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

Latest restaurant news + my meal at Kitchen Galerie on Jean Talon

***A first (??) for Quebec: a Michelin star Chef who’s Quebecois: Hughes Dufour (M.Wells Steakhouse,NYC). Michelin does not cover Canada, but many Canadian Chefs are as good as 1,2 and even 3 Michelin star Chefs in Europe. In Quebec alone, just to name a few, Chefs like De Montigny  (La Chronique), Navarette Jr (Ex Raza, Callao,Madre), Rouyé (La Table des Gourmets) or  Mercuri (Le Serpent)   can cook food worthy of 2 or even 3 star Michelin European Michelin stars. Some of them already had Michelin stars before.

***Michelin San Francisco has freshly awarded Saison as well as Benu as the new 3 star Michelin restaurants of the USA. I do not know Saison, but I know Benu as well as their Chef Corey Lee and thought that they deserved the 3 stars since a long time. Anyways, Chef Lee was the main artisan behind the 3 stars of the French Laundry, so he’s been there, done it and naturally knows how to replicate the feature.

Down to the main feature of this post, my Oct 25th dinner at Kitchen Galerie on Jean Talon.

Kitchen Galerie
Dinner on Saturday Oct 25th 2014, 18:00
Type of Cuisine: North American, Market Cuisine Bistro
Type of place: feels homey, not fancy
60 Rue Jean-Talon Est, Montreal, QC
(514) 315-8994
URL: http://www.kitchengalerie.com/

This was  a romantic dinner, so devoid of the distraction  of phototaking. I will, however, try to report as much as my mental notes shall remember (which is not hard to do…as bistrot food is quite straightforward) –

I started with a dozen of fresh and flawlessly shucked oysters, with a (minor) quip: the mignonette had taste that was way too sharp to be enjoyable. Still, the oysters were superb and finely sourced and there are places dedicated to oysters that can’t even shuck their oysters properly….I am not kidding….(8/10)

We both had a ‘lait de courge‘ as an amuse bouche. This had texture and flavour that explained  why I have always regarded KG on Jean Talon as one of the very best bistrots that Montreal ever had: the delicious classic flavors of that pumkin cream were deep and far better than what most bistrots would do with as little as milk and squash in their hands. Of course it is simple,as bistrot food is supposed to be, but then you have got to make it as dazzling as what  they did on this evening—and this is not a case when imagination is half the battle….more accurately  an example of inspired cooking and witty cooking touch   (9/10)

She went on with a classic of the house ‘foie gras poélé,tarte tartin‘ – the top quality foie gras so fresh in taste, the searing fabulous. Only quip is that they do not elaborate too much on the tarte tatin part anymore (actually, they should remove the mention of the tarte tatin as it is not as evident as it used to be — the , but there is virtually no pastry dough). Still, when foie gras is seared as beautifully like this and taste this great, it’s not a battle that you won,it is the war! Not impressed? Then let me know as I’ll have no probem finding, for you, tons of bistrots in America and Europe excelling at delivering weak versions of pan seared foie (lesser quality, dry, overcooked,tasting of nothing, etc).  9/10 for me, a 10/10 for her.

On this evening, we ordered the cote de boeuf for two. It was not as spectacular as the previous versions I had under this same roof (the seasoning less life-shattering, the meat great as usual but a tad less remarkable than what I had here before — it is a market-driven table, so they depend on what is available at the market, which means the meat will always be good, for sure, but at times certainly better than just good) and yet, this remains one of this city’s better cote de boeuf, underlining how good the cooking is  here (by local standards). The accompanying vegetables and potato purée as delicious as I remember it from previous visits. (7/10 for me, a 8/10 for her)

Rounded the meal with a deconstructed cheesecake for her (both her and I love the classic sort, but this one was good,with blackberries/strawberries, a strawberry coulis –and the cheese itself — of fine quality.  What they did is to basically  lay separately  on the  plate, the various elements of the cheesecake instead of assembling all of them into a cake. Not a bad idea at all, even though the top quality ingredients were   half  the battle. 7/10 for both of us

I also ordered a flawlessly executed creme brulée (10/10)  and upon tasting it,  I wrote a note to myself that reads as follows ”next time someone tells you that a crème brulée is no big deal, tell him to start by doing it ….this well………..!!!!!!!!!!!!

Verdict: 8/10 – It has been a while since I last ate at KG on Jean Talon,but time did not alter this team’s consistent standards of joyous / flavourful bistrot cooking.

Food does not need to be a show, food does not need to be special (there is booze and its relevant special effects for that ;p), food does not need pompous settings, food just need to be executed by a serious kitchen, a focused and a committed team (you can’t do that with just name bearers and the greedy attitude to make money just for the sake of making money..nah, you can’t and KG is the proof that the ‘greed for glory’ formula can’t work as Chefs Axel,Bourdages and their team are the exact same dedicated folks as from years ago), food just need to be well done and to taste good and KG on Jean Talon has long sticked effortlesly  to that principle.

The tiny bistrot remains boisterous, the vibe festive (this is what I favor the most: no focus on pompous settings/no formal service/ no tablecloth/no dependency to trends). Its food as delicious as ever, simply executed as expected from bistrot food, but doneand tasting better than at most bistrots in town. Both my sweet half and I have been long time fans of KG on Jean Talon since our very first visit here, many years ago, which is a relative achievement as far as we are both concerned because, of all the restaurants where we’ve ate at,in Montreal, only 4 or 5 tables have been worthy  of our revisits and KG on Jean Talon is one of those few. Many bistrots have long disappeared from my list of preferred bisrots in town, thanks to their inconsistencies, a myriad of others have opened through the years, and yet KG on Jean Talon still reigns supreme in my top 3 bistrot in Montreal alongside Au Cinquième Péché and Bistro Cocagne.