oakapple

The busty Penthouse models are gorgeous, as you would expect. But their services don't exactly come cheap, so it's no excuse for over-pricing the steak.

eGullet's Mister Cutlets has been a vocal proponent of the steak at Robert's. Last night, I decided to find out for myself. Steakhouse pricing is fairly consistent in the city. The steaks at Robert's are over-priced beyond reason. There are three options for the solo diner: filet ($51), t-bone ($51) or bone-in strip ($53). All of them are at least $10-12 more than most NYC steakhouses would charge. (The porterhouse and ribeye, both available only in portions for two, are similarly over-priced.) The server recommended the strip. At this price, it had better be a strip steak to die for. It wasn't. Yes, it was a huge slab of meat, probably two inches thick before cooking. And yes, it was expertly broiled. But it was slightly tough and over-salted. Later on, one of the models told me that she thinks Del Frisco's is better — a remarkable admission. Needless to say, Del Frisco's is more sensibly priced. It's also in a far more hospitable part of town — 6th & 49th, rather than Robert's perch in the hinterlands at 11th & 45th. Indeed, I could easily name a dozen steakhouses serving better steaks at better prices in better neighborhoods than Robert's. The over-priced fare was not limited to the steaks. On the wine list, there were no bottles below $75. When I asked for wine by the glass, I was offered "cabernet or merlot"; no indication of vintage or winery. A glass of the unremarkable and unnamed cabernet was an outrageous $17. Service was merely average. There was an excellent selection of warm bread rolls, but they were brought to the table long after I sat down. My check was brought to the table before I had finished ordering. I could go on, but you get the idea.

The title "$25 and under" has been unchanged for many years. Clearly, with inflation taken into account, $25 doesn't go as far as it did when the column was launched. There have been many restaurants reviewed in that space where you wouldn't get a 3-course meal for under $25.

What did you expect them to do?

Masa has only about 20-24 seats, which is far less than a restaurant with a $70 check size. If Masa has just a few empty seats on a given night (which I'm sure they often do), it's very significant to their bottom line.On top of that, they're open only six nights a week for dinner, and only four days a week for lunch, and most of the seats don't turn over, so their fixed costs are spread across a much smaller number of covers.

According to Florence Fabricant in today's NYT food section, it has merely closed temporarily for a summer renovation.

I'm showing my ignorance, but I thought "confit" meant "cooked in its own fat." There is no fat in grapefruit, so what does "grapefruit confit" mean?

It's a wonderful piece. Kreuther is fun to listen to, and Ya-Roo is a superb interviewer.

I dined at Lever House last night with two colleagues. The modernist space is striking, with the abundance of hexagonal shapes almost letting you forget that the walls are a plain-Jane light brown. Tables are comfortable and impeccably set, but they are exceedingly close together, with waiters performing Olympic-class gymnastic manoevers to get to your table. The noise level is uncomfortably loud. The cuisine is a mostly undistinguished New American. Roasted asparagus with duck egg and parmigiano reggiano ($17) sounded promising, but a puddle of fried egg somewhat overwhelmed the asparagus. I was pleased to find that Colorado rack of lamb ($38) came with two thick double-cut chops, which were lusciously tender. They came with a spicy lamb sausage that was the evening's highlight, along with a salad of parsley and mint that didn't wow me. Strawberry cheesecake for dessert ($12) brought the evening to a fitting close. I enjoyed a cocktail called the Bourbon Smash, although it was over-priced at $15. I was annoyed when the server removed it before I was finished. He asked if I'd like some wine with dinner. I hadn't had time yet to peruse the list, so I entreated him to return in a few minutes. We never saw him again till dessert, so I drank water. The bill for three was $200 including tax, before tip. That was for food only, as we drank no alcohol. (My cocktail was ordered at the bar.) At that price, you certainly expect the food to be good—which this was—I prefer quieter surroundings and more attentive service. I won't be rushing back.

According to Eater, Biltmore Room has closed.

We entered the latest debate because of Jason's inelegant admonishment, "You ordered wrong. Period." I mean, it's not as if he went to Peter Luger and ordered the salmon. If a whole page of the menu (the secondi) is sub-par, it seems to me that's the restaurant's problem, not the diner's.

A few choices extremely close to Lincoln Center would include Rosa Mexicano (Mexican), Josephina (a bit of everything), Cafe Fiorello (Italian), and Shun Lee West (Chinese).

So many new steakhouses, so little time. That's the feeling I have these days, with high-profile steakhouses opening almost weekly. Craftsteak is special, being a creation of the sainted Tom Colicchio (Gramercy Tavern, Craft, Craftbar, Craftsteak Las vegas). The space is comfortable and gorgeous. My friend was distracted all evening by a spectacular mural of the Chelsea landscape that takes up the whole back wall. You never thought Chelsea looked so good! I was, on the other hand, distracted by the floor-to-ceiling wine cellar that separates the dining room from the bar, where there is ample seating for the casual visitor. The menu has undergone some refinement from earlier versions posted on the net. On Saturday night, the Wagyu tasting menus, which had ranged anywhere from $115-165 per person, were no longer on offer. Gone too was the prime rib, which had carried a price tag of anywhere from $180-240. I suspect the whole lobe of foie gras ($160) may be an endangered spiecies. Our server said that it has been ordered only twice. A normal order of foie gras is $20. Our server was not informed as to how it was prepared. "I don't know...it changes daily" was all he could say, but he felt sure it came with toast points. Turns out it didn't. It was still a portion of seared foie gras ample enough to be shared (as we had expected), and sinfully good, but the server ought to know what's coming. A ribeye for two ($72) struck us as under-sized. This does not seem to be a problem for the restaurant generally. A glance at other tables showed that most steaks were enormous. But this ribeye seemed only slightly larger than the typical steak for one. It yielded just nine small slices of beef. Luckily, we are not huge eaters, but I suspect others would have been disappointed. One could find no fault with the beef itself, which was perfectly marbled and expertly cooked. We noted that it was grilled, rather than broiled, and did not have the exterior char that many steakhouses provide. It came with a bone on the side filled with gooey marrow. To top it off, we ordered the English Pea and Morel risotto ($22), which was superb. Aside from the foie gras confusion, service was just fine. The amuse bouche was tasty, although I've forgotten what was in it. The bread, which came hot out of the oven, in its own cast-iron pan, was irresistible.

Although the LES has a gritty look to it, in fact it is about as safe these days as any neighborhood in Manhattan. Although I very much enjoyed the chef's tasting menu when I visited WD-50, I must say that the server's comment strikes me as in appropriate.

Hard to say, with so many restaurants available, but I think Peking Duck House is superb. Mainland is more expensive and certainly no better (food-wise), though it is a much more attractive space.

Perhaps I'm presuming too much, but I doubt that so many restauranteurs would be falling over each other to open new steakhouses if it weren't a profitable business model. No doubt, although Babbo's dishes may be more labor-intensive to produce. What helps the steakhouses, I think, is the high probability of success. I mean, if 10 investors open Babbo clones, most will fail. If the same 10 investors open steakhouses, most will succeed. At least, those seem to be the odds these days in Manhattan.

I am given to understand that the percent profit, on the steak at least, is the smallest in the business. ← However, they more than make it up (or I'm presuming they do) on side dishes, appetizers, and liquor.

I don't think steakhouses are a fad in the usual sense of that term. New York has a long-standing reputation as a steakhouse town, and it is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. It is easy to see why so many new steakhouses are opening. They hardly ever fail, and the check size is large. Hardly any creativity is required, since the majority of steakhouses have nearly identical menus, and very nearly the same price structure. So, what are the possibilities for the future? At some point, Manhattan will over-saturate. There must be a limit to the number of people willing to spend $40 for steaks of diminishing average quality. We don't seem to have reached the limit yet, but it will happen. There will be a correction, and a few steakhouses will fail. Establishments at the margin of survivability will innovate, in an effort to differentiate themselves. Inevitably, some of those innovations will be a bust, but the effort might produce some welcome new ideas. One must also wonder what the increased demand will do to prices. The vast majority of top steakhouses are charging in the $35-40 range for most cuts of beef. Scarcity of the best prime beef might push the price of most steaks above $40, which might be above the resistance level for many of today's steakhouse patrons. Conversely, some second-tier establishments might just give up on prime altogether, and serve choice at a lower price point. A recent trend is what I'd call the super-luxury steakhouse, of which BLT Steak, BLT Prime, and Craftsteak are the leading examples. These establishments get several dollars more per item than the typical steakhouses by offering the best ingredients in a slightly fancier setting than usual for the format. It will be interesting to see of there are more attempts to break out of the cliché.

Sunday's New York Times had an artitcle by Steven Kurutz, When a Good Ribeye Is Not a Bull's-Eye. It was prompted by a thread on chowhound.com (and eGullet has had the identical discussion) concerning whether the quality at Peter Luger has gone down. Kurutz says: The article goes on to quote Mister Cutlets (Josh Ozersky) as saying, "There's not enough great meat to go around." Master Purveyors in Hunts Point, one of the major suppliers, is now buying 75,000 pounds per week more than it did six years ago.Marilyn Spiera, part owner of Luger, and one of its buyers, concedes it's a "struggle...to get the best meat," but (somewhat contradictorily) insists that the restaurant is as good as ever. If there's a saturation point for steakhouses in New York, we clearly haven't reached it yet. The format seems to be indestructible, even though almost every entree is $35 or more, side dishes are extra, and appetizers are usually quite expensive to boot. It's pretty hard to get out of a Manhattan steakhouse for much less than $70 a head, and of course it can go much higher than that after you order wine. Yet, the supply of customers willing to shell out big bucks for a steak dinner seems to be nearly inexhaustible. Try opening any other restaurant at that price point without a "name" chef behind it, and your odds of success are at best 50-50. But the steakhouses just keep coming and coming and coming, often with nothing to recommend them except for the word "steak" in the restaurant's name.

Our meal last night had just two "hidden courses": the usual amuse bouche at the beginning, and the usual mid-meal palate cleanser, which I believe came before the meat course. Either gaf got the celebrity treatment, or they were simplifying things for Mother's Day.

I took my mom and my girlfriend to Eleven Madison Park last night. They were doing a good business, but the restaurant wasn't full at any point during our 3½ hours there. For Mother's Day, they were offering the standard three-course prix fixe at $68 or a special five-course tasting menu at $85. We chose the latter. The courses, as best I remember them, were: * Amuse bouche of gazpacho and cherry tomato sorbet * Salad of Florence fennel, radishes, and essence of cara cara orange * Foie gras terrine with rhubarb and raisins * Lobster with butter poached carrots, orange and Gewürtztraminer * Palate cleanser, which I have forgotten * Wagyu beef short ribs braised with bone marrow crust and garden peas * Choice of cheesecake with sheep's milk yogurt and roasted pineapple; or, selection of cheeses * Petits-fours This was the first time that I've dined out at a high-end restaurant on a holiday, and not been disappointed. The fact that the regular à la carte menu was available was a positive sign. When restaurants channel everyone to just one menu (as they often do on New Year's Eve, for example), it's a sure sign that you're going to get a mass-produced mess that's no better than a catered wedding. Here, every course was excellent. The rhubarb-raisin foie gras terrine stood out, especially for the unusual combination of ingredients. The beef short ribs were wonderfully tender. In a tasting menu one always regrets that there are only a few bites. I also especially liked the creativity of the cheesecake. Paired wines would have been $48 each, but that was more wine than we cared to consume on a Sunday evening, so we ordered a bottle of cabernet franc from Channing Daughters ($71), and weren't disappointed. The staff decanted the wine for us without our asking, which is something all too few restaurants will do these days. Service was close to perfect. We were especially impressed with the timing of the courses. We always had an ample amount of time to relax before the next course arrived. Dinner for three, including tasting menus, pre-dinner cocktails, wine, and cappucino afterwards, was $371 before tax and tip.

That's a little hard to believe, with Union Square Café, Gramercy Tavern, and The Modern all in his empire.

Of the three, I've only been to Craft, but my impression is that Gramercy is considered the flagship of the operation. Assuming there are no other considerations (such as expense), I'd therefore go to Gramercy.

I don't know about Sneakeater, but I don't feel it's my job to alert the manager to every little mistake. Most restaurants make a few, even if they are minor. If my meal is adversely affected, and the staff are unable to correct the situation, then I may complain. But a minor glitch, like a server who's a bit too talkative, just isn't the kind of thing that sends me running to the manager.

A few months ago — I forget the source — there was an article where someone suggested that Bruni was being extra-tough on Italian restaurants. With two Italian restaurants achieving that status within a matter of weeks (Del Posto and, yesterday, A Voce), along with a very generous two stars for Al Di La in Brooklyn, I think we can put that argument to bed.