Belated Review Recap: Strip House

Yesterday, Sam Sifton dropped the expected two-spot on Strip House:

The service is professional and attentive, with none of the gruff theatricality that attends tables at Sparks or Smith & Wollensky. The wine list is comprehensive and interesting, with reds to surprise palates and draw the attention of expense-account auditors alike.

And the food is generally marvelous, the steak often superb. Strip House belongs to Peter and Penny Glazier, the restaurant tycoons who own Michael Jordan’s in Grand Central Terminal, as well as mimeographed Strip Houses in Las Vegas and Houston, in Florida and New Jersey. The Glaziers buy a lot of meat. They use the leverage to secure excellent product.

John Schenk, the executive chef at Strip House since 2006, makes sure of its use. He has his line cooks grill the steaks tight and well, with a thick crust of salt and pepper that highlights the deep flavor of the beef.

We agree with the rating, but we are not quite sure why Sifton is spending so much of his time at restaurants that did not exactly cry out for re-reviews. There is still a long list of Bruni errors that require fixing.

This was the easiest two-star bet we ever took. We and Eater both win $2 on our hypothetical one-dollar bets.

	Eater		NYJ
Bankroll	$6.00		$18.00
Gain/Loss	+2.00		+2.00
Total	$8.00		$20.00
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Won–Lost	8–9 (47.1%)		10–7 (58.8%)

Life-to-date, New York Journal is 80–34 (70%).

Review Preview: Strip House

Tomorrow, Sam Sifton reviews the Greenwich Village steak parlor, Strip House. The Eater oddsmakers have set the action as follows: Goose Egg: 200–1; One Star: 3–1; Two Stars: 2–1; Three Stars: 75–1; Four Stars 2,000–1.

Among the many restaurants overdue for a fresh look, we aren’t sure why Sifty chose Strip House. We love the place, and gave it two stars four years ago. In the Times, William Grimes gave it one star in 2000. We think he missed the mark (or Strip House got much better), but Frank Bruni’s mistakes are far more urgently in need of correction.

When there is a re-review with no intervening event (such as a move, a chef change, or a remodeling—none of which has happened at Strip House), the rating almost never remains the same. There is no point in picking Strip House out of nowhere, only to deliver the same message as Grimes did.

As Eater noted, Sifton dropped a goose egg last week on Choptank, and it surely won’t happen two weeks in a row, besides which it would be the wrong result, and Strip House isn’t important enough to demote.

That leaves a promition to two stars as the only sensible bet.

Strip House

Strip House is the witty name of a steakhouse in the Village. It faintly suggests a house of ill repute, and it comes dressed for the part with its ruby-red decor. It also suggests a cut of meat, which is Strip House’s real point.

The owners, Glazier Group, run a chain of restaurants, including two other Strip Houses (New Jersey, Houston) and two other steakhouses in New York (Monkey Bar & Michael Jordan’s). Monkey Bar is an enjoyable place, attractively priced for a steakhouse. I’ve never been to Michael Jordan’s (inside Grand Central Terminal), but several reviews have suggested that it’s surprisingly good for a restaurant named for a celebrity and located in a train station.

Strip House is the group’s flagship. I paid a visit last night on the advice of blogger Augieland, who pronounced their bone-in ribeye ($42) his “favorite steak in Manhattan.” I’d been there once before and ordered the NY Strip, which was okay without being memorable. But Augieland is right about the ribeye. It’s a wonderful hunk of meat, with high fat content and a crisp char on the outside. I tried the identical cut of beef at Bobby Van’s the other night, and while it wasn’t bad, it lacked the perfection of Strip House’s version.

Best steak in New York? It’s hard to say, when there are so many of them. But I don’t recall offhand having tasted a ribeye better than this one. (Wolfgang’s came close, but I think this one was superior.) It was preceded by an amuse bouche of warm potato soup with parsley oil in a shot glass. The restaurant was packed on a Thursday evening, but I had no trouble getting served at the bar, where service was friendly and efficient.

While I was eating, a couple next to me saw what I had ordered, and raved about the Strip House ribeye. The gentleman told me that the March 2006 issue of GQ named Strip House one of the five best steakhouses in America. (I couldn’t find an online version of the full article, so I can’t say which four other steakhouses were so honored.) Visit the Glazier Group homepage, and you’ll see they’re crowing about it. The company has announced plans to open Strip Houses in several other cities. Lucky for them.

Strip House (13 E. 12th St between 5th Ave & University Place, Greenwich Village)

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