Tag Archives: steakhouse

Burgers, Midtown West, Other Cuts, Porterhouse, Rib Eye, Steakhouse Reviews, Upper West Side

Porter House

March 3, 2015 Johnny Prime 3 Comments

Porter House overall score: 90

My wife and I came here after hearing good things abut this place forever. I was looking forward to trying some of famed Chef Michael Lomonaco’s dishes. Check out how the meal went:

Flavor: 7 (increased to 9)
My wife and I had the cowboy cut bone-in rib eye. We ordered it medium rare. It was pretty much cooked properly, if not very slightly undercooked (which I don’t normally mind). The first few bites were great…

…but then we started having some stringy bits, gristle and not-so-flavorful uncooked pieces.

The down side was that there wasn’t much fat cap around the eye either, which meant my favorite parts were missing. We ended up with lots of scraps (maybe 12oz worth) – even when sharing the approximately 24oz piece of steak – which I ended up bringing home for making stock. Bummer.

UPDATE 9/27/17

The prime rib, available on Wednesday and Thursday, is a 9/10. Very juicy and comes with a delicious bone marrow side.

UPDATE 6/7/18

I also got to try the porterhouse (9/10)

The chili-rubbed rib eye (9/10)

And the veal chop (8/10)

Dry-aged strip (9/10).

Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 9
You have a ton of selections here. Two different rib eyes (bone-in cowboy, and chili rubbed 45-day aged), a filet, a porterhouse for two, and two different strips (bone-in and boneless). Everything is aged and prime, and the filet is black angus. They masterfully hit all four basic cuts. It’s just that the cuts were not executed nicely.

Portion Size & Plating: 9
Portions here are good. I’d say our steak was about 24oz, the apps were large, as well as the sides.

Price: 8
Prices are high here ($63 for the bone-in rib eye). Normally I’d say that you are getting top quality beef and an amazing view of the park from Columbus Circle, not not all seats have such a nice view, and at $63 my steak should have been fucking perfect. I think it’s fair for the slight up charge based on location, but they need to execute at that price point. The apps all hit their marks, however, and they were reasonably prices along with the drinks. This improved, though, on a second and third visit.

Bar: 8
The bar here is pretty decent for being stuck inside a mall. There was a good crowd here, and I can definitely see myself chowing down on a burger and throwing back a few beers. That’d be better than dropping another $63 on a steak, for sure. They have some nice cocktails and a great wine selection as well. I really liked the Peacock Tonic, which had muddle cucumbers, Hendrick’s gin, tonic and rosemary.

Specials and Other Meats: 9
There are lots of alternative cuts of meat here. There’s a roasted chicken, lamb, veal, duck, pork and even a minor cut of beef like skirt (or the steak frites cut that they use for the lunch menu). On special, there was only a soup of the day, which was New England clam chowder. I was hoping for a bit more.

Lamb t-bones and duck steak were both excellent.

Apps, Sides & Desserts: 9
We tried three apps. First up, the hand cut filet mignon tartare. This was really great. The capers popped, it was dressed just right, and seasoned well.

Next was the roasted bone marrow. This was also delicious. It was lightly salted, and oh-so-smooth to spread onto the grilled country bread. Excellent.

They recently made this even better by adding morels to it.

The fois gras and chicken liver pate was interesting, though I thought it needed a sprinkling of salt. This would shave been better served with the raisin and nut bread that they passed around in the beginning of the meal (see below) instead of the toasted bread that it came with, stacked like Jenga blocks.

We also tried the creamed spinach. Unfortunately I wasn’t a fan of this at all. It was a little watery, too much cream in the ratio, and also had a very strong nutmeg quality to it that reminded me of all the pumpkin spice bullshit you get shoved down your throat in the pre-Thanksgiving and pre-Christmas madness. I almost didn’t want to take it home, but I felt like it’d be such a waste if I didn’t. Maybe if it wasn’t pouring rain outside I would have found a bum to give it to.

We skipped dessert since, after our steak, we were a little underwhelmed.

But on another visit, I think I tried every dessert imaginable, and they were all great:

Seafood Selection: 9
There’s a good variety of seafood in this place. They offer the chilled seafood towers, caviar, scallops, shellfish and crab cakes on the app menu. The three main seafood items on their entree menu looked nice too: lobster, salmon, and swordfish (the steak of the sea, as I call it). Cheers for putting a man’s fish on that menu!

Service: 9 (increased to 10)
No problems to report here, and equally no “stellar marks” moments to report. It was a regular meal that went smoothly, just the right pace, with friendly servers, bus boys and waitresses. On a second visit they treated us to a round of drinks and desserts for no apparent reason at all. Amazing.

Ambiance: 8 (updated to 10 after remodel)
I was hoping for a better atmosphere here, being that the place overlooks Columbus Circle and the corner of Central Park. Unfortunately only some of the seating overlooks that area. The restaurant is nicely lit and decorated, but the white table cloth atmosphere gives it a slightly more formal feel than I was looking for. Nothing wrong with that, but the crowd did seem a little older and stuffier.

I went back in for a burger. This double cheeseburger is only $16 on the bar menu. The burger itself is smothered in delicious, gooey American cheese, and topped with red onion jam and pickled jalapeños. It is damn near perfect, given its placement on a potato bun. Perhaps just a leaf or two of iceberg is all it needs.

The chips were way over-seasoned. My mouth is still sweating from eating them. I think lots of Old Bay or something similar. Heavily salted as well. Skip those unless you plan to suck down several beers to quench your thirst afterward.

PORTER HOUSE
Time Warner Center
10 Columbus Cir.
New York, NY 10019

Commentary

The Great Steak Debate

March 2, 2015 Johnny Prime 2 Comments

Last night I attended the Great Steak Debate with my wife.

The event was sponsored by Audi and Inside Hook, and hosted by Marc Forgione at his American Cut steakhouse (Tribeca NYC location). The idea was to try strip steaks from eight different meat purveyors and do a blind taste test to see which we all liked best.

The evening started with a nice cocktail hour, featuring Snow Leopard vodka martinis, Highland Park scotch (neat/rocks, or in a kickass cocktail with Cointreau, Drambuie, OJ and simple syrup), Peroni beer and Carnivor wine.

Steve Bryant, the executive editor from Inside Hook, gave an intro to the event and warmed up the crowd.

Chef Forgione spoke as well, but this pic of him listening to Steve came out a little more clear:

Then the fucking meat came out and I nearly crapped myself with glee. They assigned a letter to each purveyor’s strip, and provided us with a card and stamp with which to cast our votes.

This shot below has E, F, G and H from top down, since the plates got attacked too soon for me to snap photos.

A booklet we were all given contained some info about each purveyor, and it even had a few blank pages in the back for tasting notes. As you can see, I had them ranked as follows: H, G, B, E, D, A, C, F. The purveyors we were sampling were Belcampo, Bunn Gourmet, Chicago Steak Company, Crystal River Meats, Debragga, Kansas City Steaks, Main Street Meats, and Omaha Steaks.

The meat was also served with steakhouse classics like creamed spinach (Marc’s stellar “sunchoked spinach” is off the fucking charts amazing) and mashed potatoes.

The big reveal was made, and the judges chose E for first place, C for second, and D for third. That was Belcampo, Debragga, and Kansas City, respectively.

The rest of our votes were tallied from the crowd.

We chose G for first place, E for second, and C for third. That was Chicago Steak Company, Belcampo, and Debragga, respectively.

As for my votes, I chose Main Street Meats in first place, which I was excited about since they are from close to my home town on Long Island. In second place was Chicago Steak Company, and third place was Omaha Steaks. Caught me by surprise! What an amazing sampling of steaks. There was not one that I didn’t like.

The cool thing was that it turns out the purveyors from Main Street were sitting right at our table with us! Everyone at the table was great to chat and eat with.

Oh yeah! I forgot about this little shot of fizzy chocolate milk ice cream at the end of the meal. Very nice touch!

It was a pretty awesome night. At the end, we got to spend some time talking with Chef Forgione about his menu ideas, our favorite steakhouses, and family roots in food, and then we hung out a bit with Steve from Inside Hook at a nearby bar.

Filet Mignon, Latin/Mexican & Caribbean, Midtown West, Other Cuts, Restaurant Reviews, Restaurant Week, Rib Eye, Steakhouse Reviews

Fogo de Chao

March 2, 2015 Johnny Prime 3 Comments

This is a big all-you-can-eat Brazilian steak joint in midtown.

I’ve always been a fan of these types of places because you get to sample a great variety of meats to whatever extent that you want. This place offered about 11 or 12 different items.

A few different awesome things, like suckling pig, sometimes show up at other places that do Rodizio Churrascaria as well.

The idea is pretty simple. Start off at the salad bar, which is typically amazing by itself. I’ve seen some places offer sushi there as well. I usually go with the smoked salmon, cured meats and hearts of palm right off. This joint had some decent selections (though no sushi):

The salmon was amazing. So once you have had your fill of salad, you flip your little circular card over to the green side (as opposed to red), and then the meat guys start coming around:

Each diner is equipped with a small pair of tongs to grab the slices of meat as they are carved off the skewers by the swordsmen. Then you start making piles of delicious meat on your plate. Dig in!

Above you’ll see a little roasted drumette piece of chicken. This was actually my favorite thing they served. So fucking good. There was a lot of different preparations of sirloin, but I think my favorite of the beef was the bottom sirloin, which is pictured just above, next to the lamb chop.

Don’t forget to slam a beer; shit is salty and you will get thirsty:

The sides are free (the meal is a set price) and also “all-you-can-eat.” Here, you’ll want to stick with the caramelized bananas and fried polenta.

The mashed potatoes sucked. They were dry and chalky.

Save a little bit of room for dessert too, because this shit is pretty good. I had a delicious slice of key lime pie, but they also have flan, creme brûlée, passion fruit mousse, and lava cake with ice cream.

Afterwards, the dessert booze cart comes around, along with the bill, of course:

Just a quick FYI about this place during restaurant week: $25 for most of the same meats, the exact same salad bar and sides, and a slightly smaller portion of dessert. Best deal in town! I give the flavor 9/10, but despite this being a “steakhouse” I am not giving it the full review treatment.

FOGO DE CHAO
40 W. 53rd St.
New York, NY 10019

Midtown West, Porterhouse, Press Reviews, Rib Eye, Steakhouse Reviews

Hunt & Fish Club

February 15, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Hunt & Fish Club overall score: 90

Just a quick FYI about the format of this review. I was under the impression that this joint didn’t seek to be classified as a steakhouse. But now, everywhere I see this place mentioned in print, it is being called a steakhouse. SO I’ve taken my restaurant review and stuffed it into a steakhouse review format. That’s why it looks like a Walmart fatty stuffed into a runway model’s dress.

My wife surprised me with dinner here for Valentine’s Day.

What an incredible meal! We started with some cocktails. Gin martini for me, and some sort of sparkling apple drink for the wife.

A nice unexpected surprise was a pair of big popovers. These were pretty good, but not quite up to the standard set by BLT Prime. One was very airy and light, while the other had a crispy outer shell with a lop-sided, more dense, doughy bottom.

There were several items we wanted to try from the app menu, so we just ordered them all. First was the filet mignon tartare. This rivals the Quality Meats tartare. Easily one of the best in Manhattan. The plate was ringed with minced red onion, boiled egg whites and egg yolks. The beef itself was extremely soft and tender despite being hand cut. It was topped with a raw quail egg for that needed fat. So fucking good when spread onto the little waffle chips that came with the plate.

Next up was the bacon. These were nice and thick: we had a strip each. I’ve had better in other places, but this was an excellent way to chase that delicious tartare.

Our third starter was the oxtail and bone marrow French onion soup. This was really delicious and rich. The broth had such a nice flavor from all that beefy goodness. While I still like the French onion soup at Le Village better, this was an exciting, innovative take on what is frankly a boring item.

For my main course, I had this delicious, perfectly cooked bone-in rib eye steak. Aged prime all the way, people. So fucking good. Easily in my top steaks. The crust had a great sear. There was a slight amount of bleed-out, but it was not due to lack of rest. It was just juicy as fuck.

My wife had a halibut dish that was cooked with king crab for a nice flavor boost. I can see why they call this place Fish & Hunt – both the meat and the fish are spectacular and deserve to be featured prominently.

My wife and I basically said FUCK YOU to greens in this meal. Instead of sharing one healthy veggie side, we went with two unhealthy, starchy, carby veggies. First was horseradish mustard mashed potatoes. Really fucking tasty. The horseradish gave it a good kick in the balls.

The other was truffled tater tots. Holy shit these were decadent and earthy. They were cooked with truffle oil, and the creamy dip sauce that came with them had minced truffle in it as well. BOOM!

For dessert we shared a yogurt based panna cotta. While the texture was really not the kind you associate with panna cotta, this flavor was really light and delicious. It was creamy, airy from the berry foam on top, and it had an awesome crumble made from brown sugar on top. Then topped with some fresh berries. Fucking nice.

The bill came with a pair of freebie signature hibiscus vodka cocktails that tasted like adult fruit punch. I liked it. Also two golden boxes with chocolate candies inside. One was coffee dusted, and the other was salted dark chocolate truffle. REALLY rich and flavorful.

We ate like royalty in this place. Definitely worth trying despite a pricey total bill. Give it a shot!

UPDATES

The rib eye is still nearly perfect. Here are some updated pics:

I also tried the porterhouse, which was a solid 9/10.

I also tried the carpaccio, herb fries, bacon, brussels (with more bacon), and the carrot cake. Everything is great.

Flavor: 9 – very near to absolute perfection

Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 9 – could use a few more cut options. Quality is fantastic though.

Portion Size & Plating: 8 – steaks are a good size, but slightly thin, and certainly mismatched when looking at price.

Price: 8 – this is an expensive joint, but the rest must be expensive too.

Bar: 10 – great street-side drinking, elegant, fancy, and nicely decorated. Plus there’s another bar downstairs for more intimacy.

Specials & Other Meats: 9 – solid showing of alternative meats on the menu.

Apps, Sides & Desserts: 10 – everything we had was awesome here.

Seafood Selection: 10 – with a name like “Hunt & FISH Club” you expect no less. The presence of Alaskan King Crab as an entree is impressive.

Service: 8 – perhaps because we went on Valentine’s Day, which is super busy, we didn’t get the five-star treatment we expected.

Ambiance: 9 – very elegant and glamorous. I can understand why celebs have been flocking to this place.

HUNT & FISH CLUB
125 W. 44th St.
New York, NY 10036

American, Burgers, Restaurant Reviews, Upper East Side

Parlor Steakhouse

February 10, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

NOTE: THIS PLACE IS CLOSED!

I haven’t had the chance to review this joint completely on the steakhouse tip, but me and a couple of friends came here for the bottomless brunch deal (caveat – not really bottomless – limit of five drinks within two hours).

At $29 you have a pretty good selection of entrees to choose from, including steak and eggs. We all went with the burger for this go-round, which came pre-sliced on the plate, and which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea (I’m fine with it):

It was a decent burger, but we were all in agreement that there are better burgers around. Good, strong yet soft bun, nice toppings, although I wasn’t too crazy about the pickled onions. A little bit of a thicker patty than I like, but whatever. The real star(s) of the plate were the French fries with fried onions on top:

They were absolutely perfect in every way. Crisp outside, soft inside, nicely salted, etc.

I stuck with the Bloody Mary for my drinks, but managed to get some photos of my friend’s girly drinks (bellini and mimosa).

PARLOR STEAKHOUSE
1600 3rd Ave.
New York, NY 10128

Midtown West, Rib Eye, Steakhouse Reviews

Empire Steakhouse (54th)

January 11, 2015 Johnny Prime 3 Comments

Empire Steakhouse (54th) overall score: 84

This joint is right near my apartment, so it was just a matter of time before I wandered in. I’d been to the other Empire location a while back. It was okay; room for improvement there, but I still wanted to try this other location. I went with my wife for a quick dinner. Check it out:

Flavor: 8
I had the bone-in rib eye. It had a great sear and crust on the outside, and it was cooked to a nice medium-rare on the inside. There was not one drop of bleed-out, as the steak was properly rested before it was served. Aside from a bit of gristle in one spot, this was a great cut of beef. Better than the other location (which is now closed).

Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 9
Empire covers the basics in a plentiful way. They offer porterhouse for two, three, or four; ribeye; filet; strip; and even prime rib. To top it off there are veal and lamb chops too.

Portion Size & Plating: 8
Portions here are average to good. The creamed spinach is enough for two to share at $11. Even the creme brûlée dessert is probably big enough to share. At 22-24oz, the steak is a good size too.

Price: 8
Great prices here. Our bill was just over $100 because my wife didn’t have much of an appetite.

Bar: 10
This is a great bar to hang out in. The bar room itself is beautiful, but not only is the atmosphere cool, but they have over 400 different bottles of wine and over 100 different single malt scotches – not to mention a serious bourbon and cognac selection.

Specials and Other Meats: 9
The great thing about this place is their pre-dinner price fix menu. At $49 you get a soup or salad to start, then either a filet or strip with crab cake or grilled shrimp, a side of either broccoli or mashed potatoes, and dessert. Awesome. I will definitely be back here for that deal.

Apps, Sides & Desserts: 7
Unfortunately, the chilled seafood platter missed the mark for us. The shrimp and lobster portions of the dish were just really bland and lacking in flavor. The lump crabmeat was excellent though. I noted the same problem in the review of the other location as well.

I had to drown it in their steak sauce to get some enjoyment out of it.

The creamed spinach was really good. It may have been a bit too salty, but I didn’t necessarily mind too much.

This creme brûlée is the best in the city. I’m serious. I’ve had them all over the place, and this shit was perfect. So creamy and light. Amazing texture and flavor, and just the right amount of broiled sugar on top.

Seafood Selection: 8
Aside from the chilled shellfish platter, I really can’t make an assessment on this here. The shrimp and lobster cocktail in that shellfish tower were just no good. Not rancid or “bad,” they just had no flavor whatsoever. It is my hope that, based on the greatness of the lump crabmeat, some of the other seafood selections are better. I recall liking the oysters a lot at the other location, so there’s that.

Service: 10
Our waiter, Tim, was awesome. We got to talking about cameras and photography when he noticed my camera, which he is currently in the market to get for himself. The rest of the staff were all very courteous and kind, and the service was FAST! We got our meal very quickly, and the servers were very happy to refill our plates with spinach and/or shellfish from the tower when we ran low. Decent bread basket, though not warm.

Ambiance: 7
This place was a little stale for me. I did like their private dining room, and loved the front of the house and bar, but the main dining hall was just lacking a little oomph for me. That said, does it really matter, as long as the food is good?

EMPIRE STEAKHOUSE
237 W. 54th St.
New York, NY 10019

Italian, Midtown West, Rib Eye, Steakhouse Reviews

Nino’s Tuscany

December 20, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Nino’s Tuscany overall score: 68

EDIT: This place is now CLOSED!

This place grabbed my attention when I saw the meat in their window as I walked by.

The “Italian Steakhouse” concept has been picking up momentum lately, with places like Costata, Quality Italian and Il Mulino Prime developing lots of buzz. I had to try it. Plus is it just down the street from our apartment.

Flavor: 5
My steak was a little bit on the bland side unfortunately. It was cooked perfectly, and my compliments to the chef for a wonderful sear, but I think it was under-seasoned and just didn’t have some of the oomph that some other places nearby have. It was served on a hot plate that smelled deliciously of butter.

Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 6
The cuts in the window looked fantastic, so I will have to be kind in this section, despite my steak being a bit gristled and fatty. I love a good rib eye that has soft, jelly-like fat, but my cut was laced with some of the more tough to eat ribbons of fat. A shame too, because it was indeed cooked so beautifully. They do offer all the basic steak cuts though: porterhouse, strip, filet and rib eye.

Portion Size & Plating: 8
Portions here are just right. Not too much, not too little. You’ll go home full, and the plating is simple and basic, clean, neat, and without pretense.

Price: 5
I felt that the price was a bit high given the fact that my steak was not up to snuff. At $52 I expect near perfection. My wife’s chicken dish was fairly priced, however, as were the rest of the items we ordered. We stayed away from the appetizers though, as they seemed a little steep as well.

Bar: 7
This joint has a very cool bar area. With brick arches and columns to split it away from the main dining areas, you feel like you are in a cozy neighborhood spot. There’s also live music near the main entrance and bar area too, so it makes for a nice place to have a drink.

Specials and Other Meats: 8
There were no specials read to us, but as far as other meats go, they did offer an ossobuco dish, and various veal, chicken and lamb preparations: a solid showing. My wife had Cornish Hen, which was really nice. Crispy skin, juicy meat all over (even the tits), and a nice rosemary wine flavor pairing. The only down side to her dish was that the broccoli rabe it was served with was not seasoned (needed salt).

Apps, Sides & Desserts: 6
We started with just a single slice of Canadian bacon (aka ham). It was nice, just maybe needed a sauce to pair with it.

We also did a side of sautéed spinach. This was really nice. Smelled really fresh, tasted of garlic and oil, and was generous in size.

For dessert we tried the tiramisu. This was okay. It wasn’t boozy, and it was nice and soft in texture, but the top was covered in what tasted like frozen cool ship cake frosting. That was a little off-putting but otherwise it was enjoyed.

Seafood Selection: 9
There’s lots to choose from here for seafood. They have a ton of nice shellfish on the app menu, along with smoked salmon (which was very tempting). For entrees they offer fresh lobster, lobster tails, salmon, sea bass, tuna, shrimp and even a whole roasted fish of the day. Nice! I can’t, in good conscience, give full points though since I didn’t get a chance to try any of it.

Service: 8
I thought our service was a bit on the slow side for a party of two. To Ninos’ defense, though, the place was really busy, so I can’t fault them for that. I’m happy to see businesses keeping busy and having a full house. Also the manager Benny was really friendly, well-dressed, and had a great table side manner. Everyone was pleasant and nice, and even the table bread was pretty good, served with a bowl of olive oil and olives.

Ambiance: 6
This place has a nice cozy, warm feel to it. A winter’s night was the perfect time for us to come, I think. The musician was playing a mix of Christmas music and Sinatra style favorites, and a few couples had even gotten up to dance for a song or two. Very nice.

NINO’S TUSCANY
117 W. 58th St.
New York, NY 10019

American, Burgers, Midtown West, Other Cuts, Restaurant Reviews, Rib Eye, Steakhouse Reviews, Upper West Side

Landmarc

December 13, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

NOTE: THIS PLACE IS NOW CLOSED (TRIBECA IS STILL OPEN)

My wife and I took a nice long lunch on Friday to check this place out. After we randomly saw Marc Murphy (owner and chef) one day on the street nearby, we figured we needed to check out this location. I’ve been to his Tribeca location several times (great skirt steak – 9/10), prior to creating this blog. The Time Warner Center location is right outside my apartment, so this was a nice easy place to hit. As a side note, I think it’d be cool if Chef Murphy opened up a seafood joint called “Watermarc,” to compliment the Landmarc brand.

We started with the octopus salad. Portion size was great here, for all dishes. The octopus was cooked perfectly, without the skin. It was buttery soft, and served warm, garnished with olives, onions, potato, and some greens. Really nice.

For my entree, I went with the burger (though I will be back for a rib eye soon).

This was excellent. The robust, artisan style potato roll was really soft, yet toasty and durable. The meat was seared to a great outer crisp, and cooked perfectly pink inside without any bleed-out.

It was topped with American cheese (my choice), and served with fries and a salad. The salad was pre-dressed, and sort-of sitting on top of part of the fries, which made that portion soggy. A better service idea would be to put the fries in a side cup.

I put some of the salad greens on the burger, along with the tomato, and lightly half-soured pickles and onions that came with the dish.

Easily one of the best burgers I’ve had in Manhattan to date. If you are into the burger scene, check this place out.

My wife had the bone marrow app for her entree.

Look at how large this order is! FOUR BONES and a bunch of really great, toasty-warm bread (same stuff they give as table bread).

Nice and fatty. And served with onion jam as well. Heart healthy? Haha. Who cares it’s fucking delicious.

On a second trip, we tried the foie gras terrine. This was really delicious. It was creamy as all hell. No grainy texture, and no gamey taste.

The fried calamari was crispy, perfectly cooked, and well seasoned.

The Sunday pasta special was lasagna with short rib. Unbelievable. They put the short rib in the layers of pasts. This is a real winner of a dish. Make sure you try to come on a Sunday for this.

We also tried the rabbit cavatelli with spinach. This was delicious as well. The rabbit was shredded meat, very tender. The cavatelli were soft and light. I usually like a little more al dente, but these won’t weigh you down. The chili peppers were a nice touch.

My rib eye steak was undercooked (it came to me rare instead of medium rare) and a little too wet (not properly seared). The flavor was okay, but the gristled cut made for extra work. They also plopped it directly on top of my french fries, so all the liquid bleed out made my fries extremely soggy and utterly useless. if I had scored the flavor on my traditional steakhouse rating system, this would probably come in at around 6/10. Skip the steak here (skip the rib eye anyway), and go with the other items I raved about above.

We also had creme brûlée and lemon honey sorbet for dessert. The sorbet didn’t have the right texture. It was too hard and icy. The creme brûlée, on the other hand, was pretty much perfect.

LANDMARC
The Shops at Columbus Circle
10 Columbus Cir., #3
New York, NY 10019

Restaurant Reviews, Rib Eye, Steakhouse Reviews, Upper East Side

Prime at The Bentley Hotel

November 14, 2014 Johnny Prime 2 Comments

NOTE: THIS PLACE IS CLOSED

A buddy of mine who keeps Kosher suggested that I try this place with him. I didn’t really know what to expect when it came to Kosher meats. It turns out to be every bit as awesome as regular meat.

This place is a pop-up at the hotel, and not 100% steak house per se, though you certainly get that feel from looking at the menu. Also, we came in for a quick bite at the bar – just entrees – so I feel like I can’t give this place the full JP review with all 10 categories just yet. For now, I will stick to the meat and booze.

I sank my teeth into a nice juicy 10-spice prime rib eye. It had a psychotic crust on it that locked in all the great juices. It was nicely cooked to a medium rare / medium temperature (though the flash photo kind of drowns out the color). Fries were nice too, with a sort-of cajun seasoning mix on them. 8/10.

My buddy had the roasted chicken, which was really tender and juicy through and through. Nicely prepared.

Jules, bartender mixed a fucking great martini, and had excellent suggestions in terms of the food choices. Only down side at the bar was that the cable in the joint didn’t broadcast all the necessary sports channels, so we couldn’t watch the end of the Rangers game that my buddy wanted to catch. Nice windows and beautiful view of the city from in here too.

Here’s the damage – not too bad at all: likely because Jules hooked us up with a round of drinks, which was totally unexpected and awesome. Thanks, brother.

PRIME AT THE BENTLEY HOTEL
500 E. 62nd St.
New York, NY 10065

Filet Mignon, Midtown East, NY Strip, Rib Eye, Steakhouse Reviews

Morton’s NYC

November 1, 2014 Johnny Prime 1 Comment

Morton’s overall score: 86

Morton’s was one of my top three favorite steakhouses in NYC, but things have changed since I started reviewing so many places.

EDITS IN ITALICS from updated review, 11/1/14

Flavor: 9

I’ve been to Morton’s twice, and both times I was extremely pleased with the flavor. They seem to cherish the meat, and they know just how to prepare it to maximize and enhance the natural flavor of the beef. I’ve tried the rib eye, the NY strip, and the filet. I think my wife liked the filet Oskar, an interesting preparation of the filet.

Here are some shots of the 22oz Chicago bone-in rib eye – perfectly cooked, very juicy. The only issue was that there was a bit of bleed-out, and the steak had a wet appearance, as if not seared hot enough or rubbed with enough spice to form a crust.

Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 9

The main four cuts (strip, filet, porterhouse, and ribeye) are all represented on the basic menu, however they really only offer those four in terms of beef, varying them slightly in size to accomodate different appetites (double cut, single cut, petit cuts). Other meats are represented, like lamb, but no other types of beef. Only the ribeye and the porterhouse are offered on the bone (though their website pictures a bone-in “Kansas City” steak, which is another name for a NY Strip). This is common, since strips and filets are usually separated from the bone in order to serve them as individual cuts. I haven’t been here enough to assess whether they offer specials often, or vary the cuts. However I am giving it a high rating because the quality of the meats offered is exceptional, and everything is prime grade.

I noticed on this visit that they had a short rib to offer as well. Nice showing!

Portion Size & Plating: 8

The portions are average in size, but the great thing is that there is something from each cut of meat to suit every size appetite. Plating is basic – nothing fancy.

Price: 10

Both times my wife and I have gone to Morton’s it was during an awesome promotional period where they were offering a $50/pp prix fix menu. Portion size for the entrees and appetizers were the same as normal menu items; I think there was just a slight surcharge for the filet or the lobster, which is reasonable, and we were limited slightly on which desserts and appetizers we could choose from. Well worth the money for this kind of quality and flavor.

This visit they offered a $35 three course price fix menu. What a steal! The filet was only 6oz, but it was deliciously cilantro-ish in flavor. I liked it (had a bite of someone’s).

Bar: 9

Morton’s has a really nice big bar. This is the kind of swanky, old-school place to go for some sazeracs, slow gin fizzes, and pimm’s cups. It harks back to 1920’s elegance. I don’t recall if there are TVs, but if so, this is the kind of place to go watch the Belmont Stakes if you can’t get out to the track.

Situated along the sidewalk, the bar/lounge area is great for people watching as well. They even offer some happy hour and late night food and drink discounts. One of these days I will make it over there to try a burger at the bar. They also mix a great martini and stuff their olives with blue cheese:

Specials and Other Meats: 8

Other than beef, Morton’s really only offers lamb and chicken. This is normal for steakhouses, since the main focus is on red meat. Morton’s strikes me as the kind of place, however, that could execute a good double cut pork chop as well, perhaps roasted or boiled with whole fresh cherry peppers; something robust and bold. They offer specials off-menu with regularity as well.

Apps, Sides & Desserts: 8

For appetizers, Morton’s offers typical steakhouse style shellfish items. We had bacon wrapped scallops, which were fine, but not amazing (the scallops were cooked properly, but the bacon wasn’t crispy enough for my liking). We enjoyed the shrimp alexander, however. The crabcake was above average, and I vaguely recall my wife trying the 5-onion soup and liking it very much. Sides and desserts were average to above average. We were slightly limited in what we could choose since we were eating off of a prix fix menu, so I have not deducted points based on an incomplete review. I would imagine the Oysters Rockefeller are wonderful.

On this visit we tried the escargot to share. They were great, buttery yet light, and no funky taste – better than the ones I tried at Les Halles downtown.

Next up was my “salad” of sliced beefsteak tomatoes and blue cheese. Part crumble and part dressing, this was a nice way to open up the meal:

My wife had a cup of the five onion soup with her $35 price fix deal. I tried thinking of five different onions in my head but not sure if shallot counts as an onion. This was great, by the way. Really flavorful but not too salty like many onion soups can be. Deftly prepared.

Here’s a shot of the Caesar salad that came with our cousin’s $35 price fix – nice touch with the shaved cheese on top:

The price fix entrees came as a composed dish with a small side as well. My wife chose the horseradish garlic mashed potato item, but I didnt like it so much. I didn’t taste any horseradish, and the texture wasn’t creamy enough.

However the side I ordered was sautéed spinach with button mushrooms. I originally wanted to try the creamed spinach again, but they were out! WHAT?!??! We surmised that it must be a pre-prepared item of some kind, or they simply ran out of the right cheese and cream. Bummer. But this was really good anyway.

For dessert I tried some of the ladies’ price fix items. Key lime pie was creamy and smooth with no bitter aftertaste, on a great graham cracker crust. The mousse was nice too, but I’ve had better.

Seafood Selection: 9

I’ve never tried Morton’s seafood entrees, but they offer salmon, sea bass, and a few basic variations of both lobster and shrimp.

I tried a bite of my wife’s salmon entree and I was blown away by how good it was, so I bumped the score up a bit here. It was a perfect medium rare, very flavorful and juicy, and a great portion size for the $35 price fix.

Service: 9

The staff at Morton’s are trained to display sample cuts of beef to every table before patrons order their meals. While you are snacking on the delicious onion rolls in the basket of table breads, the waiters will come by and explain each cut of beef, physically pointing at the meats under plastic wrap on a display platter. Drink refills and general attentiveness was great, as expected. Occasionally my wife and I will make birthday or anniversary reservations online, and, if you tell Morton’s it is your birthday or anniversary, they will do something special. On out first visit, for an anniversary, they had a photographer come by and snap our photo, which they then gave to us in a cardboard “Morton’s” frame. On the second trip, also for an anniversary (a year later), they printed a special menu with our names on top, and gave us a complimentary cake dessert.

The bread basket switched to a large loaf of warm onion bread, with a line of soft creamy butter. Also, there was no longer a display plate of the steaks. I liked that bit of service professionalism. Oh well.

Ambiance: 7

Morton’s definitely has a 1920’s feel to it when you step inside. It is set up with a large, high-ceiling, art-deco inspired dining room on the main floor, which features the impressive bar. In the rear there is a stairway to a smaller elevated dining room that overlooks the main dining room. Walls in both areas contain authentic photos of famous people who have eaten there. The crowd is a mix of tourists, businessmen, and Manhattanites. Bathrooms, flatware, and silverware are clean, and the music is a mix of jazz and typical dinner music.

While the layout is still the same, the photos are gone now and were replaced by a trippy, squiggly, semi-modern wall paper. I liked the old decor a bit better so took a point away here on the re-review. In any event it is still a very cool space.