Uncle Jack's Steakhouse

Note: Click here for a more recent review of Uncle Jack’s Steakhouse.

Uncle Jack’s Steakhouse doesn’t seem to get as much “foodie” attention as other New York steakhouses. I was working in the neighborhood one night in October, so I thought it was a good time to give Uncle Jack’s a try. The restaurant claims to be “New York’s Best Steakhouse.” While I haven’t tried anywhere near all of them, on the strength of one visit the boast is not an unreasonable one.

I ordered the rack of lamb, which came with a dijon mustard, rosemary demi-glace, and Japanese panko bread crust ($40). This was one of the top 2-3 lamb dishes of my lifetime. Absolutely outstanding. I also ordered the asparagus side dish ($10), which was cooked to perfection.

I don’t know where the custom arose that steakhouse portions are about double what they’d be in any other type of restaurant. The server described the lamb chops as “lollipop sized.” I suppose that’s true, but even at that size, I don’t think I’ve ever had more than four of them on one entrée. Uncle Jack’s served eight of them. The asparagus, too, was certainly ample for two people.

Having said all that, I was ravenously hungry (having missed lunch), and with the food being as good as it was, I ate every morsel.

My only pet peeve was the menu, or rather the lack of one. The captain said, “I am the menu,” and proceeded to recite the whole thing from memory. He was most patient, and his explanations were perfectly clear, but at these prices why can’t they be bothered to put it in writing?

The other sticking point is that diners not familiar with NY steakhouse prices might be surprised at the final bill, since the captain doesn’t tell you the prices. You could ask about each item, but it’s rather tedious to do so. He did make a point of mentioning that the Kobe steak was “on special” for only $100. I happen to eat out at steakhouses a lot, so I wasn’t surprised at my $50 tab (before tax and tip). Others might be.

That caveat aside, Uncle Jack’s is wonderful. I’ll be back.

Uncle Jack’s Steakhouse (440 Ninth Ave., between 34th & 35th Sts., Hell’s Kitchen)

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

The Old Homestead

Here are two reviews of The Old Homestead (56 9th Ave btwn 14th-15th Sts, in the Meatpacking District). My first visit was in February 2005:

I’ve been taking a leisurely tour of Manhattan’s steakhouses, and last night was the Old Homestead’s turn. The décor, the service, and the menu all scream “old-fashioned steakhouse” — in both the bad and the good connotations of that phrase.

Where the Old Homestead diverges from the stereotype, it’s in their extensive “Kobe” beef selections. (Perhaps their version really is from Kobe, but I suspect it’s the American-bred “Wagyu” beef they’re serving.) You can get a Kobe ribeye for two for something like $150. Also on offer: a Kobe burger at $41 or a Kobe frankfurter (the mind boggles) at $19.

I went for the Gotham Rib Steak ($39), which they say is their signature item. Elsewhere it’d be called a ribeye. The cut of beef was practically a carbon copy of the ribeye I ordered at Wolfgang’s a month or two ago. The preparation was respectable, but not quite as accomplished as at Wolfgang’s: the char was less even, and parts of the steak were a tad overdone. The Homestead added a welcome helping of shoestring fries, which the Wolfgang’s version didn’t have.

At another table, I overheard a couple who are clearly frequent visitors. They ordered the porterhouse for two ($75), which was served just as they do at Luger’s, Wolfgang’s, and Mark Joseph, complete with the familiar tilted plate, allowing the unserved slices to wallow in juice.

The restaurant was not crowded, and there were plenty of servers hanging around. Despite that, the staff was not as attentive as it should have been, and my own server seemed rather bored with his job. I was served a piece of raisin bread that was practically rock-hard, as though it was a leftover from last Friday’s bakery run.

Although it doesn’t get my vote for top steakhouse in the city, the Old Homestead is better than many. I’ll probably be back, but not before trying a few other candidates.

I was back on November 8th, 2005:

I was back at the Old Homestead last night. I wandered in without a reservation. At 8:45pm, there was a fifteen minute wait for a table. The place was packed, and diners were still arriving as I left an hour later.

On this visit, I had the New York Strip, which was perfectly charred and bright red inside, as I’d asked for. Aside from a tiny bit of gristle on one end of the steak, it was a top-quality cut, prepared as expertly as anywhere in town.

The waitstaff look like they’ve been there forever, and they seem bored. I didn’t receive a menu until five minutes after I sat down. I was not offered a wine list. When I asked for wine by the glass, the waiter declaimed as if annoyed, “Merlot, Cabernet, Shiraz, or {inaudible},” as if that were all one needed to know. I chose the Shiraz.

On the plus side, at $36 for the strip and $9 for the glass of wine, I got out of the Old Homestead for several dollars less than one would pay for comparable quality at other Manhattan steakhouses. I didn’t order any sides, but I noticed that most of them were priced at around $7 or less, which is less than the $9–10 that many steakhouses charge.

In a neighborhood where there’s a new restaurant every week, the Old Homestead seems to be just as popular as ever.

The Old Homestead (56 Ninth Ave. between 14th–15th Sts., Meatpacking District)

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

Shelly's New York

Note: After this review was posted, Shelly’s moved down the street to 41 W. 57th Street. It has since re-branded itself as Shelly’s Tradizionale, an Italian seafood restaurant.

*

Shelly’s New York, located at the other end of the block from Carnegie Hall, is ideally situated for a pre-concert dinner, which I suspect is where much of the clientele comes from. It was packed at 6:30pm on a Sunday night in November, but by 7:45 there was a noticeable clearing-out. With Carnegie booked every night, it’s surprising that dining options nearby are not more compelling.

There’s a lot to like about Shelly’s, including a terrific wine bar, designer martinis, and a large raw bar. My friend and I ordered the porterhouse for two, which was competently prepared, but won’t erase my memories of the better Manhattan steakhouses.

Shelly’s isn’t cheap, but for a steakhouse in Manhattan it is reasonable. For instance, the filet mignon is $38.75; at BLT Steak, a block away, it’s $40. The NY Strip is $37.75, but it’s $42 at BLT. The porterhouse for two is $73, but it’s $79 at BLT. Overall, the steaks at Shelly’s are a couple of dollars lower than you’d find at top-end steakhouses.

The owners, Fireman Hospitality Group, are also behind the Brooklyn Diner, Trattoria Dell’ Arte, Redeye Grill, and Cafe Fiorello. They don’t aim high, but these places have all done well. Somebody knows what they are doing.

Shelly’s New York (104 W. 57th Street at Sixth Avenue, West Midtown)

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

BLT Prime

Note: Click here for a later visit to BLT Prime, and here for an earlier one.

BLT Prime is the only restaurant in Laurent Tourondel’s empire that’s open on Sundays. I had a BLT craving today [November 20, 2005], so I headed out to the restaurant, arriving at 5:00pm (opening time).

Both BLT Prime and Steak serve a $28 entrée that’s a riff on the familiar BLT sandwich. Here, it’s made with ‘kobe’ beef and foie gras, and served on toasted ciabatta bread. (You’ll find a photo of it at the website of either restaurant.) It’s about the cheapest meal you can have at BLT. I decided to give it a shot. It’s a tasty sandwich indeed, but like the burger at DB Bistro Moderne, a bit of a gimmick. I could barely taste the foie gras, and the beef was nothing special. At the price, I rate it a dud.

I had a couple of other complaints. The BLT sandwich comes with an enormous helping of french fries, but this isn’t stated on the menu. It seems to be the only entrée that comes with a side dish, so I had no reason to expect fries. My waiter happily took my order for a side of potato skins ($7), which left me with twice as much potato as I needed. (Probably four times, actually; either the skins or the fries came in portions far beyond what I could eat alone.) Had I known the sandwich came with fries, I would not have ordered the skins.

By this time in the meal, the server assignments had been re-arranged. My new server came around to ask if everything was alright, and I told her I was a bit miffed that the menu didn’t announce that the BLT came with fries. She remarked, “I would have told you that.”

I was also unhappy with a cocktail called a Tamarind Margarita ($11). It came in about the smallest cocktail glass I’ve ever seen. The drink tasted fine, but one expects a margarita to be a little bigger than that.

On the other hand, the restaurant is generous with extras. When I sat down, the server brought a helping of a wonderful paté and crispy bread. While I was devouring that, one of BLT’s famous popovers arrived. The popovers, first introduced at BLT Steak, weren’t initially offered when BLT Prime opened. I suspect they had some complaints, and now both restaurants have them. (They even provide a free copy of the recipe.) I did not order a dessert, but the kitchen sent out two half-dollar sized hazelnut ice cream sandwiches, which were excellent.

Overall, it was a mixed performance for the restaurant. It is hard to believe that I dropped over $50 for a cocktail, some potato skins, and a glorified BLT sandwich.

Well, despite my misgivings the second time around, I still award three stars based on superior overall performance.

BLT Prime (111 E. 22nd Street between Park & Lexington Avenues, Gramercy)

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

Capital Grille

Last year, Frank Bruni was underwhelmed at Capital Grille. Later on, the usually dependable Bob Lape of Crain’s awarded two stars, which had me mystified. In September of this year, a vendor had suggested dinner, and I said my preference was a steakhouse. I grimaced when he suggested the Capital Grille, as I presumed Manhattan has much better to offer. However, he was buying, so I kept my thoughts to myself and trudged uptown.

A wet-aged Delmonico (bone-in rib-eye) was done to the medium rare that I’d asked for, but as Frank Bruni put it, “lacking the kind of crisp, charred exterior that would have given the flesh more variation from edge to center.” A smoked salmon appetizer and creamed spinach side dish were competently executed, but unmemorable.

I should add that all three of my companions ordered fillets, which appeared to have the charred exterior that my rib-eye lacked. However, a follow-up visit about a month later (again, someone else’s idea) confirmed my initial impresions.

Capital Grille has a slightly updated version of the classic steakhouse décor (mahogony surfaces, oil paintings). Service was slightly superior to the average steakhouse, including a genial waiter who explained the menu in considerable detail. The restaurant put us in a booth, and for four businessmen it was a bit cramped.

Having said all that, Capital Grille illustrates the maxim that it’s awfully tough for a steakhouse to fail in Manhattan. Despite executing the steakhouse formula with no particular distinction, the place was packed. Its location (practically adjacent to Grand Central) is well suited to weeknight diners who need to make a quick getaway to suburban homes.

Capital Grille (155 East 42d Street near Lexington Avenue, East Midtown)

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

Flames Steakhouse

Note: Flames Steakhouse closed in November 2007, replaced in the same location by Giardino D’oro. Nick Vulli is still chef/owner. According to Restaurant Girl, belt-tightening on Wall Street led to a decline in lunch business, and the restaurant needed to morph into a less expensive concept. Apparently the excellent dry-aged steaks are still available, but as we define it here at New York Journal, the original restaurant is closed.

*

Here’s a review duet. First, my visit in August 2005:

Flames Steakhouse has opened downtown. They’ve been there for about a month. It’s operated by the same folks as Flames Steakhouse in Westchester County. The menu is identical in both locations. I paid their new digs late last week.

Flames is modeled on Peter Luger, in that their specialty is billed as Steak for One, Two, Three, or Four; and the steak comes pre-sliced, served on a slightly tipped large plate so that the juices will accumulate at the bottom. Like Mark Joseph and Wolfgang’s, they also have a broader menu featuring other meats, fish, and appetizers. There was a long list of daily specials (mostly fish and seafood) that the waiter recited. It always irritates me when a restaurant in this price range cannot be bothered to put its specials in writing, as it is difficult to keep them all in your head.

The website says, “You simply won’t find a better steak than ours anywhere!” That may be true in Westchester County, for anything I know to the contrary, but it is not the case in Manhattan. Their Steak for One was more-or-less comparable to Mark Joseph’s identical offering, and a bit inferior to what I’ve had at Wolfgang’s.

Unlike Mark Joesph and Wolfgang’s, the wonderful Luger-style Canadian bacon isn’t on the menu. Appetizers all seem to be $15.95 or higher, and have in common the ridiculous steakhouse-sized portions that I cannot imagine how anyone with an ordinary appetite can eat. I had a superb New England Clam Chowder ($8.95) and was unable to finish my steak. Flames has the typical steakhouse side dishes. I ordered the creamed spinach, which was extremely watery and practically inedible.

The clam chowder, Steak for One, and creamed spinach came to $70 with tax and tip, which I’m afraid is what you’re destined to pay for a Manhattan steakhouse experience. The décor is rather unmemorable, but one doesn’t go to a steakhouse for the décor.

The verdict on this occasion is that the clam chowder was excellent, the steak was competent, and the spinach was awful. Service was uneven, but I recognize they’re just getting their sea legs. As the restaurant is just one block from my apartment, I’m sure I’ll be trying them again, although I’ll give the spinach a pass next time. At the moment, they’re open Monday-Friday; they’ll be open Saturdays after Labor Day.

It seems no restaurant category is more bullet-proof in Manhattan than the traditional steakhouse, and since 9/11 Mark Joseph has had the field to itself below Chambers Street. I don’t think MJ has anything to worry about, but I suspect Flames will do well in a neighborhood where there isn’t a lot of competition.

And then, on December 8th:

I dropped in again today, mainly because the restaurant is just a block from my apartment. I ordered a ribeye au poivre, which was an off-menu special. It was one of the best pepper sauces I’ve tasted. The enormous ribeye had a bit of gristle, but was nicely aged and flavorful.

I have to wonder at the prognosis for this restaurant. The more recent Bobby Van’s just a few blocks away was absolutely packed (I tried there first). Even the nearby Captain’s Ketch was bustling. Flames was doing a decent trade, but had a number of empty tables—and that on a Thursday evening during the holiday season. Service was friendly and efficient; they wanted to please.

Flames Steakhouse (5 Gold Street near Maiden Lane, Financial District)

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

Bobby Van's Steakhouse Downtown

Steakhouses are busting out all over, and no wonder. The format seems infallible. The venerable Bobby Van’s now has a Wall Street location in its stable. The place has been open just a week, and already it’s packed. The new location is designed with an ample bar area, which no doubt will appeal to the after-work crowd.

I had a steak craving this evening [October 20, 2005], and tried the Strip ($39). It was a wonderfully tender piece of flesh, cooked perfectly to the medium rare I’d requested, with a light char on the skin, the way I like it. As I live in the neighborhood, I’m sure I’ll be back. The location serves lunch and dinner M-F, and dinner Saturdays. They are closed Sundays.

Their prices are in the range of other Manhattan steakhouses, but perhaps a dollar or two higher per item. I particularly noticed this with the side dishes, which were $10 apiece. I’ve no objection to paying forty bucks for a steak, but another ten for the fries seems excessive. On the other hand the G&T was only $10, which at a nice restaurant in this town is on the low side.

Service was pretty good, for a place just getting its sea legs.

Bobby Van’s Steakhouse (25 Broad Street at Exchange Place, Financial District)

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

Keens Steakhouse

Note: Click here for more visits to Keens Steakhouse.

Frank Bruni’s review in last week’s New York Times aroused my curiosity, so I dropped into Keens Steakhouse the next day to try that “legendary” mutton chop.

I arrived around 6:45. The matre d’ advised me that there would be no tables available in the dining room till 9:15, but I could put in my name for a pub table (where a full menu is served). I was advised there would be about a twenty-minute wait for that. I ordered a glass of cabernet at the bar, where the patrons were four-deep, and settled in.

Keens may have New York’s best collection of single-malt scotches (they say they’ve got 200 of them). The bottles cut an impressive figure across the back wall of the bar. Naturally they’re available individually, but Keens also offers “flights” of four contrasting scotches, which go for anywhere between $28 and $48. I wasn’t in the mood, but I’ll probably sample them on a future visit.

Before I knew it, the hostess advised me there was a table in the main dining room after all. It had only been ten minutes.

I don’t know if Bruni’s review has influenced business, but I could see there were lots of people ordering “mutton chops” (which, as Frank has now told us, are actually lamb chops). Keens must have its own network of lamb purveyors, as I’ve never seen a cut anything like this before. Who else but Keens could be serving it?

While I waited for the legendary chop, I enjoyed the complimentary warm bread service and chilled vegetables with creamy dipping sauce. I also enjoyed staring at the massive collection of churchwarden pipes that adorned the ceiling.

The chop finally arrives. It looks massive, but this is a bit deceiving, as it’s actually a T-bone, and the bone itself takes up a lot of space. After you savor a bit of the fat, you’ll want to trim the rest away, leaving yourself with a substantial, but not unmanageable portion. Still, at two inches (or more) thick, with a peculiar wing shape, it’s a meal to remember. Keens cooked mine superbly to medium rare, just as I’d asked. At $37.50, it’s one of New York’s better steakhouse bargains. (The chop came with sauteed escarole, which I didn’t care for.)

As I was leaving, the hostess inquired about my meal, and remembered me by name. That was impressive, given the hundreds of people in the restaurant, and the fact we’d only spoken briefly. I look forward to returning, and trying more of the menu. Including those scotches.

Keens Steakhouse (72 W. 36th Street, east of Sixth Avenue, West Midtown)

Food: **

Service: *½

Ambiance: **

Overall: **

BLT Prime

Note: Click here for a more recent visit to BLT Prime.

I dined at BLT Prime last week. Laurent Tourondel has now refined the BLT formula to a science, and the third restaurant in the chain is a triumph. (See also BLT Steak and BLT Fish.)

We started with two ‘bread’ amuses. The first was a sourdough bread with chicken liver paté. Second was a very fresh, soft garlic bread roll. For appetizers, two of us had the Grilled Double Cut Canadian Bacon ($9). These bacon strips are similar to those at Peter Luger. They aren’t quite as thick as at Luger, but you get four of them on the plate, and they are lightly seasoned. My other colleague ordered the Tuna Tartare ($14), which was also an enormous helping, and he pronounced himself satisfied.

BLT serves its porterhouse pre-sliced, as in the Luger/Wolfgang’s model. Unlike those restaurants, it is offered only for two. As there were three of us, we ordered the porterhouse ($79) and the 12 oz. kobe ribeye ($72). We divided on which was the more flavorful, although the porterhouse, which feeds two with some left to spare, is clearly the far better deal.

For side orders, we chose the onion rings ($8), the bleu cheese tater tots ($7), and the asparagus ($8). The menu at BLT Prime seems almost diabolically designed to encourage you to over-order. I don’t believe a person with a normal appetite can finish an appetizer, their share of a porterhouse, and one of these ample side dishes, especially if you’ve also ordered wine. We ended the meal happy, but with quite a lot of food remaining on the table.

Only one of us could even dream of entertaining dessert. My colleague ordered the banana cream pie, which he said was heavenly. I strenuously resisted his suggestion of after-dinner drinks, but he insisted, so we finished the evening with 18-year Highland Park whisky.

For future reference, I’d say that three people of normal appetites would have plenty to eat if they ordered an appetizer apiece, and shared the porterhouse and two sides between them. Occasional glances around other tables confirmed that portions are enormous, practically no matter what you order.

All three of the BLT restaurants have been instant hits. BLT prime was full to the gills, and it was hard to carry on a conversation over the din. That’s about the only negative at a restaurant that clicks on all cylinders. Incidentally, BLT Prime is now the #1 steakhouse in the city on Zagat. It is tied with Peter Luger with a 27 food rating, but has higher service and decor ratings (23/23 respectively for BLTP; 19/14 for PL).

BLT Prime (111 East 22nd Street between Park and Lexington Avenues, Gramercy)

V Steakhouse

Note: V Steakhouse closed in December 2005. My final thoughts are here. The space is now occupied by Porter House New York.

*

V Steakhouse is part of the much-ballyhooed “restaurant collection” at the Time-Warner Center. With Masa ($300 prix fixe) and Per Se ($125-150 prix fixe) as neighbors, V Steakhouse with its $66 steaks starts to look like bargain-basement dining. Actually, you can order the chicken entrée at V for $19, and dine at the world’s most expensive food court without spending a monthly rent payment. But it’s no accident that V is called a steakhouse, and it’s as a steakhouse that it must succeed or fail.

The Time-Warner restaurant collection was designed to be three and four-star restaurants, one and all. The nominal chef of the eponymous V, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, was none too pleased to get just one star from the Times’s Frank Bruni. Bruni’s review seemed an anomaly (three stars from the Post’s Steve Cuozzo; a rave in Newsday) till New York Magazine came along with a review titled Steak, Not Well Done.

Vongerichten told New York Magazine, “Eighteen years in New York, and I never had a one-star review; I don’t even know how to do a one-star restaurant. The hardest part is the staff. Nobody wants to work in a one-star place.” Maybe it would help if they sometimes saw the boss. As Vongerichten has over half-a-dozen restaurants in New York alone, to say nothing of his global empire, you can rest assured he’s seldom there.

I had a business dinner at V Steakhouse last night. The décor has been much written about. You love it or you hate it. It reminded me of the interior of the Metropolitan Opera House, with its plush velvet reds and shimmering chandeliers. To that, V adds a grove of gold-painted aluminum trees. To some, it resembles an upscale whorehouse. I found it charming, and so did my companions, who are from Boston.

They pamper you at V. Jean-Georges may not know how to do three-star steak, but he certainly knows how to deliver three-star service. It is a large dining room, but the tables are generously spaced. By the end of our evening, it was about 90% full, but not at all noisy. Most of the tables had parties of four or more. There are hardly any two-seaters at V.

One of my companions had a foie gras appetizer, which he loved, while two of us shared steak tartare, which was wonderful. However, a steakhouse must be judged mainly on the quality of its steaks, and V fails to deliver the goods. My porterhouse was unevenly charred, had an unacceptably high fat and gristle content, and offered a flimsy and under-sized filet on the smaller side of the cut. It was done correctly to the medium-rare temperature I had ordered, but it was otherwise a porterhouse no restaurant of this purported calibre should serve. The other porterhouse at our table was a bit better, but we quickly agreed: this was not a $66 steak. At half that price, I would have considered myself over-charged.

I went to the men’s room, and a couple of guys asked me about my steak. I shared my experience. “Mine sucked,” one fellow said. “So did mine,” said another. To be fair, I should report that my other table companion ordered the Waygu, which he said was the best steak he’d ever had in his life. Undoubtedly V has the equipment to put out great steak on occasion, but they must be accepting whatever wildly inconsistent inventory appears on their loading dock every morning.

V has an ample selection of side dishes. I ordered the “fripps,” which are like large potato chips prepared in a tempura batter. These are superb, but it’s a problem when they utterly out-class the steak. A selection of complimentary sauces came with our meal. These added a little spice to an otherwise humdrum steak, but in my view the best steaks shouldn’t need them.

For dessert, I ordered the berry cheesecake. Like so many of the V desserts, the kitchen hasn’t assembled the pieces. You have a small slice of cheesecake, and a berry goo in an accompanying glass, which you’re encouraged to sip through a straw. How this is supposed to be superior to a traditional cheesecake utterly eludes me. Try the assorted cheese platter instead.

The NY Times doesn’t give separate ratings for service, décor, and food. But if it did, I’d say that three stars is appropriate for the first two categories, but that one star is awfully generous for the third. The kitchen desperately needs a wake-up call.

V Steakhouse (Fourth Floor, Time-Warner Center, Columbus Circle)

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