms (marsala style with porcini cream).
The baked spumoni is an absolute show stopper with layers of chocolate, vanilla, cherry and lemon inside. Save room for dessert!
Seafood Selection: 6
All of the seafood we tried was great, and the selection was nice as well. The main letdown of the meal was the spicy lobster spaghetti. I just sorta fit it into this category though, so don’t let this be an indication of their other seafood entrees.
It was cooked nicely, but the portion of pasta was on the small side (lobster was large though). Also, there was no real spice to it. Meh. Good pasta, but not enough of it and not spicy as advertised.
Service: 10
Our waiter was amazing, as were the hostesses, bartenders and managers. Our first table had a leak from the ceiling overhead (it had just started to pour, thunder and lightning). They swiftly moved us to a table that had an even better view, and they graciously gave us a bottle of wine that was worth nearly $200. We were blown away.
Also worth noting: they serve amazing table bread here, in the style of pull-apart bread. They will just keep bringing it out if you ask.
Ambiance: 10
This place is really nicely appointed. I can’t wait to go back and experience a meal in the bar room. High ceilings, good music, not too loud and not too quiet.
My wife took me to Thomas Keller’s new Hudson Yards eatery, TAK Room, for my birthday. This meal was pretty awesome, so let me get right down to business.
Cocktails
This place has a great selection of classics, spins on classics, and new style cocktails. I went with the “Old Hat” old fashioned. I liked it, but both my wife and I liked her order better (Waldorf Vieux Carre)
We both remarked that the cocktail pricing wasn’t too rapey. And it’s worth noting here that the bar and lounge area is seriously impressive. The bar is backed by windows, offering an impressive view. There’s plenty of lounge style seating near the bar, where you can drink, snack and enjoy the live music on the stage.
Table Bread & Crudite
This was a nice touch; the crudite was cold and fresh, and that butter extruder thing is becoming insta-famous. There are two varieties of delicious house made breadsticks as well.
Green Garlic Agnolotti, Razor Clams, Gremolata
Strong opener, and an easy contender for my best pasta dishes of 2019. It almost had an oreganata flavor to it, with a great balance of textures.
Beef Tartare
This had some freshly shaved horseradish on top of the raw egg yolk, and was really nicely executed.
Prime Rib Cart Service
Take a look at this video of the prime rib service cart:
That’s Snake River Farms domestic wagyu cross, highly marbled and riddled with intense flavor.
This is easily one of the best prime rib orders I’ve ever had. At $110, I would bark about it being too expensive, but it really was worth every forkful. 10/10.
Short Rib Beef Wellington
Check this out:
A beautiful specimen. The short rib was snappy, but super tender.
The puff pastry was perfectly cooked from end to end. Perfect execution.
The only thing I disliked about it was the perigourdine sauce. It had a bitter and almost burnt flavor to it. Luckily that was poured on the side rather than on top of the dish. 9/10.
Champagne Cake, Strawberry Creamsicle Ice Cream
This was a pretty tasty special for dessert (not on the menu), and they generously gave us a couple of glasses of rose champagne to go with it, on the house. Here’s the dessert menu:
Box of Caramel Corn
This comes with your dessert, for the table. Jumbo size pops, very few kernels. Highly addictive.
Views, Decor & Service
Last but not least, one can’t really do a proper review of a joint like TAK Room without speaking about the views, decor and service.
The outer rim of the gorgeous dining room overlooks “The Vessel,” the new scalable art structure in Hudson Yards.
The decor is like a cross between 60’s mod and 20’s art deco. It’s truly beautiful. The service matches the spectacular views and decor, with an impeccably neat, attentive and genuinely nice wait staff. We even saw the likes of Thomas Keller himself, doing one of the prime rib cart services, with Geoffrey Zakarian watching from afar:
One of the managers gave us a quick kitchen tour too, which was really interesting to see. The place is immaculately clean, and they showcase their selection of premium meats in a glass cabinet near the kitchen entrance. Listen carefully for specials, as they were offering cote de boeuf rib eyes at varying sizes.
In summary, this was one of the best meals I’ve had this year, and I look forward to going back to try more beef and even their roast chicken for two. We just need to save up a little bit, because this place is pricey. All in, this meal was $467 with tax and tip. Woof. Here’s a look at some of the pricing:
Here’s a quick update of the minute steak (a thin slice of NY Strip, also Snake River Farms) with fries.
I think a thicker but smaller cut would be better here, and maybe call it a three minute steak. 7/10. The fries were great though.
And a follow up on the burger, which the NY Post called the best in the city.
This is pretty good. Wagyu patty with aged cheddar, LTOP, on a sesame seed bun. I think I prefer a couple of other burgers here in Hudson Yards over this one, but for $24 it comes with those awesome fries, so it’s a good deal. Lunch only though.
TAK ROOM
20 Hudson Yards
5th Floor
New York, NY 10001
