Sam Bahri’s Steakhouse

Note: Sam Bahri’s steakhouse closed in February 2012. It never caught on. The space is now El Toro Blanco.

*

Sam Bahri’s Steakhouse opened two months ago on a lightly-trafficked stretch of lower Sixth Avenue that hasn’t been kind to restaurants. Next door, 10 Downing has been struggling for years to attract a following.

Naming a restaurant after the owner can be an earnest way of introducing oneself to the community, or it may signal a vanity project. On a recent weeknight, the staff were gracious and welcoming, but I was their only customer at around 6:30 p.m. I saw no signs of Mr. Bahri.

The restaurant claims to be serving “classic American dishes with a subtle French flair.” Only two items on the menu could claim to be plausibly French: Foie Gras au Torchon and Coquilles St. Jacques, both appetizers. That is hardly enough to establish Gallic bona fides, on a menu that is otherwise generically American.

Despite the steakhouse hook, there are about a dozen non-steak entrées, ranging from $25–45: things like chicken, salmon, duck breast, sesame crusted tuna, and beef short ribs. As none of these are at all original, the only claim the restaurant could hope to make is preparing them better than other establishments in its neighborhood and price range.

Perhaps it does. So far, there are handful “reviews” on sites like Yelp, OpenTable, and Menupages, almost all four or five stars out of five. That may be suspicious, or maybe Sam Bahri’s is that good.

My only evidence is the Cowboy Ribeye, which might be the best $40 dry-aged prime steak in town. It’s thick, earthy, and has a firm crust.

You’ll note I didn’t say best, only best for $40. This one’s pretty good, but others are better. You’ll also pay $5, $10, or even $20 more.

I’ll admit curiosity about the double-cut duck breast bacon, but the menu said it’s for two, and even at $12 I didn’t want to put it to waste. So that’ll be for another day, assuming Sam Bahri’s Steakhouse sticks around.

It’s a pretty, pleasant place, but the Village has plenty of those, and it’s not as if there aren’t other steakhouses clamoring for attention.

Sam Bahri’s Steakhouse (257 Sixth Ave. between Bleecker & Houston, West Village)

Hotel Griffou

Note: This is a review under chef David Santos, who left the restaurant in August 2011. After chef shuffles too numerous to mention, the restaurant closed in August 2012.

*

If only the owners of Hotel Griffou had had the good sense to hire David Santos as chef from the get-go. Instead, they hired a journeyman best not named, who got zero-star reviews from both the Times and New York.

Those owners, veterans of sceney joints like Freemans, the Waverly Inn, and La Esquina, may have thought the scene would follow them there, never mind the food. It didn’t, and the restaurant got a re-boot.

Enter Santos, who was last seen marrying his Portuguese heritage to French technique at 5 & Diamond, where his cuisine was too challenging for the neighborhood. It fits right in at Hotel Griffou. The crowds, if not at capacity, are slowly catching on.

Too bad it’s almost impossible to get the critics to re-visit. They’d have to rename the restaurant for that. But if the critics ever do return, they’ll find an excellent menu completely changed from the one that got no stars in 2009.

Hotel Griffou isn’t a hotel at all. It’s named for a boarding house that occupied the site in the 1870s. It has had many other names since then, most recently Marylou’s. The place is laid out as a series of connected rooms, each decorated in a different theme: library, salon, bat cave (just kidding). They’re a bit kitschy, but cute all the same. There’s not another space quite like it.

The food is on the expensive side, with appetizers $11–18, entrées $24–45, or an $18 burger. Long-term success depends on attracting and retaining a clientele that recognizes the technique and craftsmanship in Santos’s dishes. This isn’t just a neighborhood canteen.

My friend Kelly had the fresh oysters off the specials list (above left), but I had to try the Tuna Bolognese ($14; above right), a stunning dish the food boards are in love with. A classic tagliatelle with Italian tomato sauce, and the added delight of shredded, high-grade tuna, it deserves all the accolades it can get.

The kitchen sent out an extra mid-course, a luscious Organic Poached Duck Egg with gnocchi and arugula pesto (normally $11; above left); and meaty, Seared Sea Scallops with roasted pineapple, jalapeño, and piquillo tempura (normally $16; above right).

Roast Suckling Pig ($30; above left) was a tender, hearty entrée, with its accompaniments of butternut squash, sunchokes, hazelnuts, and brandied plums. So-called Peking Style Duck ($32; above right) was mildly disappointing, as the presence of a token pancake wasn’t enough to remind me of that iconic dish. The duck itself was beautifully done, and gained nothing from the comparison to a preparation it doesn’t really resemble.

Of the desserts we tried (all $10), two very good ones balanced one dud. We enjoyed the Coconut Pineapple Chiboust with Spiced Rum Ice Cream (above left), and an extra one the kitchen sent out, the Chocolate Hazelnut Brioche Pudding with Hazelnut Anglaise and Tahitian vanilla Bean Ice Cream (above center). But a Poppyseed Soufflé (above right) was ruined by an inedible, sickly-sweet Limoncello Sorbet, and it was not a particularly good soufflé either.

We were known to the house, and received very good service, but I didn’t notice any difference at the other tables. The crowded bar was a completely different story. There, we struggled to get the bartender’s attention, and the $15 cocktails were just average.

If your perception of Hotel Griffou is colored by the early reviews of a chef no longer there, you should put them out of your mind. David Santos is now serving destination food, well worth the trouble of going out of your way to visit.

Hotel Griffou (21 W. 9th Street between Fifth & Sixth Avenues, Greenwich Village)

Lotus of Siam

Note: Lotus of Siam closed in May 2012. As of 2014, the space is occupied by the French restaurant Claudette.

*

Lotus of Siam, the legendary Las Vegas Thai standout, has opened in Greenwich Village, in the former Cru space. Gourmet critic Jonathan Gold called the original LoS “the single best Thai restaurant in North America.” I’m always skeptical of best — really, how could you know? — but the place has racked up accolades by the score.

Their decision to take the Cru space came quite suddenly. Eater.com posted the first rumors on October 21, and by October 27 eGullet’s Fat Guy was there for a media preview meal. In a city where most restaurants are announced months before they open, and often much longer, this was exceptionally speedy.

It’s practically a pop-up restaurant. Most of the Cru décor remains, although there are no longer any tablecloths, and it looks like the chairs have been replaced. I am pretty sure the flatware and serving pices are Cru’s (I remember them distinctly). Cru’s collection of high-end wine decanters lounges on a table-top, unused. The brief wine list consists of a few sheets of plain white paper, stuffed into laminated plastic sleeves.

New York is historically unkind to imported restaurants, especially when the chef does not move here permanently. Saipan Chutima, the chef and owner of the original (which will continue to be her home base), said that it took three years to train her Vegas staff. With most of the reviews likely to appear within two months, she will not have that luxury.

The à la carte menu of about fifty dishes debuted late last week. We tried four items, none of any great distinction. Four silver dollar-sized fish cakes were a bit lumpy. Fried rice with shrimp and pineapple tasted like take-out you could get anywhere. It was marked on the menu with an asterisk (spicy), but it had no heat at all. Had it not been for little cubes of pineapple, it wouldn’t have had much flavor, either.

Braised short rib (above left), in a mild coconut sauce, was the more enjoyable of the two entrées. Crispy duck (above right) was dull and dry.

Service — although I’m sure they mean well — was comically inept. I tried to get a glass of wine, but the server interrupted me: “Let me send over the sommelier.” Fair enough, but no sommelier came. We drank water all evening, and no one noticed.

I ordered food for both of us, from which a wise server might have inferred that we intended to share. The first two dishes arrived without sharing plates. To get them, it took about five minutes, and requests to two different runners, while we looked longingly at our food, which was getting cold. When the entrées were set down, the same drama was repeated.

It would be piling on to complain about the silverware, but I don’t think fish knives were meant to be used as the serving spoons for fried rice. I’ll leave it at that.

The dessert menu consists of just one item, which the server recited. (We were full, and didn’t order it.) “We’re still in a soft opening right now,” he said. Soft or not, they’re charging full price, but in respect of their alleged status I’ll withhold judgment. But I think they have their work cut out for them.

Lotus of Siam (24 Fifth Avenue at E. 10th Street, Greenwich Village)

Rabbit in the Moon

Note: Rabbit in the Moon was sold in March 2011, and is now called The State Room.

*

Rabbit in the Moon is the latest gastropub that hopes to fetishize British food, traditionally the least admired European cuisine.

Like most British pubs, the name of the place is superficially meaningless. It’s supposedly dervied from “an old Chinese fable in which only those who are truly in love can see a rabbit in the moon.”

If we’ve got Rusty Knots and Spotted Pigs, then why not a Rabbit in the Moon?

The chef, Brian Bieler, has worked all over town, at places like Compass, Cafe Luxembourg, Bouley Upstairs, and The Mott. The owners come from STK and the Pink Elephant. They’re not exactly culinary royalty.

Despite that, they are apparently trying to cultivate airs of faux exclusivity. The townhouse it occupies is bedecked in fake ivy, naturally with no sign that would give away any useful information, like the name.

The bi-level space is cozy like an English country inn, with dark wood tables, plush easy chairs, a fireplace, and bars on two levels.

The owners have adopted a much-maligned “no shorts” rule, an odd marketing strategy for 90-degree days in Greenwich Village. A server confirmed the policy’s existence, but couldn’t explain why. The restaurant is not formal in any sense. Jeans and t-shirts are welcome; just not shorts.

Business was brisk, but not full, on a Friday evening. Perhaps the owners should drop their pretended exclusivity, and concentrate on attracting customers.

Ironically, service was over-the-top friendly—practically Danny Meyer-esque. It was if they were eager to demonstrate that, no matter what you read on Eater.com, We Are Nice People Here.

The staff gave me my choice of table; I picked a quiet two-top in a secluded nook at the front of the restaurant, with a window looking out on West 8th Street. Sit here if you can.

The menu is mostly Continental bistro classics, and not terribly expensive, for what you get. Appetizers are $8–18, entrées $17–30. Sides are $7, but unnecessary, as every entrée comes with a vegetable.

 

I asked the server for recommendations, and he suggested mostly the less expensive items. So I started with the Smoked Spanish Mackerel & Trout Salad ($12; above left). A crispy deep-fried hen-egg was on top: puncture it, and you’ve got instant salad dressing.

The name of the entrée, Fish & Chips ($17; above right), might well have come in quotes, as the “fish” consisted of tempura cod, baby squid, shrimp & octopus, with house-made tartar sauce and excellent fries.

There’s nothing revelatory here, or anything close to that, but it’s perfectly enjoyable pub food. If the owners would stop worrying about people in shorts, they just might build a following.

Rabbit in the Moon (47 W. 8th St. between 5th & 6th Avenues, Greenwich Village)

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

Annisa

Chef Anita Lo didn’t have the best of luck in 2009. Annisa, her flagship Greenwich Village restaurant, closed after an electrical fire. An ill-considered venture into Asian barbecue, Bar Q, quickly failed.

Lo’s national profile gained luster with an appearance on Top Chef: Masters, in which she reached the champions round. But anyone who was impressed with her food would have had no restaurant in which to find it.

Annisa re-opened last month, after nine months of re-building. She and her partner, Jennifer Scism, say that it was like having a baby. The space has been brightened up a bit, with help from a fung shui consultant. Food is now served at the small bar, which (as before) is separated by a half-wall from the dining room.

In the Times, William Grimes awarded two stars to the original incarnation of Annisa. I gave three stars in 2005, though I was being more generous back then, and I always had a nagging feeling I’d overrated it. My doubts were confirmed with a re-visit on Saturday night.

Don’t get me wrong: Annisa is a very enjoyable restaurant. Chef Lo’s wizardry with French technique and Asian accents produces food that is often compelling. And it comes in one of the city’s most romantic rooms, on one of its most romantic blocks.

There are also a few misses. The newly remodeled room is a bit cramped, and the air conditioning is under-powered: we found it sweltering, and the server acknowledged that we are not the first customers to notice. It will only get worse as the summer goes on.

I puzzled over the wine list, which seemed shorter than it ought to be, and had no particular focus that I could discern. Finally, Ms. Scism explained it: Annisa (which means “women” in Arabic) only serves wines made by women, or from wineries owned by women. Ultimately, we were pleased with the wine we chose—the marvellously funky La Stoppa “Ageno” (listed with the wrong year)—but it feels like a 1970s conceit to limit oneself to suppliers with two X chromasomes.

The menu is on the expensive side, especially the entrées, almost all of which are north of $30. Tasting menus are $75 (five courses) or $95 (seven). These prices are not unreasonable for the quality of the ingredients and the care taken in preparing them.

Photos weren’t an option, in low light with the tables on either side of us occupied. I’ll describe the food as best I can.

The amuse was a duck rillette with mustard seed, pickled barbary, and chives, that tasted like it had been in the refrigerator a while, and did not have much flavor. Bread rolls were cold and a bit chewy, though the butter was soft, just as I like it.

To start, Steak Tartare with Korean Chili, Yamaimo and Asian Pear ($16) was a classic Anita Lo dish. There wasn’t quite enough chili sauce, but even without it, the flavors were strong and vivid.

Tuna: Hot and Cold ($17) was a dud, as the “hot” side of the plate was a a square of over-cooked and unseasoned fish. We later saw the same dish at another table, and it appeared the tuna had a sauce or garnish that ours had lacked. The “cold” side of the tuna was a tartare—not bad, but not as special as the steak.

The entrées were more successful. Butter Poached Lobster ($37) was as good a preparation as you’ll find outside of a seafood restaurant. It came with a sweet pea flan so good that it deserves promotion to an appetizer in its own right.

Fluke ($31) was beautifully prepared, tender and full of flavor, in a beet sauce so rich it could have been blueberry. A fluke tartare was just fine, but didn’t quite stand up to that, even with caviar.

We could have been happy with any of the desserts (Anita Lo is the pastry chef, as well), but we settled on the Pecan and Salted Butterscotch Beignets with Bourbon Milk Ice ($9), which were as wonderful as they sound.

Annisa may be a hair short of the three stars the chef aspires to, but it is a compelling restaurant, and a lovely place for a romantic meal.

Annisa (13 Barrow St. between Seventh Av. S. & W. 4th St., Greenwich Village)

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

Bar Henry Bistro

Note: Bar Henry Bistro closed in 2012. It became an Austin, Texes-themed place called ZirZamin.

*

Every trend has to begin with one brave establishment trying something for the first time, and having it catch on.

Have you ever visited a place and said, I hope everyone starts doing this? That’s what we said about the wine list at Bar Henry Bistro, which opened in November on one of the few remaining desolate patches of Houston Street.

About that wine list: it’s in two sections: Market and Reserve. On the Market section are 110 bottles, skewing mostly European. For any of these, you can buy half the bottle at exactly half the price. There is a respectable selection of half-bottles, and you can still buy half of those (basically one glass) at exactly half the bottle price.

The half you don’t drink is taken out to the bar, and if no one wants the half-bottle, it’s sold by the glass. Management is betting that there won’t be much waste, and so far it seems to be working. I ordered a glass of 1991 Domaine aux Moines Savennières. Few restaurants would carry that wine by the glass, and at $78 I probably wouldn’t have ordered the full bottle. But it was available to try, because someone had ordered half of it the night before.

There is also a more expensive reserve list (bottle prices mostly in three figures), and these aren’t available by the half-bottle, but as that Domaine aux Moines demonstrates, those who want to explore the market list will find plenty to tempt them. I followed it up with a terrific $7 glass of sherry. (Full disclosure: a second glass of the Domaine and another half-bottle at dinner were comped.)

During the winter, the bar is also serving an obscure cocktail called the Tom and Jerry ($14), recently profiled in the Times, made with eggs, brandy, whisky, warm milk, cinammon, and nutmeg. It’s great for a cold night. The eggs need to be prepped in advance, and even then it’s time-consuming, so they’ll only make a fixed number of them per evening—generally 10 on a weekday, 15 on the weekends. At the beginning of the shift, the numbers from 1 to 10 (or whatever total) are written on the mirror and crossed out as they’re ordered. Once the last one is made, that’s it for the night.

The menu is a bit simplistic, with just five entrées ($16–29), and one of those is a burger. There are about a dozen appetizers and bar snacks—nothing over $14. Indeed, the menu seems to be designed for bar grazers. We enjoyed everything we tried; nevertheless, we had a sense that the food wasn’t as ambitious as the wine list.

At the bar, I snacked on Roasted Almonds ($3) and Marinated Olives($3). A Ceviche special ($9) and Short Rib Tacos ($12; below left) were unmemorable.

We both had the Manhattan Steak ($29; above right), an aged New York strip from Pat LaFreida, the gold standard in beef these days. It was as good as I’ve had outside of a steakhouse, with a recognizable dry-aged tang and a deep exterior char. French fries ($6) were perfect.

We have no idea if the wine program here will catch on, but it strikes us as a fairly low risk for the owners. Most restaurants these days charge out wine bottles at triple the retail price, and of course they don’t pay retail, so they aren’t losing money even if they’re occasionally left with a half-bottle that doesn’t sell. But I don’t get the sense that that’s happening very often, and meanwhile they’re pulling in customers who probably wouldn’t go out of their way for the bistro menu alone.

The dining room is done up in white tablecloths and red velvet chairs supposedly rescued from the Plaza Hotel. Reservations aren’t taken, but we had no trouble getting seated at 7:00 p.m. on a Friday evening. The bar fills up quickly, though. Don’t forget to bring a sweater: the restaurant is in the cellar of an old townhouse, and it gets cold down there.

Bar Henry Bistro (90 W. Houston St. between Thomson St. & LaGuardia Pl., Greenwich Village)

Food: *
Wine: **
Service: *½
Overall: *½

Rhong-Tiam

Note: Rhong-Tiam moved to 87 Second Avenue, in the former Kurve location, after the space reviewed here was shut down by the Department of Health.

*

The annual Michelin ratings are always good for a surprise or two. For the most part, I’ve been a supporter, even if I disagreed with some of the choices. What’s the point of ratings that just echo what everyone else has already said? The status quo can survive some shaking-up. Most of the Michelin ratings are defensible; many are more accurate than those the Times critics issue, and then fail to keep up-to-date.

But Rhong-Tiam, awarded a star for the first time in the 2010 Michelin ratings, isn’t just a surprising choice. It is utterly baffling. It’s the first Michelin-starred restaurant I’ve visited, where I could not imagine where the rating came from.

Let us be clear: Rhong-Tiam, which opened in March 2008, is a respectable addition to the Greenwich Village dining scene. Drop by if you’re in the neighborhood; you’ll probably like the place, as we did. But it is not destination cuisine, and it isn’t the best Thai food in New York. The tire men haven’t honored any other Thai restaurants, and they should not have honored Rhong-Tiam.

With that out of the way, understand that the food at Rhong-Tiam is good, and we liked most of what we we ordered.

 

Duck buns ($7; above left), made with duck confit and hoi-sin sauce, had a nice, bright flavor. Thai Sausages ($6; above right) would have been fine, if they hadn’t been dried out from over-cooking.

 

Moo-Na-Rok, or Pork on Fire ($13; above left), is the dish the Times loved. The intense heat chili heat catches up with you slowly. By the time you’re finished, your gums are burning, though I am not sure you can detect the pork by that point. Duck Chu Chee ($14; above right) with house-made curry gravy was a more balanced dish: plenty of heat there too, but you could actually taste the duck.

The drinks menu is non-alcoholic, and at first I assumed there was no liquor license. When I asked, the server mentioned two beers and four wines, along the lines of, “Cabernet, Malbec, umm,…hmm, Merlot, and I think Pinot Noir.” That didn’t give us much confidence, so we had a couple of Thai beers at $6 each.

Rhong-Tiam’s reservation system is a bit strange. You fill out a form on their website and receive an email a few minutes later. But the email is not a confirmation, just a promise that they’ll call you later, which they never did. So I called them, though it wouldn’t have mattered. On a Saturday evening, the restaurant was only about half full. Most of the patrons seemed to be the right age to be NYU students. The décor isn’t much more memorable than a dorm room, but the space is quiet and comfortable.

Rhong-Tiam offers an excellent value: our meal was just $64 before tax and tip. You are much better off ignoring its undeserved Michelin rating and appreciating Rhong-Tiam for what it is.

Rhong-Tiam (541 LaGuardia Place between Bleecker & W. 3rd Streets, Greenwich Village)

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

The Bone-In Strip at Minetta Tavern

When Frank Bruni pronounced Minetta Tavern “the best steakhouse in the city” and awarded an improbable three stars, our eyes rolled.

“There he goes again,” we thought, conjuring up the image of countless restaurants over-rated during his tenure.

But we’ll give Bruni credit for one thing: the man likes his steak, and he likes it the same way we do: dry-aged prime, with a crunchy charred crust. So if Bruni thought Minetta was the city’s best, we figured it certainly wouldn’t be bad. We had to try it.

There are really only two options, a bone-in New York strip and a côte de boeuf for two. I’m leaving aside the Tavern Steak ($21), which looked pretty good when another diner had it, but it’s neither aged nor prime. And I’m also ignoring the filet mignon, which can never be a serious test. And since I was alone, that côte de boeuf wasn’t an option either.

The strip it was. And, oh my! was it good: more marbled than the typical strip, cooked on the bone to give it more flavor, and including a “tail” of half meat, half fat that most restaurants trim off. Equally impressive, it was just $36.

I cannot say for sure that it was better than the Steak for One at Wolfgang’s, which was $0.50 more expensive the last time I had it. But it was certainly as good, and certainly more remarkable for being served on the bone, which few restaurants do.

A side of leafy spinach ($8) was commendably done, but not memorable the way the steak was.

Once again, I sat at the bar, which had just one stool available at 5:30 p.m. Service was a bit more distracted than last time, when I had the burger. This place is bursting at the seams. When I left, at around 6:45, there was a hostess standing outdoors with names on a clipboard. I wouldn’t call her a bouncer—actually, she was quite friendly—but I gather her job was to turn away walk-ins.

We’ll go ahead and give the steak 3 stars, since we haven’t had better, but you’ll have to put up with some hassles if you want to try it.

Minetta Tavern (113 MacDougal Street between Bleecker & W. 3rd Streets, Greenwich Village)

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

The House-Made Hot Dog at Elettaria

Note: Elettaria closed in August 2009, after the owners could not negotiate a lease extension.

News of a Hot Dog, of all things, sent me back to Elettaria last week. According to the Feedbag, chef Akthar Nawab spent months perfecting it.

Actually, there are two hot dogs on Elettaria’s bar menu, either $2.50 or $4.50. The latter, which we ordered, resembles a hefty bratwurst sausage—house made, of course.

We enjoyed the robust, spicy flavor of the hot dog and the warm, toasted bun, but they weren’t made for each other. The bun needed to be about twice the size to wrap its way around the sausage. We did our best, but this beast would have been better with a knife and fork.

It’s a great hot dog, though, and a bargain at $4.50. If Nawab can just find the right bun, it would be perfect.

The kitchen comped a crab cake (right), which wasn’t anywhere near as memorable as the bratwurst. An order of meatballs ($5), served on a skewer, had a mild curry flavor, but they weren’t tender enough.

These items are served only at the bar, along with an alluring selection of cocktails. I’ve been meaning to go back for the Zombie, allegedly so potent that they won’t serve you more than one. I was headed for a show, so I gave that one a pass.

Elettaria (33 W. 8th Street at MacDougal Street, Greenwich Village)

The Minetta Burger

Note: Click here for a review of the steak at Minetta Tavern.

I don’t quite get the breathless excitement over Keith McNally’s latest restaurant, the reborn Minetta Tavern. Then again, I have never understood the excitement for Keith McNally’s other restaurants—most of them formulaic French brasseries. He’s got a good grasp on the format, but does this justify the long lines and impossible-to-get reservations?

Even Bloomberg’s Ryan Sutton had to admit defeat, conceding he hired a concierge service to get him into Minetta at a decent hour, after multiple failed attempts to get in on his own. Restaurant Girl didn’t let on how she got in, but she does not dine anonymously, which perhaps is all we need to know.

Last night, I decided to take a flyer on the bar at Minetta Tavern, figuring it was early enough (5:45 p.m.) that I would get a seat.  Sure enough, there was exactly one stool free when I arrived. The staff were friendly and accommodating—well beyond my expectations. I was expecting “attitude” at the host stand, but there was none of it.

Minetta Tavern shares its chefs with Balthazar, the McNally establishment to which it is most similar. The Minetta menu is slightly less expensive, and has slightly fewer offerings than Balthazar does. Most notably, it lacks Balth’s humungous plateaux de fruits de mer ($65 & $110 respectively), and it offers burgers, which Balth does not.

There are two burgers at Minetta Tavern, the Minetta Burger ($16) and the La Freida Black Label Burger ($26). Both Restaurant Girl and Bloomberg’s Sutton thought the lower-priced option was better. We tried the purported Black Label product at City Burger a few months ago, and weren’t impressed. Later on, La Freida explained that City Burger wasn’t getting the real Black Label blend, which was available only at Minetta. We weren’t going to fall for that trick again. It was the Minetta Burger for us.

And I fine burger it was: thick, juicy, and flavorful. Oh, and they nailed the fries, too. It’s not cheap, but this is a burger I could eat every week. I asked the kitchen to hold the caramelized onions that normally come with it. When the beef is this good, who needs onions?

There’s much more to Minetta Tavern, which I’ll be back to sample another day. Yesterday belonged to the burger.

Minetta Tavern (113 MacDougal Street between Bleecker & W. 3rd Streets, Greenwich Village)