BLT Bar & Grill

Earlier this year, chef Laurent Tourondel and his namesake BLT Restaurant Group split up, with owner Jimmy Haber keeping most of the restaurants and Tourondel’s plans unclear. At first, the divorce was described as amicable, but that unlikely story exploded quickly enough. Last month, Haber sued Tourondel for opening a burger joint in Sag Harbor, LT Burger, that allegedly infringed the trademark of the extremely similar BLT Burger in Greenwich Village, which Tourondel opened but no longer controls.

Under the terms of their settlement, Haber is no longer permitted to open new BLT restaurants, but BLT Bar & Grill, which was already under construction in the W Hotel Downtown, was allowed to keep the coveted initials—presumably the last time we’ll see them in a new place. The hotel remains blanketed with scaffolding, but the restaurant has been open since late July.

Under Tourondel’s supervision, the BLT restaurants were crazily expensive and frustratingly uneven. The potential for a great meal was always there, but they didn’t deliver it consistently. Tourondel’s menus, however, were always clever. He seldom served a classic without tweaking it—usually for the better.

If BLT Bar & Grill is the best the group can do sans Tourondel, the future is not bright. This is a routine hotel restaurant, showing off about as much culinary imagination as a T.G.I. Friday’s. The food is much better than a Friday’s—not bad, in fact—but the menu is a real snoozer. Even in a neighborhood starved for good restaurants, there are surely more interesting options (even if I can’t name them).

At least it is not as expensive as the other BLT’s. Most of the entrées are in the 20s, most of the appetizers in the teens. If that’s a bargain, it is only in relation to the other restaurants in the group, where it is hard to get out for less than $100 a head. In the modern fashion, the menu is in eight categories: snacks, starters, sandwiches, pizza, pasta, meat, fish, sides: something for everybody, but with no clear vision.

The wine list is as unadventurous as the food, and too expensive, with very few reds below $50—and the first one I asked for was out of stock, despite being listed as a choice by the glass.

 

I had a snack of Parmesan & Olives ($7) at the bar, which came with many more olives than I could finish. At the table, the bread service was a pizza-like substance that tasted like it was yesterday’s left-over.

 

Tuna tartare ($16) was a much happier experience, one of the best renditions I’ve had in a while, with high-quality tuna overa bed of soy, wasabi, and avocado. Both of us had the burger ($16) with aged cheddar and double-smoked bacon—enjoyable, but not a destination product. An order of fries was soggy, and had to be sent back.

The two-story space is cavernous, with over 200 seats, including two bars and an outdoor patio. We have trouble imagining that it will ever be full, when there is so little of interest on the menu, none of Tourondel’s inspiration, and it’s run by the same management that made the other BLT restaurants so inconsistent.

BLT Bar & Grill (123 Washington Street at Albany Street, Financial District)

Food: Satisfactory
Service: Fine
Ambiance: Cavernous
Overall: Satisfactory

SHO Shaun Hergatt

Note: Shaun Hergatt left the eponymous restaurant at the end of July 2012. As of August 2012, the space was called The Exchange, with an inexpensive menu by new chef Josh Capone. That restaurant closed in April 2013. As of October 2014, it is Reserve Cut, a kosher steakhouse.

*

We paid a return visit to SHO Shaun Hergatt recently. Our previous visit was probably one of our two or three best meals of 2009.

The mainstream critics practically ignored SHO—including no full review in The New York Times. Despite that egregious error, business has picked up. We found it full on a Saturday evening, in contrast to our last visit, when it was practically empty.

The base price remains $69 prix fixe for three courses at dinner (à la carte at lunch), plus a flurry of canapés, amuses-bouches, petits-fours, and so forth. It is probably the best high-end restaurant deal in the city. The obligatory tasting menus have appeared: $110 for six courses or $220 for fifteen.

We ordered the six-course tasting. Our enthusiasm for the restaurant is undimmed, and as this is our second review of SHO, we’ll keep our comments brief.

We started with a trio of canapés (above left), of which we failed to get an intelligable explanation. Then, as amuse-bouche, a Kumamoto oyster with crème fraiche (above right).

The first savory course was a superb Venison Tartare (above left) with perigord truffle. We also loved a Maitake Mushroom Soup (above right) with black trumpet pavé and celeriac foam.

The kitchen sentout an extra course (above left): a soft poached quail egg with langoustine, black truffle, and cauliflower purée. This was terrific, but I must admit we couldn’t taste the langoustine, if it was there at all.

Wild Striped Bass (above right) was impeccably prepared.

We had two preparations of lobster (above left; the photo was after I’d already taken a few bites). Although the lobster itself was beautifully done, I didn’t think creamy polenta added much to the dish.

We also had two preparations of veal tenderloin (above right). The preparation with sweetbread ravioli (pictured) was much better than the one with veal tongue.

As pre-dessert (not pictured), we had a vanilla crème with orange butter, citrus segments, and chocolate. Dessert (also not pictured) was a chocolate soufflé, candied kumquats, and ice cream. This was followed by more petits-fours (left) than we could possibly eat.

Service was first-rate. The staff recognized us, but as far as we could tell, everyone got the same treatment.

The patrons filling SHO on a Saturday evening are clearly not a neighborhood crowd. Despite the lack of media adoration, the word has gotten out.

Many people thought it was a fool’s errand to open a place like SHO in the current economy, and particularly in the battered Financial District, in a building covered in scaffolding, on a street closed to traffic. Of course, most of the planning was done in the boom times, and there is little they could have done to change it—even assuming they wanted to. Luckily for us, they stuck to their guns, and opened the best new restaurant of 2009.

SHO Shaun Hergatt (40 Broad Street near Exchange Place, Financial District)

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

SHO Shaun Hergatt

Note: Click here for a more recent review of SHO Shaun Hergatt.

During the two years that the restaurant SHO Shaun Hergatt was under construction, there must have been a thousand times when Chef Hergatt or his investors wondered if they were doing the right thing.

SHO is a luxury French restaurant that makes no compromises—none. It’s in the Financial District, where in my working life there has never been a successful fine dining restaurant, except for steakhouses. To be sure, there haven’t been many attempts. But luxury French dining is a tough bet in any neighborhood. Did I mention we’re in a recession? 

Then there’s the name. Shaun Hergatt is a fine chef, but he doesn’t have a New York footprint: his last outing here was as Gabriel Kreuther’s deputy at Atelier. The obscure Big O in “SHO” is the logo for the Setai, a $154 million, 166-unit condo conversion on Broad Street, just steps away from the stock exchange, where apartments are priced between $815,000 and $4,425,000 [details here].

Despite the long odds against it, Hergatt and his backers have opened the restaurant they dreamed of. We can only hope that the public takes as kindly to it as we did. This is the most ambitious cuisine and the most refined service New York has seen since The Modern and Gilt in 2005–2006. Those with keen memories will recall that both were unfairly panned in the Times.

The space is stunning. You enter the luxurious Setai lobby, ride an elevator, walk past a long bar, then traverse a long corridor with wine walls on either side. and finally reach the dining rooms, appointed in soft browns and deep reds.

The two dining rooms are separated by a partition, so that each one feels small and intimate. Hergatt’s large, immaculate kitchen is open, but behind a heavy glass barrier, so that it is seen but not heard. There is also a more casual dining space at the other end of the wine corridor, which was empty on our visit, but will be used for breakfast and lunch.

Not a penny was spared to build this place, but it is tasteful and serene, not ostentatious or overdone.

At dinner, the menu is $57 for two savory courses, or $69 with dessert. With amuse courses taken into account, this is about $20 less than what the meal is worth. In an interview, Hergatt observed that the median income of downtown residents is $250,000, and they’ve all got to eat. Still, the restaurant will need to attract diners from other neighborhoods. As Amanda pointed out at Eater, Corton proves that “people have no problem spending money on excellent food right now. It just better be excellent.”

SHO Shaun Hergatt is excellent. It is better than excellent. On the strength of one meal, it is the best new restaurant to have opened in New York in at least three years. We do realize that everything can change if diners don’t warm up to the place, but the owners haven’t made any compromises yet, and we assume they won’t rush into them anytime soon. On a Saturday evening, the restaurant was half full, which is not bad on a day when the Wall Street area used to be barren.

On the prix fixe menu, there is a choice of ten appetizers and ten entrées, only a few with supplements. The presentation and cooking techniques are obviously French, but many dishes are accented with Asian ingredients. (The chef himself is Australian.)

We started with three canapés, any one of which would have qualified as an amuse-bouche in many restaurants. The beggar’s purse with caviar and sour cream, topped with gold leaf (above left, rear) was staggeringly good. The amuse itself (above right) was a blizzard of ingredients, including a tiny shrimp, served on a porcelein shell, and that sitting on a bed of salt flecked with ground peppers.

The Red Chili and Coconut Milk Glazed Quail (above left) was the only dish of the evening that struck me as underwhelming. It was a perfectly satisfying dish, but a rather simple concept compared to everything else we were served. Double Duck Consommé (above right) offered a rich broth and a raviolo filled with chicken and truffles.

Yogurt Marinated Poussin (above left) was wonderful, and I should note that the portion was double what is shown here; two extra pieces of chicken came out of the kitchen in an extra serving bowl. Veal Tenderloin (above right) was fork-tender and served with a luscious, foamy sauce.

The cheese course (above left) was more than generous: five French imports, all of which I’d happily eat again. We also loved pastry chef Mina Pizarro’s Rhubarb Tart with ginger cremeux and lychee sorbet (above right).

Naturally, there were petits-fours, including macaroons that exploded with sweet filling when we bit into them.

The portions here are arguably a bit dainty, but counting the various amuses you’re getting six courses for the price of three. At $69, this is one of the least expensive luxury fixed-priced menus in the city, and right now it is one of the best.

On the wine list, bargains are harder to come by. Most bottles are in three figures. The mostly-French list bottoms out at $55, and I believe there were only two choices at that level, with many more options in the $70–80 range. After consulting with the sommelier, we chose one of $55 bottles (2005 Thierry Germain Saumur Champigny) and were deeply satisfied. The top of the list is a magnum of 1953 Château Petrus at $15,000; the most expensive single bottle I saw was $8,000.

The service was practically flawless, with broths and sauces applied table-side and finger bowls delivered after each course in case we’d picked up quail or chicken bones with our hands (we hadn’t). Warm, house-made breads came with two contrasting soft butters, each in its own dome-covered dish. At one point, I looked up and saw that the truffle butter had been replaced with a fresh serving, even though we’d used only half of it.

There was a slight hint of over-eagerness. One runner seemed keen to figure out whether we wanted the cocktail list or the wine list; he should just leave both. The instant I picked up the wine list, a server appeared to ask if I wanted assistance. I said I would in a few minutes, after I’d looked through it. After what felt like 30 seconds, the sommelier appeared. But given the ambition of the project, one can understand their desire to please, and it shone through time after time. They even emailed us the next day to ask how we had enjoyed our visit.

A report of one visit can hardly be definitive, and we make no claims that it is. We sampled just one-fifth of the menu. Things could change dramatically if the restaurant becomes a hit, or if the customers don’t appear and it has to retrench. We can only say that this meal was very close to the best that can be had in New York.

SHO Shaun Hergatt

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

Perle

Note: Perle closed in January 2009. The space became “1834 Bar & Burger.”

*

What is it with classic French brasseries these days? In the last year, they’ve been sprouting up all over town, admittedly with mixed success. Just when Adam Platt was ready to dance on the grave of French cuisine, it has returned with a vengeance.

So now comes Perle, deep in the Financial District, on the same row of Colonial-era townhouses as Fraunces Tavern. It sports one of the glitziest websites we’ve seen in a while and a bi-level renovation that cannot have come cheap. The upstairs looks like a Paris transplant, while the bustling wine bar and “boudoir” (a private party room) downstairs have a more “clubby” vibe.

  

There’s nothing original on the menu, but everything we tasted was executed flawlessly, from Poulpes [octopus] Provençale ($11; above left) to a Terrine de Canard ($11; above center and right).

 

Likewise a humble but thoroughly addictive Bœef Bourguignon ($19; above left) and a tender Magret de Canard ($23; above right).

Service was just fine for this type of restaurant. Butter was too cold, but everything else was as it should be. A vegetable side dish went forgotten. We were not charged, but given the large portion sizes it was just as well. An after-dinner drink was comped.

At first, I feared the downstairs wine bar was doing better business than the dining room, but our reservation was early. By the time we left (around 8:20 p.m.) the dining room was about 2/3rds full. A place like this will need word-of-mouth, because it isn’t quite important enough to be a dining destination, and most of the critics are likely to ignore it—not that they should, but it’s the cold reality.

If you like French classics, you’ll probably love Perle.

Perle (62 Pearl Street near Broad Street, Financial District)

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

Harry's Steak

I’ve written about Harry’s Steak twice now (here; here), and normally wouldn’t have thought there was any more worth saying about the place.

But the other night they were offering a special so unusual that I had to blog about it: a bone-in filet mignon. Filet is virtually always served off-the-bone, so I was sufficiently curious that I ordered it. Steaks cooked on the bone are usually more flavorful, and that certainly seemed true here. The combination wet–dry aging process left it with a cool mineral flavor. It was cooked with a nice char, to the requested medium-rare temperature.

Harry’s offers all of the usual steakhouse sides, but I ordered the Peas & Bacon ($8.50), which is a bit more offbeat. It was the kind of dish that could make me into a pea-lover (not an easy task), though I didn’t taste much of the bacon.

When the bill arrived, I was surprised to learn that the filet was $55. The other steaks at Harry’s, including their off-the-bone filet, are around the $40 mark (the going rate in Manhattan), and I had no reason to expect the filet would be any different. Most restaurants don’t recite the price of the specials unless you ask. But I do think they have an obligation to say something if one of the specials is significantly more expensive than the rest of their menu.

In multiple visits to Harry’s, I’ve never found it crowded. Servers are friendly and competent, but as noted here and on past occasions, they have a tendency to up-sell. However, for the pure steak lover, Harry’s gives the better places in town a run for their money.

Harry’s Steak (97 Pearl Street at Hanover Square, Financial District)

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

Gold St.

Note: Gold St. closed on April 1, 2009. It re-opened as Harry’s Italian.

*

Has a diner ever had so much attention? Practically every newspaper, magazine, or blog in town that chronicles restaurant openings mentioned Gold St., the latest brainchild of Harry Poulakakos, who owns Harry’s Steak, Harry’s Café, and various other Lower Manhattan restaurants.

To be fair, Gold St. isn’t quite a diner. It has an executive chef (Patrick Vacciariello from the Smith & Wollensky chain), a chef de cuisine (Tony Landeros), and a sushi bar. It serves a few items not found at many diners, like Kobe Beef Sliders and Fries with brie fondue, to say nothing of the sushi. But in other ways, it’s very much a diner, with the predictable burgers and meat loaf, on a menu long enough to include far more than any kitchen can execute well.

Gold St. is also the Financial District’s first 24-hour restaurant, located at the epicenter of a neighborhood now dominated by rental and condo conversions. It might not be the East Village, but the area has as much need of 24×7 food as any other, and now we have it.

If you come to Gold St. expecting fine dining (as NYCnosh did), you’ll be disappointed. If you come looking for a “diner plus…,” you’ll probably conclude (as Bloomberg did) that Gold St. is “just about right.”

Slow Roast Pork ($15), cooked on a rotisserie all day, had a nice pink barbecue texture. Peas and carrots were expertly done. There was nothing special about the fries, and the tomato salsa garnish seemed unnecessary. I had nothing else, aside from two diet cokes ($3.25 each, no refills) and a coffee ($2).

I’m not going to recite the various menu categories, but the cheapest dinner item is a hamburger ($8), while the most expensive non-sushi choice is grilled shrimp ($22). The very long sushi menu has the usual suspects, and some creative ones, like an Angry Spider roll ($11.50) and a Yellow Tail Tasting ($12.50). Sushi combo platters run all the way up to $52. The breakfast and dessert menus have all of the expected items, and the back page of the menu lists a number of fruit smoothies. There is also a full bar and a modest wine list.

There’s nothing original about the vaguely retro 1950s décor, but the seats and banquettes are quite comfortable, and the waitresses wear short, short skirts. Service was attentive, although the restaurant wasn’t very busy when I visited. I saw Harry Poulakakos himself nervously pacing around, which was unexpected on a Sunday evening.

Be it ever so humble, I’m glad Gold St. has arrived. Most importantly, it means the Financial District as a residential neighborhood has arrived. Unfortunately, I’m moving way uptown this summer, so I won’t be around long to appreciate it.

Gold St. (2 Gold Street at Maiden Lane, Financial District)

Nebraska Steakhouse

October 20, 2006: To satisfy my weekly steakhouse craving, I returned yesterday to Nebraska Steakhouse, mainly because I knew I could eat at the bar and watch the Mets game. Since my original report, I’ve been there a couple of times. All the steaks are competently prepared, but still nothing beats “The Steak,” 32 ounces of ribeye heaven.

The tables, which never seem to be full, are served by a waitstaff right out of central casting. But nowadays I usually dine at the bar, which is staffed exclusively by buxom barmaids in low-cut blouses, all of whom are from Romania. The most striking of the bunch is dressed like an advertisement for breast implants, and it turns out she owns the place. She started as a bartender, and bought the restaurant a year and a half ago. Her husband is a specialist at the stock exchange, so I have a pretty good guess where the money came from.

Last night’s crowd was in a festive mood. I stayed long past dinner and drank with a couple from Australia. They ordered the chili, which is prepared with chunks of filet mignon and comes with sour cream, cheese, and chives on the side — an impressive production that looks to be well worth ordering on a future visit.

The restaurant is still open only on weekdays, although the owner told me she plans to start a Saturday service in November. With Lower Manhattan enjoying a mini-renaissance, her exuberance is understandable. But Nebraska Beef is well off the beaten path, and unless it starts advertising (it doesn’t even have a website), it’s hard to see how the weekend traffic will find it.

Maybe I’ll drop by in a couple of months for an order of the chili, and see how it’s going.

April 18, 2007: Rather than post a new review, I’m just updating my last report. I did indeed return a month or two later for the chilli (described above), which was as good as it sounds. And last night, I paid a return visit for another helping of The Steak. The marbling this time was more uneven than I remembered it, although it is still one of the largest ribeyes in town. They seem to have hired yet another barmaid with large breast implants.

I’m changing my rating from 1½ stars to one star, not because I am any less enthusiastic, but simply because the earlier rating was out of whack. I will remind readers that one star means “good,” and is by no means a knock against the restaurant.

Nebraska Steakhouse (15 Stone Street between Broad and Whitehall Streets, Financial District)

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

Smörgås Chef

My friend spent a year in Sweden during high school, and she’s gets nostalgic for Swedish food. The options in Manhattan are limited. We’ve been to the fancy and expensive Aquavit once, and to the more informal Aquavit Cafe twice. I hadn’t realized there was anything else like it, until the other day I stumbled upon Smörgås Chef in the West Village.

It turns out there are three Smörgås Chefs, including one on Stone Street in the Financial District, just a ten minute walk from home. We paid a visit on Friday night. Though not full, there was a decent crowd—mostly neighborhood residents, we would guess. It’s a small, charming space. Our server informed us that the chef-owner, Morten Sohlberg, designed the tables as well as the bottle lamps hanging in the window. (See photo.)

The West Village location is larger, and has more of Mr. Sohlberg’s handiwork, but the quiet informality of the Stone Street space appealed to us. The street itself is a time warp; somehow, developers missed it when all the skyscrapers were being built in the late 20th century. For years, Stone Street was an eyesore and was used only as a parking lot, before preservationists had it declared a landmark in 1996. Closed off to traffic, it is now a home to restaurants and clubs. Most of the construction dates to 1836, and no building on the street is older than 1929.

 

We started with two quintessential Swedish dishes. I had the Gravlaks (smoked salmon) with mustard sauce ($10), which was just about perfect. My friend said she was pleased with the Herring Sampler ($8).

 

Alas, we didn’t have equally good luck with the main courses. My Rack of Lamb ($28) was dry and over-cooked. My friend was happier with the Swedish Meatballs ($18) — not as good as Aquavit’s, but perfectly respectable.

Though not as polished or elegant as the Aquavit Cafe, Smörgås Chef is priced a dollar or two lower per item. It’s in the neighborhood, and it’s nice to know we can drop by anytime. Perhaps that over-cooked lamb was an anomaly. I’m sure we’ll be back.

Smörgås Chef (53 Stone St between Hanover Sq & Coenties Alley, Financial District)

Food: ★
Service: ★
Ambiance: ★½
Overall: ★

P. J. Clarke's on the Hudson

I tried P. J Clarke’s on the Hudson with my 11-year-old son about a week ago. It is basically a slightly more upscale version of Houlihan’s. Spectacular views of New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty are about all that distinguishes it from a mass of similar restaurants around town.

Frank Bruni wasted a reviewing slot here, awarding zero stars:

It’s better than snobs would like to think and worse than contrarians would hasten to claim, which may be another way of saying that it’s usually serviceable and sometimes respectable.

At least he provided a history of the world-famous urinals.

For the record, a Farmer’s Omelet ($10.80) for me and a Buffalo Chicken sandwich ($12.20) for my son were unobjectionable. Service was pretty much invisible until it was time for the check, and suddenly our server became unnaturally chummy.

The original P. J. Clarke’s has been on the Upper East Side for something like 12o years. Perhaps it has some residual charm that this mass-produced version lacks.

P. J. Clarke’s on the Hudson (Four World Financial Center, Battery Park City)

Food: Acceptable
Service: Mediocre
Ambiance: Just like Houlihan’s
Overall: Acceptable

Gigino at Wagner Park

I live quite close by Gigino at Wagner Park, and have always been aware of it. But I was never motivated to go there, perhaps because I assumed there would be nothing special about the food. A friend suggested lunch there today, and I was more than happy for an excuse to check it out.

There are indeed plenty of Italian restaurants in the city that are at least as good as Gigino. But Gigino turns out quite respectable dishes, such as fried polenta on a bed of risotto and chopped sausage, or hearty seafood stew, or a dessert of bread pudding. All of these are available on the three-course prix fixe ($25.99 at lunch, $29.99 at dinner).

The unobstructed view of the Statue of Liberty and New York Harbor is stunning. Although it is almost mid-October, the weather was nice enough to eat outside. The indoor tables face wide picture windows, so the scenery should be worth looking at even after the weather turns.

We were happy with the efficient service.

Gigino at Wagner Park (20 Battery Place at West Street, Financial District)

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