Gallaghers Steakhouse, New York

Pursuing my tour of some of the finest steakhouses of New York, having tried Peter Luger, Keens, Strip House, Quality Meats  and Wolfgang.

Dropped by Gallagher’s Steakhouse, a historical steakhouse, which, during the days of the prohibition, was the first illicit establishment selling alcohol where gamblers and stars of Broadway would meet.

In the incredibly competitive steakhouse market of NYC (perhaps, the steakhouse mecca of the world – I mean, do you know any other major city with that many world class steakhouses? Do you? ), you know you have reached the enviable status of a historic shrine at whatever you do when the NY Times writes romanticized write-ups with eye-candy photographs of this sort about you – .

At Gallagher’s Steakhouse,  I ordered:

Platter of 12 oysters – Dabob bay from Hood canal (Washington) and Canadian lucky lime. Nicely shucked quality fresh oysters. The lucky lime had the advertised citrus-tone finish in evidence. The intertidal beach cultured  Dabob bay oysters, quite briny for an oyster coming from the Pacific. The mignonette properly done. A platter of fine oysters. 7/10

The 20 oz rib eye steak (Grade: USDA Prime), dry aged for 28 – 32 days on premise in their glass-enclosed meat locker ( You can see it from the street – a sight to behold). The meat is grilled on hickory coals, a rarity in a city where most steakhouses do broil their steaks. Grilling meat over an open fire has always been my preferred grilling method for meats. The requested medium rare doneness achieved with utter precision. It delivered on flavor (the seasoning, exquisite –  the steak  as delicious as it gets) and was superbly tender throughout. The great grilling effect of the open fire in evidence to the eyes/smell/palate.  Dazzling crust. My steak had its juices settled within the meat, therefore timely rested. A steak is not a moon landing mission and one can do great steaks at home, indeed, but what matters here is that this is a steakhouse and it is doing one of the better steaks in NYC. Easily the best rib eye steak I ever had at all the top tier steakhouses of NY. 10/10

The creamed spinach. Here too, the G seems to have the edge as the creamed spinach had superb taste and great balance between the cream and spinach flavours. Superb texture too. Just some delicious creamed spinach like few — surprisingly, indeed – seem to be able to pull out at the NYC steakhouses. Vibrant fresh and delicious flavours. 9/10

Even the crème fraîche to accompany the baked potato was not of the ordinary sort. The baked potato managing, somehow, not to be just an average piece of tired looking baked potato simply because most kitchen brigades keep such simple things for granted (as most diners do, actually), when, in reality, the sourcing of your potato and how you timed its baking makes a big difference. Here, they did care about that difference.

Bottom line: A very beautiful steakhouse (the warmth of materials such as  wood and leather never failing to entice) in the classic genre. But the food was as great. Where many steakhouses seem to deliver  tired renditions of classic steakhouse food, the G seems to find a way to make it a bit more exciting in mouth (even their homemade sauce to accompany the steak, made of tomato/garlic/Worcestershire sauce, was well engineered as far as balancing flavors go, its taste great ). A commendable steakhouse, indeed.

Overall rating: Food 9/10 One of the very best steakhouses of NYC.   The steaks are great here, but everything else as well. For my taste, the G and Peter Luger are my No1 steakhouses in New York, with the G being a better all rounder, for sure. Furthermore, nothing beats the appealing  texture as well as memorable grilling aromas of a steak that is grilled on open fire (a broiled steak looks unappetizing in comparison). Service 8/10 (superb service in the typical classic NYC steakhouse way). Gallaghers Steakhouse Addr: 228 W 52nd St, New York, NY 10019 Phone: 212-586-5000 URL: http://www.gallaghersnysteakhouse.com/

 

Keen’s Steakhouse – New York, NY

Keens is an institution of NYC, a piece of restaurant  history that started in the  19th century (established in 1885). Its dark wood walls are covered with a tasteful  display of  memorabilia (time-honored paintings, photos, cartoons).   This restaurant could be an incredible shooting location for a movie.

The avid fan of history that I am  had to find himself in this charming old world  decor, espying what could have possibly been the pipe of Roosevelt over here (thousands  of clay pipes of  patrons who dined at Keens are on display on the steakhouse’s ceiling), climbing the same stairs as Einstein over there.   Nowadays, Keens is one of NYC’s most popular steakhouses, attracting tourists, locals as well as many connoisseurs of North American steaks (as you will see below, their steaks did not « rest on their laurels »). But, with legendary places like this one, I am on my guard, always ensuring that  the lore shall never be part of the lure.

On a previous visit here, over 2 years ago, I did try their fabled slow roasted lamb loin‘s saddle  chop (aka the ”mutton chop“). It is not mutton, anymore. It  is  lamb  that they do serve nowadays. The lamb is raised in  Colorado,  some of the  most sought after lamb  in the nation. Colorado does offer to its  free-ranging sheep,  vast swathes of vegetation to feed on, thanks to the numerous mountains and hills of the state. The sourcing of this piece of  pasture raised lamb was  of high level , its subtly earthy lamb flavor  (milder than, say the flavour of lamb from New Zealand)  dazzled. Boasting an enticing color, definely tender, this  was as great as your roasted lamb loin‘s saddle  chop  will be if served to you at a top tier  steakhouse. 9/10

Then last year I dropped by with a long time genuine connoisseur of North American steakhouses and we had the porterhouse.  For anyone truly familiar with beef aging, it was easy to enjoy the great effect of the dry aging (they dry-age and butcher the meat on the premises) process that went into that piece of meat (great concentration of beef flavor). The thing about aging meats is to think about the right effect for the right meat. Sometimes, you see people dry aging then wet aging their meat (perfect recipe to cancel the benefit of dry aging that meat …), dry aging meat that has fat that is so delicate that it cannot  ‘age’  well (highly marbled wagyu as in this case at Dons de la Nature, one of Tokyo’s leading steakhouses. It is the sort of fat that is way too delicate to   benefit from dry aging — I will write, later on, a detailed article on what type of fat benefits from the aging process and why), dry aging fishes that have the taste of nothing if you age them (few fishes do benefit from the dry aging process, most do not…most fishes that are aged do simply fit in the ridiculous trend of aging the flesh for the pleasure of following a trend, as stupid as that – ). Not all steakhouses do master the dry aging of meats as  obsessively well as, at, let us say, Le Divil in Perpignan, but the concentration of flavor of that porterhouse steak  at Keens revealed some serious mastery of the dry aging of their meats.   8/10

This is my 3rd visit here, and this time I ordered the prime rib of beef  (king’s cut – meaning that it’s bone-in),  the  medium rare doneness that I wanted was precisely achieved,  and it came charred at my request ( I suggest that you do not order a charred prime rib. I did request it charred as I was looking for that specific  effect on that evening, but prime rib is better in its non charred version IMHO), served with au jus.  The loin end   rarely fails to be flavorful once cooked,  and yet, you realize how, in the USA, they have perfected its cooking  with no shortage of dazzling renditions of the  prime rib such as the ones you can enjoy at  establishments such as the House of Prime Rib ,  Lawry‘s or   Dickie Brennan‘s  to name a few. But this prime rib at Keens was not out of place in that fierce competition, as here again, you had all the qualities of a stellar piece of North American steak (the quality of the meat really high as you would expect from a North American steakhouse of this reputation, the standing rib roast timely cooked, its delicious fat properly rendered, the seasoning competent, the steak craveable ).   8/10

I love Keen but I was NOT  in love with my platter of a dozen of oysters: all had their superb maritime flavour in evidence, true, but some of the oysters were served a bit too cold than expected at a restaurant serving seafood. The shucking could have been better, too.

Our sides of creamed spinach , sautéed mushrooms and cooked broccoli did not tantalize both the Missus and myself :  for both of us,  this preparation of their creamed spinach  did not  enhance  the taste of the spinach. And they did add a bit less cream than I would have preferred.  Still, their way of doing it is one legit classic way of cooking the creamed spinach and I am fine with that.  The broccoli,  I need them to retain a vivid fresh appearance  (I am not here to talk about cooking techniques but there’s a technique for that, there is a technique that allows your broccoli  to be nicely cooked while retaining its perfect crunch and vivid looks, a technique that is widely documented. There is no doubt that the kitchen brigade at Keens knows how to do that, but, again, their choice is to remain classic, therefore they did use a more classical approach  and that is to be respected. As for the mushrooms, they  looked and felt as if they were sautéed a bit too long  and served a bit too late,  the taste of the mushrooms not in evidence.

The crab cake of the Missus featured   fresh crab flavour, the seasoning well judged. The crab came from Maryland and it is in season right now, consequently its depth of flavour was remarkable. Of her crab cake, she said that it was about “”the full taste of the crab and not a lot of filler””, which was a good thing.  7/10

Bottom line: This article of the NY Mag had its author arguing that   « The meat isn’t first class anymore, especially by the standards of today » at Keens…another one of the absurd and senseless suggestions of our so-called food journalists. A steak is first class if the quality of the meat is great, the cooking accurate, the flavours on point, the extra steps to elevate the taste of that meat making a difference (for example, my pieces of steak, here, at Keens, did benefit from the nuances that an educated palate would detect as nuances that can only come from a competently dry aged piece of quality meat). And you do all of that better than at most other steakhouses, which is the case of Keens.  You stop being first  class the day your steak costs an arm and a leg only to have the taste and feel of a generic-tasting piece of meat that you  would buy at the supermarket (the case of one so-called legendary steakhouse right here in The old Montreal …). Keens has nothing to do with an outdated steakhouse.  For his  steaks, Keens is still one of NYC’s very best. I was not in love with the sides, but again, this was (more of) a matter of preference (at the exception of the mushrooms) rather than the sides being faulty. They need to control the temperature of those oysters, though. My number 1 North American steakhouse is still Peter Luger (the one in Brooklyn) , but that takes nothing away from the superb steaks of Keens. The service and ambience at Keens are  also  great. One of my preferred chophouses in NYC. I loved Keens steakhouse! Steaks (9/10), Appetizers (7/10), Sides (6/10 ), Service (8/10 ) –  Keens steakhouse Addr: 72 West 36th St. New York, NY 10018 Phone: 212-947-3636 URL: http://www.keens.com

Le Coucou, New York (April 2017)

The cooking at Le Coucou (Addr: 138 Lafayette St, New York; Phone +1 212-271-4252) has been making headlines around New York  since the  opening of the restaurant in June 2016, with rave reviews  from New York’s major sources of information on their local restaurants: Time Out New York, New York Times, Zagat, Forbes, The Infatuation, Grubstreet, Village Voice and the Wall Street Journal. The Chef , Daniel Rose from Chicago, was an apprentice at Bruneau, when the restaurant was bestowed with 3 Michelin stars (Bruneau  has a sole Michelin star nowadays)  and trained under the supervision of 3 star Michelin Chef   Yannick Alleno (Yannick now owns a duo of 3 star Michelin restaurants in France,  Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen as well as Le 1947 in Courchevel) . Daniel, who  also owns successful restaurants Spring and Chez la vieille in Paris, is offering Classic French cooking at Le Coucou.

I made it difficult for Le Coucou. I went there on a Monday, generally a quiet evening, when the best cooks of a kitchen brigade tend to stay at home. I decided not to take their most popular dishes (pike quenelles, tout le lapin, bourride). I brought the Missus, a hard-to-please diner. And the star Chef, Daniel Rose was not present. When the meal started, I was certain that I was going to corner the bird (as per the logo of the restaurant, Coucou is ..obviously…a bird) and accuse it of not living up to its hype. I was wrong. Le Coucou fought back, and the bird went on cruising at exceptional altitudes.  This  is, right now, a destination restaurant in New York serving some of the very best French fares outside of France. And it happens to have an interior that is very easy on the eyes.

 

I wanted to visit Le Coucou since a  long time, but it is a very popular restaurant and snatching a seat for dinner, here,  can be a bit tricky (they start taking reservations at midnight, 28 days prior to the day you want to book). For pictures of the interior, click here.  Everything else that you need to know about the restaurant is concisely described in this Zagat’s post, therefore I will focus on the food I was sampling.

Here are the food items we did order:

Oysters from Washington DC /seaweed butter – fresh maritime flavor. This, although pleasant, its sourcing great, its execution without reproach…was not going to help me understanding the hype about Le Coucou. 6/10

Endives/ham – Endives salad, with dried Iberico ham, served with a grapefruit vinaigrette. A superlative vinaigrette with fresh acidity and vibrant flavor of the sort that many restaurants have long forgotten about. That vinaigrette, as well as the rest of the condiments will be showered with praises, deservedly so, but the overall salad, although enjoyable, was not going to leave any lasting impression. Upon finishing this dish, all I had in mind, is the picture of Le coucou, that small unimpressive bird…though, do not get me wrong: the endives and oysters were made by a competent kitchen brigade, I am not denying that. But in light of the hype, I was expecting more. 6/10

I chose the veal tongue / golden ossetra caviar / creme fraiche – a thick slab of veal tongue, firm in consistency, with, of course, some room for proper chew. This is how a certain generation of French used to prefer their veal tongue. A feeling of a bistrot of la ´France rurale’. I appreciate that Daniel brought such memories back. 8/10 for the quality veal tongue, 10/10 for the dazzling (and pertinent, to this dish) homemade creme fraiche (it is rare for a creme fraiche at a top French table, in North America, ​to be packed with such exciting lactic freshness).

The Missus did opt for the Lobster salad, lettuce – on the side a dazzling lobster sauce mixed with egg yolk. 10/10 for that sauce. Perfectly well grilled small piece of tasty quality lobster. 7/10 for the lobster. Hard to tell when you look at the picture above, but there was a big lettuce, next to a tiny piece of lobster ..and that did not sit well with me (quite a weird sight, I found). May as well call it “lettuce salad” …. “avec un soupcon de queue de homard” ….

Lamb rack (carré d’agneau), egg plants, tomatoes stuffed with “choulder and chard” – faultless cooking with requested medium-rare doneness achieved successfully, quality lamb from Colorado, first-rate lamb jus sauce (mixed with red wine). 8/10 for the lamb, 10/10 for that exciting lamb jus. Clearly, this saucier is crazy … ;)

Prime filet of beef/bone marrow jus/oxtail potatoes – served with a dazzling sauce bordelaise (10/10), the filet mignon of superb quality (8/10),

Braised oxtail / potatoes boasting superlative textures and flavor. This would NOT be out of place at  a serious classic French 3 star Michelin table (10/10).

Cheeses (Aretheusa Blue, O’bannon Goat, Overjarige gouda, Hooligan, Red Hawk) of good quality, from several parts of the US as well as abroad, all served with a first rate sauce of plum/ porto. When sauces are done this well, all I can say is that “you are a first-rate french restaurant”!

Wine service and selection is of prime mention, here.

For desserts, we had:

Riz au lait (rice pudding) — My idea of the perfect riz au lait is the one that Bistrot Le Casse -Noix did serve me, years ago, in Paris. When it comes to the rice pudding, I do not like too many extra ingredients. At le Coucou, Le riz au lait comes with extra ingredients: chartreuse, pistachio. This rice pudding was still enjoyable with one flavor profile that some French of a certain generation will remember, only it is revisited and was well made (6/10)

Roasted pineapple is a simple dessert, consequently there is no shortage of decent roasted pineapples at good restaurants. What’s rare, though, are roasted pineapples that stand out. For some reason, the equation roasted pineapple=quality pineapple+dazzling flavors is an equation that is not taken as seriously as it should by many kitchen brigades. Mind you, who is going to blame a Chef, in the west, for not losing a sleep over some tropical fruits? Le Coucou is one rare restaurant, in the west, that does not underestimate that aspect, as the pineapple that they did use seemed to have been carefully hand picked at its optimal stage of ripeness. The roasted pineapple was served  with a yellow chartreuse sorbet and a touch of olive oil. This roasted pineapple was packed with memorable fruity aromas, a benchmark of its kind (10/10)

We also had a technically flawless  chiboust (impossibly light and delicate), with well judged meringue to pastry cream ratio. 9/10

As well as a coconut financier  with exciting fresh coconut flavor. The coconuts are from the Caribbean and are grated for their  financier. The sourcing of the coconut was not an afterthought, the technique of high level (9/10).  The talented Pastry Chef Daniel Skurnick, who worked previously for some of this globe’s best restaurants (The River Café, Jean-Georges)  is their current Pastry Chef.

Pros: First-rate updated French sauces. A meal as well as an overall dining experience with many highlights!
Cons: Coucou mon coucou, for my pineapple juice, may I suggest that you use that same outstanding pineapple you did use to make the ananas roti? Also:  c’mon folks…..that lobster / lettuce menu item…I mean…c’mon, that is more “coucou” the unimpressive bird than a “crowned eagle” …Lol.

The hospitality standards are up there with what the grand tables of this planet have to offer, minus the heavy decorum that can be found in some houses. The restaurant has a tiny but prettily decorated bar at the entrance. On the wall of that bar (you cannot sit there, btw), a painting that will remind you of Provence. It is the kind of bars you see in movies. The rest of the decor is lavishly styled, with chandeliers, candles on every table, large glass windows, vaulted ceiling, a modern open kitchen.

Overall food rating: 9/10 (Categ: Fine dining, Top tier French restaurant outside of France, Top tier restaurant in New York) –  Hey, mon Coucou, I have no clue if your sauces are always as dazzling as on the evening of my visit, but with sauces of this caliber… , I am flying, too!!!

Bottom line: I made it difficult for Le Coucou. I went there on a Monday, generally a quiet evening, when the best cooks of a kitchen brigade tend to stay at home. I decided not to take their most popular dishes (pike quenelles, tout le lapin, bourride). I brought the Missus, a hard-to-please diner. And the star Chef, Daniel Rose was not present. When the meal started, I was certain that I was going to corner the bird and accuse it of not living up to its hype. The oysters and anchovies were fine, but given the hype, they did not deliver the emotions we came for, therefore I was determined to “pluck the feathers” of the bird. But Le coucou fought back, and the bird went on cruising at exceptional altitudes. By the time the beef filet and carré d’agneau (rack of lamb) arrived at our table, the bird was out of reach, really high in the skies. Then the desserts were served, and I received a note, falling from the sky “coucou, I am not… I am actually a crowned eagle, ca te va? ” Crowned eagle, you are, buddy! Can’t agree more. Ca me va! Hype is always too much, generally impossible to live up to, but Le Coucou deserves its reputation. It is, right now, a destination restaurant serving some of the very best French fares outside of France. And it happens to have an interior that is very easy on the eyes. I loved Le Coucou!

What I think weeks later: Daniel Rose is a TRUE / REAL Chef. You know you are dealing with a REAL Chef when his absence is not felt at all. That is because GREAT Chefs will never leave a kitchen in the hands of poorly trained cooks. I have no clue where Daniel was, on that evening, but if he happened to be at a bar, in the carribbean, sipping a pina colada while I was dining at his restaurant..I swear, I would take a plane, right away, fly to his hideaway and thank him…which, if you are familiar with this blog, is not my normal reaction in such circumstance. Lol. But that is the thing: Daniel is a GREAT Chef! Michelin, please continue to stay away…Le Coucou is a bird that is great, the way it is right now, free from the ridiculous rules that have killed so many talents. Please, please …  DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT, dear Michelin! Go elsewhere. Lol  UPDATE: In NOVEMBER 2018,  Michelin did award a star to le Coucou, which I hope is not going to be the beginning of the end for this restaurant – sometimes,  some restaurants do not have a star because they are way more inspired, creative and superior than those having the stars…then they gain their stars and are stuck in a formula…Good luck dear Coucou!

 

 

 

The River Café, Brooklyn

River Café, Brooklyn
Michelin stars: 1
Addr: 1 Water St, Brooklyn, NY 11201, United States
URL: http://therivercafe.com
Phone: 1 718-522-5200
Type of cuisine: American / Cosmopolitan.

The River Café (near the Brooklyn Bridge) is an iconic restaurant (an interesting article about their history can be found here) widely known as one of the most romantic restaurants of New York city.

I was looking forward to share a special romantic dinner  with the Missus,  and the River Café was the appropriate restaurant in this instance.

One unique / truly special romantic restaurant with an exceptional riverfront view over Manhattan, and one that chose not to rest on its laurels as even the food is not an afterthought. This (at the time of my visit) is proper 1 star Michelin American/Cosmopolitan cooking.

The meal started with an amuse of Citrus and Olive Oil Poached Squid with Saffron Panna Cotta and sweet pepper Gelee. Pretty to espy and an indication that, although using classic French techniques, the creativity of this kitchen brigade is hard to ignore: the variety of colors is thoughtful, a cube of saffron panna cotta  with some poached squid is not a usual combination of food items at most restaurants, and yet they were complementary. My only regret is that I have familiarized  my palate with strong flavors to the extent that I was having hard time appreciating the subtle flavors of this amuse. My loss! I will not rate this amuse as I just do not have the required palate  to appreciate it.

Tuna — of prime quality served as a tartare with a layer of thin slices of the fish atop — was my pick. This showcased a great understanding of how to get the most out of raw fish (well judged seasoning allowing the quality of the fish to be at the forefront while lifting up its natural flavor – I did not ask the staff if they did age the tuna a little bit, so I am not too sure if they did, but that was the effect I had in mouth and it dazzled. Miso/valencia orange/ pickled chili vinaigrette brought necessary complexity. 8/10

The Missus went for their offering of Jumbo shrimps. These were  poached to ideal doneness (tender while retaining a nice chew) served alongside a faultless citrus Maltaise sauce. Another display of some serious seafood cooking (superb produce, classic flavor combination but mastered really well). Both the Missus and myself thought highly of this food item.  8/10

Steamed (with meyer lemon) salmon was another pick of the Missus. This dish featured an inspired  oriental broth (a shiitake mushroom broth that was as vibrant as some of its original Japanese renditions) that was particularly delicious, the aromas of the broth exciting and above all, balanced. This was served with jasmine rice. Again, another offering that we both thoroughly enjoyed. 8/10

Poached lobster was another display of superb produce and great mastery of classical cooking technique, the seafood tasted great, its poaching well timed, the  flavors enticing. If cooking using classic technique done this well is one’s definition of boring cooking, then I’d rather get bored lol. This came with lobster claw, spinach gratin and lobster infused marinara, squid ink cavatelli pasta (tiny quantity, wished I had more as that was  some great pasta that would not be considered as average in a good Italian restaurant ). 9/10

Milk chocolate soufflé (served with toasted marshmallow, hot fudge, Tahitian vanilla bean ice milk) was risen properly but milk chocolate needs to be exciting at smell and in mouth to leave an impression. As with everything at the RC, this chocolate was of top quality, admittedly, but the soufflé was unexciting for my taste. Furthermore, when I see the mention of “milk”, I want to be blown away by some bold fresh milky fragrance….which was not the case with this dessert.  6/10

Blueberry tartlet was  a proper rendition of the tartlet, the fruits of stellar quality, but the pastry lacking a bit of the exciting buttery fragrance that I prefer when enjoying a tartlet. Actually, this was made of caramelized almond which does  normally express very appealing flavor, but that was not put in evidence  6/10

So, YES, this was a romantic dinner, obviously. But both the Missus and myself are not the type to get “suckered by the hype”  of such event. Love is beautiful, indeed, but it should never  alter your accuracy. It certainly did not alter the accuracy of both the  Missus (a hard to please and experienced diner with cooking skills that can make many Chefs salivate, actually, therefore one who knows her food really well )  and myself: we both thought that, overall, the River Café is a world class restaurant, and that the only thing we hope they could improve upon are the desserts.

 

Pros: One unique / truly special romantic restaurant with an exceptional riverfront view over Manhattan, and one that chose not to rest on its laurels as even the food is not an afterthought.

Cons: A bit more “excitement” (milk should be packed with bold lactic fresh flavor, caramelized almond should have the almond and caramel flavors better expressed, etc) is to be expected from the pastry creations I have sampled on that evening.

Overall food rating: 7.5/ 10 (Category: North American/Cosmopolitan 1 star Michelin). It may sound harsh to score an overall 7.5/10 for the food after the series of really good savory dishes, but this is a 1 star Michelin, therefore the desserts needed to leave an impression too. They were good desserts, not great enough for a 1 star Michelin. That said, this is proper 1 star Michelin American/Cosmopolitan cooking. It is, of course, pricey, but you have  a world class romantic destination, coupled with a cuisine of  top quality,  excellent service and a  million-dollar river view.

Peter Luger, New York – PL continues to deliver a world class American Porterhouse steak

Event: Dinner at Peter Luger
Addr: 178 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY 11211-6131
Phone: (718) 387-7400
Type of cuisine: American Steakhouse
Time/Date: Saturday Febr 23rd 2014, 18:00
URL: http://www.peterluger.com
Michelin star: 1

 

You know you are at the top of your game when you make your competitors nervous, the faith of PL: some of the so-called food journalists are just waiting for an occasion to put it down ( and we all know how easy it is for some of the so-called food journalists to do that as some of them are essentially just “hipsters wannabes” and PL being a classic restaurant, you can imagine the rest …), since PL does not “pay them to play”. Then there are the clueless peeps who never went there but who are paid to bash PL as just a destination for tourists, only to reveal their crooked agenda as any serious North American steak connoisseur (I am talking about a serious one, not one of the numerous online so-called connoisseurs who are basically just promoters in disguise of their friends of the industry who are paying them to play) do know that the tourists flocking there are actually well travelled and knowledgeable foodies who are true connoisseurs of steaks and who do actually have the means to really taste PL’s steaks and accurately assess it. Seems that all that garbage is not enough to mute the hordes of fans of PL: the place is always packed to the brim … with people who truly know what a great steak is and can afford backing their claims! PL’s Porter House is a benchmark North American steak. Any serious connoisseur of North American steaks knows that. I do, too. And the  popularity of PL does testify (who, in his right mind, will swallow the “garbage” that PL is good only for tourists, unless, of course, if it is to serve an agenda) to that.

***Sorry, no pics – Just wanted to eat quietly with no hassle / distraction of photo nor note taking. After all, it’s a steakhouse, so the 1000th picture of their steaks or 3000th picture of their side of spinach won’t make those items look nor taste any better ;p

 

NY is not far from Montreal, so I recently spent a weekend in  NY to  see if  Peter Luger is still doing great especially after reports from some food journalists about PL losing a bit of its past glory (my 4th visit here in 6 yrs).

Picked:
-The Porterhouse steak: The succulent beef flavor that shone through is a reminder that Peter Luger has mastered, for so long, the art of delivering the perfect North American porterhouse steak: this is one of the few great American steakhouses which dry aging technique of the meat is rarely paralleled. But there’s much more, of course: the right grade and the right cooking degree for the right cut. It’s a breeze to appreciate that they are genuinely obsessive about where that beef grew up, how well did it live, what was it fed with, how great and knowledgeable was the butcher behind that cut, how properly aged and hanged was the cut, etc. One of the few benchmark aged USDA prime Porterhouse (some complain about the sauce that’s underneath the steak…well, this adds to the character of that Porterhouse. If you can’t take it, simply ask them to serve it aside). 9/10
-Their legendary creamed spinach: deliciously rich as usual, though hardly something that anyone behind a kitchen should miss. Still, they do it well, it tastes good and it’s a perfect logical match to that Porterhouse steak 7/10
-Their old fashioned sauce: not too sure how that fares with their patrons, but their old fashioned sauce is not to my taste (I do not find that it pairs well with meat). Of course, a question of personal preference (anyways, the only time I am fine with sauce over my steak is when I eat it French-style as with steak au poivre) , especially since the sauce that’s underneath that Porterhouse largely suffices for me. I won’t score that sauce since this boils down to a matter of personal taste only (I am just not used to pair my steak with the flavor profile of this kind of sauce – a mix of sweet and savoury flavors which, for my palate, had following dominating aromas: horseradish/ tamarind/vinegar/molasse. There are, of course, more ingredients to the recipe, but those were the ones that my palate has primarily detected). I did replicate that sauce at home and after several tries, it now tastes almost like theirs, so that my palate gets used to it.  Yep, that is how food works lol: you do not like it, do not  ive up on it, just accompany your palate in gradually appreciating it and there will be more power to you ;p
-The fabled side of beacon, which I finally got to try this time (kept skipping that one on the past 2 visits): Decent thick slabs of porky meatyness, but beacon abound in North America, its preparation varying widely in quality and depth of deliciousness from one place to another, so it is hard for me to get excited over  their beacon. Certainly not bad, but there are definitely better beacon to be enjoyed across North America 6/10
-The dessert list here features typical classic American steakhouse dessert items (Ice cream, pecan pie, cheese cake, etc). This time, I tried  their Cheese cake (7/10) which was as classically well executed as it gets (as expected, New York style cheesecake that was and as I wrote, in its classic version), the schlag that I also tried being just Ok.

PL is what it is, not what you want it to be, which is exactly how things should work: it has its charms (the classic setting), its relative weaknesses (obviously, not a modern trendy fancy steakhouse so  if that’s what you are looking for, you’ve knocked at the wrong door + it’s not cheap) , its own character (old world charm). You learn to know what they are, if that pleases you, you go, if that does not fit, then you look elsewhere. I am delighted  to observe that  PL  remains as it is, which means at it has always been, regardless of the pressure that new trends put on our perceptions/appreciations: a classic house with personality.

I have read online arguments about PL being a tourist trap to some (100% pure BS! IMHO) , that they have suffered at some point from a shortage of Porterhouse, that they once had a matriarch who was second to none when it comes to selecting the finest meat and that perhaps her successors are not as diligent as she used to, but I have also spent 15 years in North America, enough time to familiarize myself  with most major NYC’s and USA’s steakhouses and came to the conclusion that if PL is a tourist trap, then the definition of tourist trap has evolved into a compliment. There’s no way a serious steak connoisseur  would confuse PL with a tourist trap. Has PL delivered the perfect Porterhouse steak on each of my 4 visits (I took the Porterhouse everytime I went there)? The answer is NO.

On one particular visit, I could easily name  plenty of American steakhouses which Porterhouse was superior. But it’s naïve to attempt to convince oneself  about the definitive appreciation  to have of a  restaurant based on just one meal. You can judge the meal, which I do too and that is  fine, but not a restaurant. Which leads me to where I am getting at: on the two other visits, their Porterhouse outshone their major competitors by leaps with effective superior aging technique and far better sourcing of the meat. Are there steakhouses in NYC where I had more fun? Of course Yes. Are there better cost performance steakhouses?  Absolutely.  But again, ambience and better value have nothing to do with why I like Peter Luger: the quality of its Porterhouse!   I was impressed to see that PL continues to deliver some of this globe’s finest American Porterhouse steaks. The Porterhouse steak, their star item, remaining as glorious as ever. UPDATE Oct 2022: PL lost its michelin star, but this review will continue to appear on the left side of the current blog among the listed michelin stared meals that I did review because PL had their michelin star when I reviewed that meal.

Portehouse steak  (9/10), Appetizers (6/10), Sides (6/10 ), Service (7/10 )

Recommended: This  great article on America’s current finest steakhouses

Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare – strong skills but no 3 stars in my book

Restaurant: Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare
Brooklyn Fare, 200 Schermerhorn St, Brooklyn, NY 11217,
Phone:+1 718-243-0050
Type of cuisine: Contemporary Cosmopolitan (mostly seafood,  a bit like a ‘kaiseki’ meal, but eclectic)
Michelin stars: 3
Date and time:  Saturday August 24th, 2013  19:00

 

 

    JULY 2023: CHEF RAMIREZ IS NO LONGER WORKING AT THIS RESTAURANT.

 

THE REVIEW:

 

Chef Ramirez is perhaps not a true 3 star Michelin Chef, for reasons I will explain below,  and what he  is doing is déjà vu elsewhere, but somehow he manages to make what he saw elsewhere pass as ‘interesting’ enough in his hands.

No picture and note taking, as/per the restaurant’s policies, —which are, to me, reasonable requests  — , do  indeed allow for a more enjoyable meal free of distractions. I was not there to review my meal neither. So I’ll go with my  general impression of my dinner, essentially focusing on the perceived subjective strengths and weaknesses of my meal..

The beauty with living in Montreal is that it is just a few hours drive away from New York, so  a short weekend there was the perfect excuse to re-try the stronghold of a Chef that I have admired since a long time (though, as you’ll see in my conclusion, I still do not agree with his current  3 star Michelin assignment) , Chef Ramirez (I am a big fan of Chef Ramirez since I first tried his cooking in his days at restaurant Tru in Chicago). This was only my second visit there in 3 years.

Overall food rating – 8/10 as an overall rating There were numerous  bite sized  courses. Sam Sifton’s following summary is the best way to describe what was on offer: ‘’’’ a luxe sushi bar, a meal at Momofuku Ko, and a course taken in the kitchen at Eleven Madison Park, without being anything at all like any of those. The food is French and Japanese and Italian, combined’’.  The only thing he missed is that, with an eye for details, you will notice couple of strong touches of Nuevo latino cooking too.  In a nutshell, we  had plenty of seafood served at times in   sashimi style (nothing special, a 6/10 in view of what I’d expect from sashimis at a 3 star Michelin, though the quality of ingredient was high, as expected), sometimes paired along eclectically crafted mousses/ jellies (his play on textures is fun, a clin d’oeil at kaiseki style cuisine, but not exceptional, again…in view of what you’d expect from this level of dining),  Japanese rice mixed with sea-urchin to provide a risotto-like effect (creamy and delicious risotto that I liked a lot, comfortably an 8/10, an item that would have been a crowd pleaser at any level of dining, anyways), their now signature sea urchin/truffle combo atop a brioche (I doubt someone familiar with Japanese cuisine would be floored, but a western eye and palate will find it fun to look at, flavorful, nicely thought 9/10) , we also enjoyed a really well thought vegetable-flavored sorbet elevated by a pleasant citrusy tone(Spot on depth of flavor. On each of my two visits, I realized that Chef Ramirez work really well his vegetable-based  sorbet. Not only are they daring (audacious ingredient combinations), but they taste great as well as having fabulous texture. It’s a sorbet I know,  but he does them better than many. There’s something deeply ‘nuevo latino’ in this sorbet’s flavor profile a 8/10 at a 3 star Michelin table (the quality of sorbet / ice cream, etc is  obviously high at this level, enoughly high for this sorbet, as fabulous as it was, to be a very good sorbet, but no more), way more if we were trading  on 1 star Michelin grounds.). But he also incorporates, rethinks some American dishes too.  Quality of ingredient here is even superior to what most high end tables of this rank do mostly offer in North America. And for the amount of luxurious ingredients you are getting, you’ll pay more at other restaurants.  . Stunning ingredients, as he even reach out to Japan for some of his ingredients . Virtually no one is re-inventing the wheel when it comes to cooking, even at the highest levels of dining,   and with that in mind, I  find Chef Ramirez to express a beautiful inspired creativity. His combo of sea urchin and black truffle is not novel, but in his hands it continues to be  an appealing offering for this genre of dining style. That said, although fun and consistently well executed, this is certainly  no benchmark cooking performance  for  this style of contemporary cosmop craftsmanship, neither.

Décor/Ambience/welcoming: the stainless counter seating experience makes this place somehow ‘special’ among its 3 star Michelin peers. It’s  refreshing to have such intimacy between the diners, the Chef presence, the casual yet refined setting. On my two visits  here, Chef Ramirez was mostly quiet, a shy person and it is pleasant to see a Chef not yelling at his sous chefs. A proof that you do not need to act stupid in order to be inspired. Perhaps  some find the  no photo taking, no note taking policies a bit brutal, but it does, at least, allow for  a very serene ambience. I had no problem at all with those rules. It certainly does not make fun blog reports, but I rather enjoy my meal this way –whenever I get the opportunity — rather than stopping at each course to either take a pic or write about the course. Not too sure how he’d react if I’d break the rules, lol, but I am an easy customer so I abide by the rules and just enjoy my food. In that regard, I’ve always enjoyed my meals here. The reservation process is the only aspect  I found a bit tough.

PROS: Find me one single restaurant, anywhere around the globe, at any echelon of the dining spectrum, that offers that many luxurious food items on such a long tasting menu at less than $300! Caviar, Sea urchin, truffles, top quality foie gras, and all I can tell you is that such meal, anywhere else, would easily cost three time what was paid. At some point, they will have no other choice but to charge more or offer less luxurious items. For now, as a customer, guess what ………………..I CAN’T COMPLAIN, LOL!
CONS: I go to  3 star Michelin restaurants  with the sole intent to experience  two very precise elements (of course, subjective as always), or one of them (1) a benchmark work of  the flavors and/or (2)a benchmark work of the textures. To achieve that, you oftenty need to spend years and years to perfect  that singled-out  food item.  Or you need an incredible culinary ‘genius’ with  amazing instinct (for eg, Chef Jacques Maximin in his heydays). None of that came out of my two dinners here, which is why, for me, it’s a place that I like, but not a place where I’d go for what I am looking for at a 3 Michelin standard of dining.

Chef Ramirez, a culinary genius? That seems to be an  opinion shared by many food journalists and food bloggers in New York, an opinion that I unfortunately do not share.  To be precise, Chef Ramirez has the sort of creativity that will surprise some diners, though not as many diners as what those food journalists/food bloggers would like to believe. For eg, if you travel a lot, you’ll quickly realize that he is really good at observing what is done abroad, learning from that  and trying his best to make something fun/interesting with his own sense of creativity. Inevitably, his work will offer nice little surprising touches to some. Now, awarding 3 star Michelin for what he is doing, I believe that’s a bit too much.  I can see how a Japanese itamae who has spent decades perfecting his craft in Tokyo, to take an example, would deserve a 3 star Michelin. I can see, how a young Chef like Pascal Barbot (L’Astrance), covering contemporary international cooking too, does, to some extent, fully deserve his 3 stars. There are extremely talented Chefs who are indeed crafting  Nuevo latino food  that is so remarkable that I would understand their eventual/potential 3 star assignment.  A Chef like Christian Bau is a a peerless icon  of  contemporary cosmopolitan haute dining, creating dishes of extreme and deep beautiful complexity and his 3 stars are a good example of what I can understand.  But Chef Ramirez –with all due respect — is not at  those levels, as far as I am concerned.

That said, there was undoubtly some strong skills and pretty presentations in each of the numerous small dishes that were served. At least, here, there’s a personal authoritative/personal imprint with a Chef who’s there,  hard at work and who has the courage to cover various cooking styles (a courageous risk, since everyone who has been in a kitchen knows that the only way to be the / or one of the / standard-bearer (s) in cooking is to stick to one style and perfect it forever).

Conclusion: As a 3 star Michelin destination, by now, you know what I think. As a Chef’s table, as a refreshingly different concept from what most of its peers are offering, this is indeed nice. UPDATE (November 2023): Michelin did remove the 3 stars of Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare. As it is customary on this blog, I will keep (in the top left listing you see on this blog) the reference to the number of stars the restaurant had at the time of the reviewed meal (which was 3, when I went dining at Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare)