Happy New Year 2022!

Given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the restaurant industry,  I did not dine out in 2021. Consequently, this time, I could not make a list of  “the best restaurants, best food, best dishes of 2021”.  Hopefully, the dining scene will fully get back on track in 2022.

As it is customary at the beginning of every new year, I am sharing with you the previous year’s Top 7 Most Viewed Posts according to your hits:

1.The post “A tale of 2 World Class Burgers – New York City“ (click here to get to that post) was viewed by 12.65 % of all of you. In 2021, NYC did dominate most of your hits on this blog, consequently, as you will see in the notes below, the majority of the top 7 Most Viewed Posts are related to New York. As for this specific write-up, the reviewed two hamburgers were highly satisfying (Emily’s — picture in top left corner — being 100% pure fun, the unsung mistress, for the analogy…although Emily’s Burger is not “unsung” at all. It is actually of the “celebrated” sort. Very much so. Red Hook Tavern’s —— picture in top right  corner —, the flawless “hottie” ) and it would have been hard to imagine how they could have been improved.

 

2.The review of Gallagher’s Steakhouse, New York City (12.52 % of all your hits). For me, the G is currently the best steakhouse of NYC, plain and simple. They grill a world-class steak on hickory coals (using hickory coals  is a rarity at a steakhouse in NYC). There’s nothing as exciting as the appetizing aroma of meat grilled on hickory coals. And there is not just their steak that is good under their roof. Folks, sometimes, your hits are high on some posts of eateries that are not good, and I am like “what the heck are you guys doing…“. Yeah, believe it or not, it happens, Lol. But your numerous hits on the G’s review, in 2021, this one, I can dig it! It was not always like that: in its first year, this review was largely ignored by all of you, which I could not understand as my reviews on lesser restaurants were attracting a considerable number of hits. Better late than never as, this time, it was a good call from you.

 

3.Sushi Noz, New York City (11.89 % of all your hits). What a world-class sushi restaurant outside of Japan! Few sushi restaurants can match the quality of service and overall dining experience found at Sushi Noz. I will run back there way before thinking about going back to plenty of restaurants that I did rate higher than Sushi Noz. Sushi Noz has been a favourite of hordes of sushi fans in NYC for a long time, and it was easy to see why.

 

4.Rezdôra Osteria Emiliana, New York (11.73 % of all your hits). Rezdôra was a charm, as detailed in my review. It is a restaurant that is managed by people who  think “outside the box” in a way that is refreshingly appealing. Some people think out of the box and that can be off-putting. In the case of Rezdôra, it is enchanting. No wonder they are so popular! Given how popular Rezdôra is, I was surprised that this post was not in the top 7 Most Viewed Posts according to your hits in 2020. But in 2021, it gained traction among you. And that made perfect sense.

 

5.The River Café, Brooklyn, NY ( 11.21 % of all your hits). Within a few months, a restaurant can change a lot, for better or worse. Therefore I have no clue if The River Café is still as great as it was during that visit. It is with caution that I assess The River Café because it is a legendary romantic dining destination and sometimes, such restaurants tend to “rest on their laurels”. I can only talk about that specific dinner, obviously, of which both the Missus and myself had nothing but praises for the flawless savoury dishes we were served and we both thought that they certainly did not rest on their laurels (the general vibe pertains to a world-class romantic dining destination, indeed). And Yes, that view is … splendid! But it is pricey, as you might expect from a special occasion type of place.

 

6.Pierre Gagnaire, Paris is the sole entry that is not related to NYC to feature in the top 7 Most Viewed Posts in 2021. Gagnaire is one of the most celebrated chefs in the world. His flagship and eponymous restaurant, in Paris, just 8  minutes walk from the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysées is the restaurant I did review (here) and that was the target of 10.59 % of all your hits in 2021. When a Chef runs an empire of restaurants around the world (PG has restaurants in Tokyo, Paris, Dubai, Seoul, Las Vegas, London, etc ), I am a bit worried about the potential “lack of soul” of his offering, but in the case of Pierre Gagnaire Paris, fortunately, my worries were unfounded: this is, indeed, the world-class dining destination that plenty of gastronomes have long praised.

 

7. Keen’s Steakhouse , New York  (10.47% of all your hits). Another steakhouse grabbed your attention…- Why am I not surprised? Lol. I will never understand the popularity of steakhouses (it is just meat that is grilled or broiled, no elaborate cooking … ) but I have to respect what the most are attracted to. So, here comes Keen’s at 7th position, a steakhouse that opened in 1885 (yeah, two centuries ago…) and that has enjoyed legendary status in NYC for quite some time. The experts of the steakhouses in NYC continue to hold Keen’s in high regard. I certainly do, too.

If I may extend this to the top 15 of the Most Viewed Posts according to your hits, at 8th position the review on L’Arpège (Paris), Torishin (NYC) ‘s at 9th position,   Les Prés d’Eugénie Michel Guérard (Eugénie-les-Bains) ‘s at 10th position, Oiji (NYC)’s  at 11th position, L’Ambroisie (Paris)’s at 12th position,  Quality Meats (NYC)’s at 13th position,  Le Coucou (NYC)’s at 14th position and Sushi Azabu (NYC)’s at 15th.

In other news, La Liste 2022 was published recently. La Liste takes  the majority of  the online restaurant reviews/assessments, and then ranks restaurants based  on that. Therefore if you take issue with  it, you are  taking issue with  every single restaurant review / assessment  that you happen to see online and that includes yours, too. I gather that there is no perfect restaurant ranking guide, obviously (since it is a subjective matter), but this is the only system that is basically taking into account the bulk  of the online restaurant reviews / assessments  and not just doing its own ranking based on its own way of appreciating a restaurant. So, in a nutshell, your own voice feeds La Liste. Now, I have always found people criticizing restaurant ranking sites to be unrealistic  (unless, of course, it is to “serve an agenda” – as an example,  a fan  of Michelin criticizing San pellegrino’s World’s Best Restaurants and vice versa, things like that) ..I mean, what are you criticizing? The subjective opinion of someone else? Lol…-  It is subjective..as in personal taste..personal preference. So what..exactly..are you criticizing? Do not get me wrong: I am not against criticizing. It is part of normal life. Sometimes, we need it in order to prosper. But there should be a rationale behind that. In other words, you need to know what you are doing. Or else, that is just criticizing for the pleasure of opening your mouth.  So when La liste came up,  guess what…some people  still found a way to shoot down la liste, meaning… their very own opinions. Lol. No one needs to stoop this low. Listen, I could see why someone would criticize the tyre (Michelin) or the sparkling water (San Pellegrino for their  World’s best restaurant listing) companies, even though it remains utterly subjective. I could still tolerate that.  After all, one performer’s legion of friends will naturally clash with his competitor’s fans. But your own opinion? Shooting down a forum that takes your own opinion into account? Really…? The point I am somewhat agitated about is, what were you doing there, in the first place? …  Rfaol!.. – As for La Liste, they continue to publish a listing that seems perfectly in sync with what you would build if you were seriously interested to go through every single online source of restaurant reviews / assessments about Fine dining around the globe. It may not please a person who is tired of France’s presence on the world’s culinary landscape to see Guy Savoy as the #1 favoured restaurant by the sum of all related online accounts, but that is his own personal problem and that has nothing to do with what  most diners still prefer. Whether he likes it or not, most diners around the globe still prefer French fine dining. The trending pattern is to change that (hence the ferocious efforts to smash down everything that comes from France’s Michelin Guide, etc) , but until that happens, the current reality is that most people will act as if they are sucked into the hype of some random exotic sounding non French Fine dining destination when..in facts…behind closed doors…they are  booking a table at … Guy Savoy, Rfaol!!! Exactly as the dude who is praising his trophy chick, when in reality the bulk of his fun is coming from his unsung mistress. So let’s cut the bull….. – And hey, just in case you think that I am a “fanboy” of those restaurant ranking systems: if you are familiar with this blog, I railed against  Michelin and San Pellegrino when that was justified (those restaurant ranking systems and I do not always see eye to eye, so to speak, BUT  … if you have the opportunity to be really neutral, which happens to be my case, then you should be able to say when things are right or wrong when they really are…NOT  just because they  SHOULD BE  … for whatever stupid reasons…), but I do not criticize La Liste because it is my own voice / your own voice. I just haven’t figured out a way of vomiting on my own voice. I think that is what happens when you genuinely value what comes out from your own mind and mouth …

Last but not least, some of you have asked me (via emails) for recommendations of FREE online video material to master classic French cooking (which is one of the cuisines that I know the best and that I have covered the most on this blog). The ideal scenario would be some kind of FREE online educational material by one of the better Chefs of France, but I am afraid that is not a reality so far. For sure, they were not going to do that for .. FREE, RFAOL! Anyways, for now, I believe that what gets close to what you have been asking for is YouTube’s Ina Les Recettes Vintage ( https://www.youtube.com/@InaLesRecettesVintage  ), French Cooking Academy – to be found here. You have several FREE educational videos on French cooking on that channel. I would also recommend  Gourmandises TV, and Chef  Vivien as well. There is also  Chef Philippe Etchebest‘s Youtube channel, which, with more content, can be a potentially future great source. Aside from those, most of the relevant online video sources I found, up to now, are missing  something, somehow, for me to feel comfortable recommending them. Hope that helps.

I have two dream projects that are (1)spend an entire year in Naples, Italy  to perfect the Neapolitan Pizza, which is my preferred  type of pizza and (2)spend several years in the best oyster farms of the globe learning how to perfect the art of oyster farming. Yeah, oysters…believe it or not, are one of my greatest lifelong passions. But, for now,  the Covid-19 pandemic is slowing me down in materializing both projects.

I am looking forward to resuming the great dining adventures in 2022.

It will be interesting to see how the restaurant world will bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the industry.

Furthermore, let’s see how  tourists and traveling foodies will cope with the mandatory  covid-19 tests (you book your airline ticket, you book your hotel, you book your restaurants … you may still have to cancel all of that if your  last minute covid-19 test is positive…. – Yay !! Youpi!! …).

Wishing you all a new year of scrumptious dining adventures!

Happy New Year 2022!

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/