My wife and I came here for a quick meal and really enjoyed everything we tried. She had been here soon after they opened for a quick meal at the bar. Now, Corima was awarded a Michelin star and even has a fancy tasting menu. We opted for an a la carte meal, and I’m glad we did. Let me get into it.
We started with two recommendations from the waiter, Francisco, who was AWESOME, by the way…
The first recommendation: Their sourdough flour tortilla. This is CRACK.
It comes with a sort of mole butter, too. I could eat pounds of this stuff. When you go here, do not skip this. I’m not kidding. It doesn’t seem like much, and it’s hard to describe, but this is fantastic.
The second recommendation: Their Beef Cecina Tlayuda. This was essentially like a beef carpaccio on a crispy tortilla. Raw thinly sliced beef on top, lots of flavor packed underneath with alliums and such. This was my favorite dish of the night.
Next up was an absolutely perfectly cooked hamachi collar. It came with a spicy aioli, but the fish was so beautifully cooked and seasoned that it wasn’t necessary.
After that was another seafood item: The spicy surf clam toast with Chinese sausage and super thin sliced tomato. The toast was sourdough. This reminded me of a panzanella.
The duck enmolada was super unique. Think of this like an enchilada, but with a mole sauce instead of a chili-based sauce. Despite this being our least favorite dish of the night, we still vvery much enjoyed it. Literally nothing was left on any of our savory plates.
For our final savory course, we had the 120-day dry aged NY strip steak. This was about 6oz, pre-sliced, perfectly cooked to medium rare and topped with a veal brain Bearnaise sauce! Served with it were some jus roasted white asparagus spears grilled kolrabi cabbage. This was a 9/10. So good.
We ordered one dessert but they sent out all three! Incredible service here. We ordered the chocoflan, thinking it would be flan. It turns out it was more like a brownie topped with whipped cream and ice cream. It was delicious. Unexpected, but delicious. This was my wife’s favorite.
The rhubarb tres leches cake was served with a hibiscus sorbet. It was so light and flavorful. What a treat.
My favorite dessert was the mango granita sorbet with spicy tamarind chamoy and candied sakura leaf. So unique. Spicy and tart, with a bit of sweetness in there to round it out. And doesn’t the plating look kinda like Plankton from Spongebob?
I will definitely be back here for more. What an incredible meal. Put this place on your short list!
My wife and I were invited here by the restaurant’s PR company to help promote them on Instagram. They just opened a week ago, and upon arrival we learned that they were limiting us to what we could order (they chose the entire menu, basically, with the exception of our first cocktail), so proceed with that in mind.
Flavor: 7
We had a small porterhouse. The flavor was decent, and it was tender and properly cooked, but they advertise dry-aged cuts and I did not get any aged flavor. They start the cook over live fire, which gives the meat a nice smoky flavor, but I think they pull the steaks off too soon because there was not a great char on the outside.
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 7
There’s a good selection of cuts here. If I had been able to order as I wanted, I would have gone with the large strip and large rib eye. Since I didn’t get any aged flavor on the steak, I had to decrease the score here a bit.
Portion Size & Plating: 7
The portions seem to be on par with other steakhouses, and plating was in the traditional “sizzling butter on a burnt plate” style of Lugers and others (which I don’t love).
Price: 8
The prices are fair here, with $90 being the cost of a small porterhouse. Other prices seem to fall in line with midtown.
Bar: 8
The bar here is beautiful, and I would definitely enjoy having a drink on those nice fancy tiles. My martini was good, but my wife was a bit let down with her Le Souk (I like the nod to the old tenant here though). I took a sip, and, to me, it tasted harsh and watered down at the same time. Strange.
Specials and Other Meats: 6
There were no specials. As far as other meats go, the standard chicken and lamb were there – one as an app, the other as an entree. I respect the commitment to beef though, so the lower score here isn’t a big ding in my eyes.
Apps, Sides & Desserts: 7
I would not have ordered either of the starters we were given, but I did like the cumin-flavored croquettes. The endive salad was slightly over dressed but nice and fresh regardless.
We didn’t get to try any greens, but the fries were nice. No truffle flavor as advertised, but I didn’t mind at all. Lots of times that truffle shit is overkill anyway. I feel like they should have given us some creamed spinach though. That’s a steakhouse standard.
The cheesecake was okay, just a bit too sweet. Interestingly it was served in a ramekin.
Seafood Selection: 7
They offer lobster and salmon as entrees, and crab cakes and shrimp for starters. Since we didn’t try anything, I am leaving this score at my default of 7.
Service: 8
Service was good, but since they just opened, I know they still have some kinks to work out. The waiter asked what we wanted for dessert (the creme brulee), but then proceeded to bring out cheesecake anyway. That was strange. I don’t think he was fully aware of the influencer menu situation, so no knock to him – just bad communication between PR people, back of the house, and front of the house.
Ambiance: 9
The space is beautiful. There’s an ice skylight and you can watch the live fire cooking as it happens. The space has a red glow and sexy dim lighting. It reminds me of Strip House in that respect.
ANDREW STEAK SOCIETY
51 Avenue B
New York, NY 10009
My wife took me here for my birthday. I’ve been wanting to try this spot for a while. It was a great meal, so let me get right into it.
Flavor: 10
We started with the strip steak (as a shared appetizer course) and finished with the beef Wellington (as a shared entree). The strip was dry-aged at least 30 days, served with roasted garlic, herb butter and charred lemon, and was cooked to a perfect medium rare. Absolute perfection.
10/10. I haven’t awarded full points for flavor in years.
The Wellington was also perfectly cooked. Easily the best one I’ve had since TAK Room (RIP).
Another 10/10.
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 10
There are great selections here for two people, three people, and even solo steaks – both baller style and for those on a budget. They even have off-cuts like bavette. I was impressed.
Portion Size & Plating: 8
Portions are a bit on the smaller side here, in terms of solo steaks (strip was like 11oz), but the quality makes up for it. Each plate was done up nicely – not the standard slice of beef sitting on a white plate with nothing else.
Price: 8
Beef prices are super high right now, but we didn’t feel like we got hosed. They also offer happy hour deals at the table if you eat early like we did.
Bar: 10
The bar here is beautiful and big. Warm and inviting. Elegant. Happy hour “tiny martinis” are still a good size – larger than many full sized martinis at other places. They offer a large variety of martinis, and they’re good.
Specials and Other Meats: 9
I don’t recall there being any other specials read to us, aside from some highlighted new items that the waiter spoke about. They offer chicken, pork and lamb in terms of alternative meats. Good showing.
Apps, Sides & Desserts: 9
We ordered the fried hen of the woods mushrooms, an appetizer, as a side to go with out Wellington. We also had the asparagus salad (more like a composed side) as a side with the strip steak (which was also an appetizer for us). Both excellent. The mushrooms came with a house made sri racha sauce that was incredible. We asked for more and put it on everything.
The pistachio rhubarb cheesecake was pretty good to boot.
Seafood Selection: 9
We ordered the happy hour special clams and oysters to start ($1.50-$2.00 range each), and both were great. Based on this, I would feel confident ordered a seafood entree if I spontaneously grew a vagina and wanted to avoid meat.
Service: 10
Service was outstanding. They rememebered that my wife had booked the reservation to celebrate a birthday, and they went the extra mile with a candle and some chocolate words on the plate. They also were great with letting us know about menu offerings, they knew the meats in and out, and they were great with getting us extra sri racha and roasted garlic.
Ambiance: 10
The space is old and beautiful. I think it has been around since the mid-1800s – recently revamped in like 2021, but looks the same for the most part, from what I’ve seen in old photos. Wonderful meal, elegant/fancy space, yet casual and fun. I would go back in a heartbeat.
GAGE & TOLLNER
372 Fulton Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
My wife and I took a trip to Amsterdam, and, while there, we are a ton of really delicious shit. Here’s a quick rundown of the food.
Cafes and bars offer a great way to sit down, relax and hydrate. They also have some great snacks.
Arendsnest had this huge slab of cured pork belly:
Cafe Belgique had some insane olives. HUGE!
The Louis Bar ham and cheese tosti was super low budget.
Such an awesome bar, by the way. The building has been there since the early 1600s..
Wester Cafe won the bar snacks competition. Bitterballen, fried sausages, and fried cheese wrapped in egg roll wrappers.
But we also liked the fried seafood and cocktails at Pompa.
The bars in general were really awesome and old. This one (In t’ Aepjen) was ape themed for some reason:
One of the most impressive bars we went to was actually at our hotel, the De L’Europe hotel. There was a speakeasy in the back called Chapter 1896, and it had, basically, a museum of Macallan selections.
The hotel had great breakfast included, and with a nice view too.
The Heineken Experience gave me a new appreciation for the brand.
Other bars we enjoyed:
Dutch Courage and Wynand Fockink for genever.
Cafe t’ Smalle
The Old Sailor
Kikkie
Kaap Tein
Cafe Staalmeesters
Of course we got steak along the way. Sagardi was one of the best European steakhouses I’ve ever been to. This is a Basque/Spanish style steakhouse, serving vaca vieja (old dairy cow). I generally don’t love this stuff, but here, it was amazing. A 9/10 for the steak (rib eye), and I think the total score would be somewhere around 90 as well.
Amsterdam is known for its pancakes. We went to Upstairs Pancakes, a small 4-table spot that’s up a very steep set of stairs. We loved the bacon, brie and honey pancake. Maybe the best bite of the trip!
I think the best sweet items we had were the stroopwafel at Hans Egstorf (overpriced tourist trap, and I prefer the plain instead of the ones with toppings), and the apple pie at Winkel (absolutely insane – so fucking good).
We enjoyed some find dining experiences while we were there, too. First, the very long but very delicious meal at Kaagman & Kortekaas.
Next, the wonderful meal at De Silveren Spiegel:
Hard to choose a favorite between the two.
We also had some Indonesian food, as the Indonesian people have a long and interconnected history with the Dutch through the spice trade and colonialism/immigration. We had a great lunch at Sampurna.
Our worst meal in terms of both service and food was at t’ Westerhuys. It sucks when you get a double whammy like that.
Too much of a tourist trap, perhaps, but at least we got to try some more Dutch food (meatball stamppot, ossenwurst – like a beef carpaccio or tartare). The dessert was the best part of the meal (tompouce – tart crust with strawberry icing on top and custard in between – kind of like a pop tart or toaster strudel).
It’s housed in a beautiful old church building annex though.
We sampled a shitload of cheeses, both in the countryside at a cheesemaking facility, and in the town at shops.
We had some great french fries at the Keukenhof tulip gardens.
Here are some flower pics:
On our last night, we had a seafood feast at The Seafood Bar.
An amazing trip, and I feel like we barely scratched the surface. There were still a lot of places that we didn’t get to try on our itinerary (food halls, bars, etc). I think we need a return trip!
Carversteak just opened up here in NYC. The restaurant originally hails from Vegas. We gave it a good wallop. Watch this first, and then read on:
Flavor: 8
We had the Kansas City Strip. This was a 14oz piece of bone in meat that was dry-aged for 28 days. It was very slightly overcooked (medium instead of medium rare), but the flavor packed a good aged punch. I think we got a slightly sinewy end steak, and it could have used a little bit of salt.
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 9
There’s a good selection of cuts here, showcasing everything from USDA prime, aged, domestic and Aussie wagyu cross breeds, and Japanese wagyu. The only down side here is that they had just two aged selections.
Portion Size & Plating: 8
The portions here match up nicely with most NYC steakhouses, with individual cuts being between 10-20oz, and shared steaks being around 40oz. Plating was basic and clean for the steak itself, but ither items were gussied up a bit.
Price: 7
I took some points here, because I thought that $89 for a 14oz steak was a bit over the top. Especially if it wasn’t a 10/10 for flavor. Other items that were expensive: the martinis and old fashioneds. See below.
Bar: 8
The bar here is a bit small and facing the back, where it splits the restaurant essentially in half, which isn’t ideal for entering, popping a squat, and enjoying a drink while people-watching. That said, the bartenders are excellent and so are the martinis and old fashioneds. The sheer number of selections is overwhelming. The price of $25ea is also a bit high.
Specials and Other Meats: 8
There were no real specials read to us, but we did get the French onion short rib and the wagyu burger. Both needed a touch of salt, just like the steak. The burger also suffers from two downfalls: the bottom of the bun was too hard, and the combo os shredded lettuce, mayo and tomato on top turns into a sort of coleslaw that you just want to scrape off (keeping just the cheese and the grilled onion). Otherwise very nice. Great crispy and well-seasoned fries came with the $32 burger.
Apps, Sides & Desserts: 8
We started with the uni shrimp toast and the steak tartare. Once again, the beef item (tartare) needed salt. Not sure what’s going on here. We both loved the uni toast though, we just wished there was more uni on each one.
The broccolini was nicely prepared, but several pieces were woody at the stem area and needed to be spit out, but the mac and cheese was absolutely perfect in every way (see the video linked above for an images of the broccolini and mac).
For dessert, we tried the lemon tart and a trio of sorbets and ice cream (yuzu, strawberry and vanilla bean). All great.
Seafood Selection: 8
There’s standard steakhouse seafood fare here. We didn’t try any outside of the uni and shrimp toast, but that was one of our favorite items of the meal so it bodes well.
Service: 10
Service was excellent, from the bar (William) to the table (Sean), and the old fashioned cart in between. Management checked on us a few times throughout the meal, and everyone seemed to know their stuff inside and out. Table bread was a pair of very nice pretzel bread sticks with a delicious and soft flavored butter (see the video linked above for an image of the bread).
Ambiance: 9
This place is really nice inside. Behind the bar is an elevator bank and a beautiful, broad spiral staircase that takes you up to a rooftop bar. There is a more intimately lit dining room back behind the bar, and beautiful bathrooms downstairs. I would definitely go back to try more.
Golden Steer just opened up in NYC, originally a Las Vegas native. They’re located down by Washington Square Park in the beautiful One Fifth Avenue location. My wife took me here for a Valentine’s Day dinner, so we went big.
Flavor: 9
We had the shorthorn, their boneless 16oz NY strip, as well as their “Diamond Lil” 20oz roasted prime rib on the bone.
Neither of these are significantly dry-aged, but they were cooked nicely and both tasty. We both preferred the prime rib to the strip, as the strip had a bit more chew. The prime rib was super tender. I’d give the strip a 7/10 and the prime rib a 9/10.
On a second trip, we tried the filet mignon and the rib eye (as well as a repeat of the prime rib). Both were excellent, 9/10.
On a third trip, I had the KC strip they had on special. 8/10.
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 9
The menu is full of options. They offer a tomahawk and porterhouse for larger format sharing, and both their rib eye and porterhouse are dry-aged. They also offer two sizes of prime rib (the “English Cut” is smaller), and two sizes of filet mignon.
Portion Size & Plating: 9
Portion sizes are good here. The veggies/sides are enough for two people to share, and the steaks come in on the larger size: 8oz and 12oz filets; 24oz rib eye; 14oz and 20oz prime rib; 45oz tomahawk; 50oz porterhouse; and 16oz NY strip. The plating was great. Definitely a bit elevated from the standard steakhouse experience. Our steaks came out on a cutting board, and each appetizer and side had its own deliverable.
Price: 8
The prices here are fair given the tremendous and, I presume, extremely expensive, commercial space. The only thing that I thought was hefty was my Monkey 47 martini, which clocked in at a whopping $40.
Bar: 10
The bar is stunning. Make sure you give yourself some time to take it in before you go to your table. Or, better yet, eat at the bar or in the bar room. They mix a nice martini, and the cocktail list is great. We liked their old fashioned.
Specials and Other Meats: 8
I don’t recall any specials being read to us before ordering, but, to be fair, we kinda already knew what we wanted. They offer lamb chops, a special chicken dish, and veal saltimbocca as far as non-steak meats go. Next time I will try one of those.
On a second trip, the lamb chops were bangers. These make for a great shared app.
Apps, Sides & Desserts: 8
We started with the braised Spanish octopus, and filet mignon steak tartare. The octopus stole the show here. It was incredibly tender inside with a nice charred exterior, and served with tasty shishito peppers and chorizo.
The tartare was really nice with fried capers on top. The dish, overall, had a slight vinegar flavor, so having this with our third starter, the bone marrow, was a killer move to create balance.
Here’s that impressive marrow dish. The green sauce that came with it was incredible (Italian salsa verde).
On the side, we had roasted Brussels sprouts with honey crisp apple and bacon, as well as their “French cuff” fries. The Brussels ate a bit sweet when hot, but as cold leftovers at home they were dynamite.
The fries could have used a touch more crisp to them when I first tried them, but they were still really tasty and well seasoned. On a second visit they were absolutely perfect.
I also enjoyed their wedge salad.
For dessert we did the coffee and chocolate souffle, which was decadent without being too rich and sweet. The mascarpone ice cream and biscotti that came with were both so awesome.
On a second trip, we tried the meatballs, which were nicely composed on a bed of polenta.
The escargots are unique. They come with some puff pastry baked on top like a cap.
The bananas foster is decadent and delicious, served table side with a show.
Seafood Selection: 9
We each had a “Bloody Bull” oyster shooter to start, which was great, but otherwise the quality of the octopus really stood out. On my next trip here I expect to try the bone-in halibut.
The shrimp, octopus and oysters here are all excellent, namely the Rockefeller style. These might be the best oysters rock I ever had.
Service: 10
Service here was best in class. Attentive and helpful without being too involved, very knowledgable and super warm/nice. Table bread is a warm bun with extra soft butter.
Ambiance: 10
The decor is incredible, and probably one of my favorite dining spaces for a steakhouse. The attention to detail in designing this place is mind boggling. Please take a look at my video below to see some of it.
The Eighty Six is a new intimate steakhouse that opened up in the former Chumley’s speakeasy space on Bedford & Barrow in the west village.
The name derives from the address 86 Bedford, which is the birthplace of the phrase “86’d” (when a restaurant has run out of an item). I’m going off of memory here, but the space historically had two entrances: One on Barrow, which used to be the main entrance; and one on Bedford (number 86), which was used as a secret exit for speakeasy patrons in the prohibition era. The proprietor would yell out “86” and patrons would know to leave out the secret door. As such, it became synonymous with “running out” of items at an establishment.
Chef Michael Vignola, the head honcho for many of Tilman Fertitta’s meaty restaurant ventures (Catch Steak, The Corner Store, Strip House, etc.), was there cooking up our feast. We had a lot to eat, so let me get into it.
First, make sure you watch this short video, because some of the items we had are only featured here in the video (I had some light trouble in the beginning of the meal, so I didn’t take photos of everything).
Flavor: 8
We had the aged 32oz porterhouse for two, hailing from Nielsen’s Family Farm in South Dakota.
This was nicely cooked to medium rare (a hair overdone and more toward the medium side, but no matter).
The fat on the strip side was perfectly rendered out, so that you could eat every bit of it. Nice crust, good char.
Most of the aged flavor rested in the tenderloin.
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 10
The menu here, like Chef Vignola’s other steak-focused restaurants, is packed with variety and unique cuts. They offer a rip cap steak, Vaca Vieja (old dairy cow – popular in Spain), and every type of steakhouse staple cut you can imagine, along with daily specials like a citrus fed wagyu.
Portion Size & Plating: 10
The plating here is astonishing for every item, from the martinis to the meats. I was also really impressed with the portion sizes. They really embraced the concept of a steakhouse from the roaring 20s, where everything was big and bold.
Price: 10
My instant reaction was that all of the prices were very fair, given how beef prices are insane, rent is insane, overhead is insane, etc. The porterhouse for two was $150 and the duck, which can easily feed four, was $195. They also went over the top for our special occasion (my wife’s birthday), and threw in a bunch of desserts on the house!
Bar: 10
This is a beautiful bar. There is seating for eight, but it can get pretty tight if you’re eating a large meal like we did. The bartenders here are the best in the business. Not only are they making cocktails for the whole restaurant, but they are also your servers and waiters, and at the same time making polite and enjoyable conversation with the whole bar as you eat your meal.
The cocktails here are also incredible. The smoked olive martini comes with a show, and it was probably one of the most unique flavored martinis I’ve ever had. Creamy/buttery, smoky, and it came with a trio of stuffed olives (caviar, blue cheese, anchovy).
Specials and Other Meats: 10
There are a ton of specials up and down the menu, from starters like the langoustines, to mains like the citrus wagyu, and mid courses like the caviar and truffle pasta dishes. We had the duck as one of our mains, and this was served with a confit salad as well as a foie gras sausage stuffed into the neck – it was insane! This stole the show for us. We both liked it better than the steak!
The pasta special that we tried was a butter and caviar based sauce, served with a really unique cocks comb pasta. We also tried the langoustines which were a seafood starter special. Both were really great. I liked that the bartender thought we should have some bread with the langoustine sauce, which was sort of like a buttery and spicy ragout.
Apps, Sides & Desserts: 10
We started with the east coast oysters and langoustine special, followed by the potato croquette with caviar, and Spanish artichokes with tarragon emulsion.
For sides, we had the french fries, the brulee corn pot pie, and the truffle and leek creamed spinach. The creamed spinach really stood out as the winner here, but we brought the brulee corn home and it was even better cold from the fridge than it was at the restaurant. It firmed up into a pudding of sorts, and it was incredible!
Dessert was a blowout. First was a nice palate cleanser of lemon sorbet, followed by some Szechuan peppercorn and lemongrass dusted pineapple – a nice nod to Ernest Hemmingway, who used to hang out at Chumley’s and brought a pineapple there for the staff to try after returning from his travels (it was a foreign item to them). We also had the cheesecake, which was so good. I almost never enjoy cheesecake at restaurants, because none of the hold a candle to my sister’s. But this one was a killer. We also had a nice graham cracker, bananas foster and cream dessert, as well as mini ice cream sandwiches. Check the video above to see these.
Seafood Selection: 8
The items we tried were great (oysters and langoustines), but I’d like to go back and try more before I give a full review on this category. I’m holding this at an eight in the hope to expand on it further with some main course items.
Service: 10
I need to refer back to the end of the specials section and the entire bar section here, because the bartenders really impressed me. I saw how they remembered returning guests, took notes for improving on special request cocktails, and just overall exhibited the utmost care and professionalism.
Table bread is swapped out for some really nice pickles – a low carb treat! One with wasabi and horseradish, the other with chives.
Ambiance: 10
This is an incredible dining space. As I mentioned above, they really embraced the concept of a roaring 20s steakhouse, made intimate with the railcar aesthetic and actual art deco design elements. Bravo.
I know this place is tough to get into right now, but they just expanded their hours to accommodate walk ins. If you go there at 4pm you can put your name down, and you’ll likely get seated. Go do it!
THE EIGHTY SIX
86 Bedford Street
New York, NY 10014
I came here with two other guys from law school, so we were able to give the menu a real good attack! Check it out.
Flavor: 9
We had the dry aged strip, the dry aged rib eye, and the 10oz filet mignon. All were really great. Nicely cooked to medium rare, and good aged flavor on these prime cuts.
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 9
There’s a great selection of prime cuts here with multiple sizes and age statements.
Portion Size & Plating: 10
The portions here are big, and the plating is a step above the rest, with garnishes of cherry tomato, charred lemon and rosemary. One thing I wish they did was roast those tomatoes a little bit.
Price: 9
Beef prices are sky high right now, but Il Mulino Prime keeps the cost in check. I was really happy with the pricing on the menu here.
Bar: 8
The bar here is beautiful. Sean mixed a great martini. The cocktail menu looked nice, and the wine list is impressive.
Specials and Other Meats: 9
We tried the veal chop (parm style), which was listed on the specials menu. Despite not having a bone (really just for presentation purposes), this packed a ton of flavor and was a stunner in the looks department.
Apps, Sides & Desserts: 8
We tried the garlic sauteed spinach and the fries on the side. Both were good, but the fries stole the show here for me. We did not try any desserts (just coffee).
Seafood Selection: 7
There’s standard steakhouse seafood fare here. We didn’t try any so can’t really rate it, but I would definitely try the clams.
Service: 8
Service was good albeit a little slow. We sat at 5:30 and didn’t finish until 8:30. They also initially forgot to bring out or fire our Filet Mignon, and I had some water spilled on me at one point (really not a big deal). Otherwise the people were super nice and pleasant.
Table bread was a nice focaccia (cold), and there was also a nice plate of olives, cheese and tapenade.
Ambiance: 7
Despite being small, the place feels bright and airy due to the high ceilings. It’s a nice space and it felt more like a mom and pop joint than part of the larger group of Il Mulino restaurants that now span the country. I would definitely go back to try more – especially the pasta dishes.
IL MULINO PRIME
331 West Broadway
New York, NY 10013
Bufon is a new meat and seafood focused joint in the lower east side. My wife and I tried five items from a menu that we really wanted to ravage. We definitely plan to go back to try more items.
Sunchoke
This was fantastic. Really nice, fresh and mildly starchy.
Halibut
The sauce on this was crack. It was some sort of buerre blanc with bottarga.
Pork Chop
Delicious. Served with butter beans and chopped up Chinese sausage. Super unique.
Picanha
Roasted to perfection. The fat was delicious as well. Scored and rendered to become a beef gelatin of sorts. Skip the vinegar based Creole salsa and get the au poivre for a more classic Sunday roast feel. 9/10.
Crispy Confit Potato
I didn’t expect a fancy hash brown, but it was really good.
No dessert was offered yet. They literally just opened. Interior decor still a work in progress, and the windows still needed to be cleaned!
My wife and I came here during the joint’s opening week. We ate at a high top near the bar so we could enjoy some of the awesome happy hour deals.
Flavor: 7
We had the porterhouse. There is a nice amount of dry aged flavor on this steak, but it just needed a bit more seasoning to really pop.
The steak was also a little overcooked, rendering some of the slices dry and mealy in texture. But nothing that a sauce couldn’t fix. I chalk this up to opening week jitters.
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 8
There are five different steaks on the menu, including some wagyu. All the bases are covered (filet, strip, rib eye, porterhouse), but perhaps something like a skirt or flat iron could round out the selections for their steak frites item (currently that is just another strip steak, likely boneless and smaller than their dry-aged offering). My suspicion is that everything here is choice, given the low pricing and the lack of “prime” statement on the menu (with the exception of the wagyu filet – ungraded Mishima Reserve, 8oz for $83).
Portion Size & Plating: 8
All of the portions here seemed generous for the price. We had a few happy hour items that were discounted, so that definitely helped in the whole “bang for your buck” department. Plating was very nicely executed in steel platters.
Price: 10
You get a lot for your money here. The prices feel like they’re dialed back to 10 years ago. Happy hour drinks were $9, which is excellent. And $1.50 oysters and other discounted plates made the appetizer round a steal.
Bar: 9
Gorgeous bar. A great place out hang out and people watch along the windows on the high tops. It can be a bit crammed along the side wall, but the bar is roomy and beautiful. Their Applewood Smoked Old Fashioned was a steal at $9 for happy hour.
Specials and Other Meats: 7
We had the lamb shank and kofta meatballs alongside our steak. Both could have used a bit more salt, but execution and flavor was on point for these.
Apps, Sides & Desserts: 8
We ordered some happy hour starters like oysters, truffle parm fries, and fried calamari. These were all excellent and at a great price for happy hour.
The steak came with za’atar spiced smashed fingerling potatoes (also comes with their steak frites). These were actually my favorite item of the night!
The broccolini was nice, but also needed some salt. In fact the only things that didn’t need salt were the fried items and the dessert
For dessert, we tried the pineapple cake, which sort of tasted like corn bread – both in flavor and texture. I enjoyed it but the cake dealer did not.
Seafood Selection: 7
There’s standard steakhouse seafood fare here on the appetizer menu, but the only offering on the entree menu is branzino. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and maybe the menu will change seasonally. But the seafood we DID have was great.
Service: 10
Service was great here. Staff knew their menu well, and they were considerate enough to ask us if we wanted to sit in the bar area to take advantage of happy hour.
Ambiance: 10
The dining space here is gorgeous. There is an upstairs seating area, and a high ceiling downstairs area in back. They really did a great job of creating a big steakhouse feel in a small-ish neighborhood joint. I will definitely be back to try their burger, rib eye, strip steak and steak frites.
ESSEX RESTAURANT
124 Rivington Street
New York, NY 10002
