Primehouse New York

It was only a matter of time before Stephen Hanson, that past-master of formula restaurants, opened the ultimate formula restaurant, a steakhouse. David Burke’s Primehouse opened in Chicago last year, and now comes Primehouse New York, sans Burke, but with a very similar steak program.

Primehouse has a more modern vibe than the average steakhouse: a quieter version of BLT Prime. Booths and tables are more generously spaced than at BLT, and there are soft surfaces to absorb the sound. The space feels “dressy” by steakhouse standards. You could bring a date here, and have a conversation without shouting.

There weren’t any tables available when I walked in at around 6:00 p.m. on a weeknight, but the bar area is large and comfortable, with soft, high-backed chairs. Bar dining must have been planned from the beginning, as these are about the plushest bar seats you’ll find anywhere in town. Once you sit down, you’ll want to stay a while.

The menu offers typical steakhouse starters ($8–18), a raw bar (platters from $16–79), seven cuts of steak ($34–49) plus porterhouse for two ($86), eight other meat and fish entrées ($21–42), and side dishes ($9). At $46 for a ribeye and $48 for a New York Sirloin, Primehouse sets the high water mark for NYC steakhouse pricing (though the now-closed V Steakhouse was worse).

Are those stratospheric prices worth it? If the 20-ounce “Kentucky” bone-in ribeye aged 28 days (which my server recommended) was any indication, they just might be. The mineral tang of the dry aging was all you could ask for, and the marbling was as even as on any ribeye I’ve encountered. The kitchen executed without fault, with a deep char on the exterior and a perfect medium rare inside.

I also tried the Smoked Bacon Brussels Sprouts (top right corner in the photo). I liked how the musky taste of burned bacon enhanced the sweetness of the Brussels Sprouts, but the bacon bits themselves were tough and tried out.

The wine list is a large tome, and only high-rollers will be pleased. The reds go on for many pages, but I counted only seven bottles under $60, and only two under $50. None of the California Cabernets were under $60, and none of the French Bordeaux were under $80. If Café Boulud can offer an entire page of red wines under $60, it’s hard to believe that the prices at Primehouse are justified. I was glad to see a page of half-bottles, which one seldom sees at a steakhouse; more restaurants should have them.

Is Primehouse New York for you? It depends on whether you mind spending a few dollars more for a commodity item. But if future visits confirm that the ribeye I enjoyed was no fluke, then Primehouse just might be a top-tier steakhouse.

Update: Since this review, Brian O’Donohoe has replaced Jason Miller as chef. We doubt that this will make a tremendous difference to the average diner, but it is worth noting that O’Donohoe has stints at Le Bernardin, Barça 18, and Fiamma on his resume. Perhaps seafood dishes here will be worth a closer look.

Note: Click here for a review of the burger at Primehouse New York.

Primehouse New York (381 Park Avenue South at 27th Street, Gramercy)

Food: **
Service: **
Ambiance: **
Overall: **

The Payoff: Wakiya

Today, as expected, Ian Schrager is eating goose eggs and bagels for breakfast, as Frank Bruni dropped the hammer on the over-hyped Wakiya. Bruni has his bad days, but here he delivers a delicious takedown:

[T]here’s a crushing sense of letdown … an experience in which pleasures are flickering and unreliable, in which the slickness of the gleaming red-and-black setting and the poise of the best servers are undercut by inconsistent cooking and dishes that too often look three times as good as they taste.

Out comes the “fiery pepper hunt chicken,” one of Mr. Wakiya’s signature dishes. It’s a glittering hillock of bright red Chouten peppers, there to infuse the chicken with a tingly heat but not to be eaten, as your server playfully warns you. You tunnel with your chopsticks to the buried chunks of battered, wok-fried meat, and what’s your reward? Nuggets no more tender than those you retrieve from many a drive-through window.

Eater and I both both win $4 at 4–1 odds on our hypothetical one-dollar bets.

	Eater		NYJ
Bankroll	$45.50		$49.67
Gain/Loss	+4.00		+4.00
Total	$49.50		$53.67
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Won–Lost	20–5		19–6

Rolling the Dice: Wakiya

Every week, we take our turn with Lady Luck on the BruniBetting odds as posted by Eater. Just for kicks, we track Eater’s bet too, and see who is better at guessing what the unpredictable Bruni will do. We track our sins with an imaginary $1 bet every week.

The Line: Tomorrow, Frank Bruni reviews Wakiya, the new haute Chinese place in the Gramercy Park Hotel. The Eater oddsmakers have set the action as follows (√√ denotes the Eater bet):

Zero Stars: 4-1 √√
One Star: 3-1
Two Stars: 10-1
Three Stars: 750-1
Four Stars: 25,000-1

The Skinny: Wakiya had a star-cross’d birth. It was originally supposed to be run by Alan Yau, whose Michelin-starred Hakkasan is one of the hottest restaurants in London. When Yau backed out of the project, the Nobu team stepped into the breach, including chef Nobu Masuhisa and his protegé Yuji Wakiya, for whom the restaurant is named.

Early reports suggest that the place is long on attitude and short on results. Wakiya managed the rare feat of getting panned by both Andrea Strong and the Restaurant Girl, the city’s two most easily-pleased critics, as well as the not-so-easily pleased Adam Platt in New York. In Time Out New York, the star-happy Randall Lane handed out four of them, while the Post’s Steve Cuozzo (under “idealized p.r.-massaged conditions”) thought Wakiya had promise. On the BruniBlog, Frank complained about the restaurant’s reservations policy. He gave no hints about his view of the food, but he wasn’t happy about the sky-high prices.

You can never discount the possibility of a one-star review, as Frank Bruni has given a singleton to plenty of mediocre places. But with Platt, Strong and RG giving zero, or the equivalent of zero, we aren’t tempted to take that bet.

The Bet: We agree with Eater that Frank Bruni will award no stars to Wakiya.

Accademia di Vino

Note: Accademia di Vino closed in January 2012.

*

Accademia di Vino opened last month on the Upper East Side, in a cursed space that was home briefly to the Chinese restaurant Mainland, and even more briefly Ollie’s Brasserie. The new owners are the team from ’Cesca on the Upper West Side. Eager to ensure a success where previously there was none, they’ve taken no great risk here. What could be more trendy than an Italian restaurant/wine bar?

They have also attracted plenty of critical attention, most of it favorable, including a feature piece in the Sun, and reviews from Adam Platt, Gael Greene, and Andrea Strong. Restaurant Girl dissented, awarding just one star (the equivalent of zero in other publications). So far, the Times has given it only the Dining Briefs treatment (per Marian Burros). Could it be that Frank Bruni would pass on the chance to review another Italian restaurant?

The space has received a smart-looking makeover. There are bars on two levels and a large dining room in dark woods, with wine storage almost everywhere you look. The formula is working so far: 6:15 p.m. was the only reasonable reservation time I could get on a few days’ notice. The bar was already full when I arrived at 6:00—naturally, they wouldn’t put me at a table until after my friend Kelly arrived. Every table seemed to be taken by the time we left two hours later.

The menu is dizzyingly complicated, with appetizers in ten categories, pizzas, pastas, and entrées. I suppose there could be worse problems than overly attentive service, but something like four different servers approached our table within the first three minutes, and we hadn’t yet gotten our bearings on the lengthy menu. We eventually settled on three starters and two entrées to share.

The wine list has about 500 bottles, with a good selection by the glass—as you’d expect at a wine-themed restaurant. After discussing our interests, the server recommended a 2006 Bastianich Rosato Refosco by the glass ($10), which was excellent on a warm evening, and nicely complemented the food.

Salmon Carpaccio (left); Crudi Flight (right)

Roasted Cauliflower

Salmon Carpaccio ($14) was beautifully prepared, with tomato, basil, scallions, olives, capers, and oregano basil—and no, I didn’t remember all of that. A flight of crudo ($24) was almost as brilliant, including an unexpected sliver of Wagyu beef that crashed the all-fish party. My friend Kelly got more of a thrill out of Roasted Cauliflower ($4) than I did, but it certainly seemed competent enough.

Somewhere along the line, fresh bread came. Later on we wanted more, but by then the restaurant had filled up, and servers were much harder to come by—though we eventually flagged one down.

We ordered two entrées to share, but oddly enough they brought both at the same time. I assume it was a considered choice, as there was no apology made for it, but it seemed a strange way to serve dinner.

Linguini Pescatore (left); Pork Chop (right)

Linguini Pescatore, or seafood pasta ($21) was nicely done. The pork chop ($27) came out whole, but when we sent it back to be divided, they made good work of it—making it look as if the chop was meant to be ordered for two. The preparation was entirely respectable, if not exactly inventive, but this time it was Kelly’s turn to be underwhelmed.

The final bill for two, including two glasses of wine apiece, came to $132 before tax and tip, which is a relative bargain for the amount of food we had. Accademia di Vino may not be breaking any new ground, but it’s a welcome and dependable entry on the Upper East Side dining scene. Service will surely get smoother over time, and the menu could use some serious pruning.

Accademia di Vino (1081 Third Avenue at 63rd Street, Upper East Side)

Food: *½
Service: *
Ambiance: *½
Overall: *½

Per Se

My girlfriend and I had dinner at Per Se a few weeks ago for her birthday—my third visit to the restaurant, her first. (For an earlier review, click here.) We found Per Se still firing on all cylinders. When I alerted the staff that this was a birthday celebration, all I expected was a cake at dessert, but we got several additional freebies beyond that.

We ordered champagne to begin, which was no bargain at $25 per glass, but they refilled us something like three times apiece, by which time it was quite the bargain, and it also meant we were feeling no pain before we got into the bulk of our meal.

Amuse-bouche: Salmon cones and gougères

They asked if we’d like a kitchen tour before the meal—we could have had the tour afterwards (which is more the norm), but by then the service would have been mostly over with, and our server suggested it would be more interesting to see while the chefs were still working. We were impressed at the enormous expanse of the place. It’s the only restaurant I’ve seen with more room behind-the-scenes than in the dining room. We also saw the much-rumored live video link with The French Laundry. Everything was, of course, impeccably clean. As my girlfriend so often points out, the cleanest kitchens usually produce the best food.

Dinner at Per Se is nine-courses prix fixe at $250—either the Chef’s Tasting Menu or the Tasting of Vegetables. Several of the courses do have choices, but you’re on the hook for at least $250 (including service) regardless. The recommended wine pairing is $175, though there is some flexibility below that amount if you ask for it. Unlike many other restaurants, there is no “standard” wine pairing at Per Se; the sommelier customizes a wine pairing based on your requests and budget.

 

This wasn’t an evening for note-taking, and in any case we were plenty inebriated by the time most of the food came, so I’ve structured this post as a photo-essay with light comments, beginning with day’s menus (above): the Chef’s Tasting Menu (left) and the Tasting of Vegetables (right).

“Oysters and Pearls” (left); Truffle Custard (right)

The menus at Per Se change daily, but a few things are constant. The Salmon Cones are always the amuse-bouch, and the first course is always “Oysters and Pearls” with caviar. Both have been well described by others, so I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. After that, the kitchen sent out an extra course: a “truffle custard” in a hollowed-out egg, which was outstanding—probably the highlight of the evening.

Hudson valley moulard Duck Foie Gras “Gâteau” (left); Grilled “Pavé of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (right)

On the Chef’s Tasting Menu, the second course always offers an option of foie gras ($30 supplement). In my three visits, it has never been done the same way, and this preparation might have been the best yet. The menu described it as a Foile Gras “Gâteau,” with peanut butter and grape geléee. The server called it “our version of peanut butter & jelly.” I can’t imagine anything better.

The first entrée (tuna) came next; see photo, above right. 

Soft Boiled Squire Hill Farm’s Aracana Hen Egg (left); Butter Poached Nova Scotia Lobster (right)

The next course on the Chef’s Tasting Menu is traditionally lobster. It’s the one item that many diners find unexciting. I’d already had it twice, so I asked for a substitution from the Vegetable menu. I got the Soft-Boiled Hen Egg with mushrooms, which was wonderful. My girlfriend had no complaints about the lobster, but I still think it suffers in such a miniscule presentation.

All Day Braised Hobbs Shore’s Pork Belly (left); Elysian Fields Farm’s “Selle D’Agneau Rôtie Entière (right)

Braised pork belly (above, left) is always a dependable dish in these settings. I believe I was a bit more fond of the lamb (above, right) than my girlfriend was. For the record, the alternative was a Wagyu beef, carrying a $100 supplement.

Desserts follow, without comment:

Cheese courses: Meadow Creek Grayson (left); Tarentais (right)

Yogurt Sorbet with Carrot Cake (left); Finally, birthday cake (right)

Crème brulée (left); Granny Smith Apple Consommé with Ginger Ice Cream (right)

Petits-fours

 The staff seemed totally at ease with the fact that we were making a photo-document of our meal. After a while, they started leaving the wine bottles on our table so that we could photograph the labels, of which a few are shown below. We especially loved the 1962 Madeira, which was served with one of the dessert courses:

Service throughout was as polished and professional as one would expect at such a restaurant. We left with the sense that we had experienced the best meal this city has to offer.

Per Se (10 Columbus Circle, Time-Warner Center, Fourth Floor, West Midtown)

Food: Luxurious American cuisine with high-end French influence and technique
Service: As elegant as you’ll find in New York
Ambiance: A quiet, spacious room, overlooking Central Park

Rating: Extraordinary

The Payoff: Gemma

Today, as expected, a clearly bored Frank Bruni awards one star to Gemma:

These are the makings of Gemma, a cheat sheet of a restaurant whose proprietors take fewer risks than a hurricane-insurance agent in Nebraska. They’ve turned to a fundamentally earnest cuisine for calculated purposes, and they know that many diners sprinting to the newest hot spot don’t really want to find anything new. They want reassurance that they’ve mastered what’s worth knowing.

That applied to knockoffs of French bistros and brasseries in past decades and it applies to post-red-sauce evocations of Italian enotecas, osterias and the like in this one. The moment-conscious diner now talks of salumi, not charcuterie, and if he or she is feeling blue, it’s for Gorgonzola more often than Roquefort (with Cabrales making inroads).

You’ve got to remember that at least 80% of diners actually prefer “formula restaurants,” although they tend to bore the critics. Gemma probably wouldn’t have been reviewed, but for the pedigree of its owners. Frank actually found a few dishes he liked: an “impeccable” chicken, a “buttery” branzino. And he loved the space, with tables spaced more generously than usual. All that added up to one star.

Eater and I both both win $1 at even-money odds on our hypothetical one-dollar bets.

	Eater		NYJ
Bankroll	$44.50		$48.67
Gain/Loss	+1.00		+1.00
Total	$45.50		$49.67
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Won–Lost	19–5		18–6

Rolling the Dice: Gemma

Every week, we take our turn with Lady Luck on the BruniBetting odds as posted by Eater. Just for kicks, we track Eater’s bet too, and see who is better at guessing what the unpredictable Bruni will do. We track our sins with an imaginary $1 bet every week.

The Line: Tomorrow, Frank Bruni reviews Gemma, the new Italian place in the Bowery Hotel, brought to you by the folks behind the Waverly Inn and La Bottega. The Eater oddsmakers have set the action as follows (√√ denotes the Eater bet):

Zero Stars: 4-1
One Star: EVEN √√
Two Stars: 9-1
Three Stars: 75-1
Four Stars: 25,000-1

The Skinny: First of all, we need to pop some caffeine pills, to keep ourselves awake as Frank Bruni reviews yet another Italian restaurant. Why doesn’t he just move to Italy? Oh, I forgot. He did that already.

The leading indicators aren’t in Gemma’s favor. The same crew’s La Bottega (also in a hotel), earned a goose-egg from Amanda Hesser 3½ years ago, while the Waverly Inn managed an unenthusiastic star from Frank Bruni nine months ago.

Early critical reports on Gemma aren’t exactly raves. In New York, Adam Platt tossed out one star, “half a star for the food, and another half for the space.” Restaurant Girl had 1½ stars in the Daily News, which on her scale means “hit or miss,” noting that it is “certainly not a serious culinary endeavour.”

We dismiss any chance of two stars or above. Frank Bruni isn’t going to be under-cut by the Restaurant Girl. Won’t. Happen. The only question is: one star or zero? If this wasn’t an Italian restaurant, we’d be on the zero-star train faster than Frank Bruni can say crudo. And I have to say I’m sorely tempted, given the low odds Eater is offering this week at the one-star level.

Then again, this is Italian, which nearly always carries a one-star premium in Bruni’s version of the star system.

The Bet: Until we see Frank Bruni give zero stars to an Italian restaurant, we have to assume it can’t happen. We agree with Eater that Bruni will aware one star to Gemma.

Hill Country

It’s rare that a restaurant opens in this town to instantaneous, unanimous acclaim. But that’s what happened to Hill Country, which opened this summer in Chelsea. It captures New York’s barbecue moment just about perfectly. Every reviewer has been smitten. Everyone. Including me.

I’m not a great barbecue conoisseur. I can’t tell you the differences between Memphis, Kansas City, and Texas barbecue. But I know what I love, and Hill Country is it. The meats are unsauced. What comes through is pure smokey flavor that lets the food speak for itself—or perhaps I should say “sing” for itself.

Though I can’t vouch for it, the barbecue style at Hill Country is supposed to be the spitting image of what you get in Lockhart, Texas. Service is bare-bones, but no one should care. When you come in, the host hands you a “meal ticket.” You carry a cafeteria tray to ordering stations—a counter for meats, another for side dishes, another for beverages. An attendant marks down what you’ve ordered. After the meal, you present your meal ticket to the cashier, who rings up the bill.

Meats come piled on a sheet of wax paper; side dishes come in cardboard cups. But if the service is nothing fancy, the servers clearly love what they’re doing. Their advice is both enthusiastic and reliable. At the bar, for instance, the bartender wisely steered us towards the moist brisket—the restaurant’s signature dish. At the meat counter the server dished out just the right amount of food for two people, when we were really unsure just how much we needed.

 

It’s hard to see from the photo, but this is really a lot of food. The moist brisket is hidden underneath two enormous beef ribs and a couple of jalapeno sausage. To the side is macaroni and cheese (upper right) and corn pudding (lower right). It was more than two hungry people could finish.

The brisket comes in two varieties: moist and lean, the former being a euphemism for fat. We love fatty meats, so we tried the moist brisket ($17.50/lb.), which was extraordinary. Beef ribs ($9/lb.) were wonderful too; more barbecue places should serve them. We were less impressed with the jalapeno sausage ($5.50 ea.), which seemed too dry when compared to the other things we tried.

There are several other meats available, incluidng spare ribs, pork chops, game hen, chicken, beef shoulder, and prime rib. We were full, so they’ll have to wait for another time. And rest assured, there will be another time.  The two side dishes we tried—mac & cheese and corn pudding ($4.50 ea.)—were terrific. I especially recommend the corn pudding, as it’s an unusual dish that few other barbecue places offer.

The food is the star at Hill Country, but the bar shouldn’t pass unnoticed. There’s a terrific selection of tequilas, and I even noticed a vodka from Iceland. The specialty drinks are wonderful, and reasonably priced (around $10 ea.).

One of them features a remarkably smooth vodka from Austin, TX. When I asked about it, the bartender gave me a bit of it on the side—yet another example of how the servers at Hill Country are truly enthusiastic about what they serve.

The space is large, with tables on two levels, and there is live music several nights a week. It’s not too far off the path of my commute home, and I could well imagine that it will be one of my regular haunts when I have a barbecue craving. In this town, you can’t do much better than Hill Country.

Hill Country (30 W. 26th Street between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, Chelsea)

Food: **½
Service: *
Ambiance: *½
Overall: **

The Payoff: Peter Luger Steakhouse

Today, as expected, Frank Bruni awarded a weak two stars to Peter Luger Steakhouse, a downgrade from its former rating of three stars. The review practically wrote itself. Simply put, the restaurant doesn’t deliver excellence as consistently as it used to. With a multitude of Luger clones in Manhattan that are as good or better, one can no longer turn a blind eye to the restaurant’s many faults. Indeed, from the text of the review, Bruni could easily have justified just one star, rather than the two he gave.

Bruni’s timing is certainly open to question. The review mentioned that renovations are in progress. As there was no particular urgency for this review, would it not have been better to wait until the remodeling was complete? The only thing that has really changed since Ruth Reichl’s 1997 review is the addition of a rib steak to the menu (which Bruni loved both times he tried it).

With Luger’s demotion, New York is now without a three-star steakhouse. Given Bruni’s obvious affection for the format, I have to wonder if he’s looking for an excuse to award the third star to his own personal favorite of the bunch. I’m not sure which steakhouse it would be, as there is no obvious front-runner for the title. I also know that some people feel that steakhouses are too formulaic, and shouldn’t qualify for three stars no matter how good they are, but I don’t buy that argument.

Eater and I both took the two-star bet at 2–1 odds. We both win $2 on our hypothetical one-dollar bets.

	Eater		NYJ
Bankroll	$42.50		$46.67
Gain/Loss	+2.00		+2.00
Total	$44.50		$48.67
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Won–Lost	18–5		17–6

Rolling the Dice: Peter Luger Steakhouse

Every week, we take our turn with Lady Luck on the BruniBetting odds as posted by Eater. Just for kicks, we track Eater’s bet too, and see who is better at guessing what the unpredictable Bruni will do. We track our sins with an imaginary $1 bet every week.

The Line: Tomorrow, Frank Bruni reviews Peter Luger Steakhouse. The Eater oddsmakers have set the action as follows (√√ denotes the Eater bet):

Zero Stars: 10-1
One Star: 4-1
Two Stars: 2-1 √√
Three Stars: 12-1
Four Stars: 25,000-1

The Skinny: Despite occasional reports that it has gone downhill, Peter Luger remains the gold standard of NYC steakhouses. As of today, it carries a three-star rating from the Times (per Ruth Reichl in 1997), the only steakhouse so honored. It also carries a Michelin star, the only one given to a steakhouse.

There are two main data points from Frank Bruni. In June 2004, he awarded two stars to Wolfgang’s Steakhouse (a Luger clone). As part of his research, he also tried the Luger porterhouse, which he found superior. In February 2005, he made the trip out to Williamsburg for Luger’s burgers (which are served only at lunch), and was not impressed. It got another mention, albeit briefly, in his one-star review of Robert’s Steakhouse. This time, he found “real depth, along with the muskiness and mineral quality that often come with dry aging, but on this occasion the meat lacked its usual char.”

There are now a good half-dozen Luger clones in New York City, most of them doing pretty much what Peter Luger does, in a more pleasant atmosphere, with better service, and with a more varied menu. Ultimately, they all rely on the same raw material—aged prime beef. Luger could not go on forever getting the best specimens, and preparing them better than anyone else. If Luger has an edge in that department, at this point it is probably microscopic. Against that are the well known drawbacks: the beer hall décor, the limited menu, the brusque service, the refusal to take credit cards, the trip out to Williamsburg, and the difficulty of scoring a table.

Given that this is a re-review, the overwhelming likelihood is that Luger will not keep all three of its stars. Even allowing for Bruni’s love of steakhouses, it would be hard to justify the re-review just to re-affirm its current rating. The only question is how low Bruni will go. My sense is that he will accept the conclusion of every past critic, which is that Luger is all about the porterhouse. And given his past enthusiastic comments, I suspect he will grudgingly award two stars for the one thing Luger does well, even if the restaurant has lost a step.

The Bet: We agree with Eater that Frank Bruni will award two stars to Peter Luger Steakhouse.