Tag Archives: bacon

Strip House

4 May

Every time I have had a NYC steakhouse discussion (which happens very often actually), Strip House comes up in the top of most lists.  I had not been, so when I was treating a colleague to dinner, I was excited when he chose Strip House.  

Strip House is on 12th Street just east of 5th Ave.  There are also locations in Las Vegas, Key West, Naples (Florida), Houston, and, impressively, Livingston, NJ (In the hood where I grew up… What What!)  

I failed to get a picture of the interior, but I can pretty much summarize in 2 words: Red + Leather.  I also seem to remember burlesque-esque photos on the walls and a room filled with men, pretty much exclusively.  Oh this was definitely a boys club.

You could smell the business transactions happening in the room.

It’s not quite my vibe (I prefer the “old style” New York feel of Keens with the old pipes hanging on the ceilings), but it was lovely to look at.

We started with the Strip House Roasted Bacon which came with baby arugula and russian dressing.  The bacon was good and bacony, though I preferred the one at BLT Steak. (And is it just me, or is it somewhat strange to have this with a salad? I mean it makes sense… who doesn’t like bacon on their salad? And it’s a nice balance to have greens with the fatty bacon… but it still seemed strange to me.)

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Next up we had a rib eye…

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And a New York Strip.

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We both preferred the Strip, and the roasted garlic on the side really made it.

The char was very good, though not the best, and I found myself wanting just a little more flavor from the meat (and using more of the roasted garlic to compensate).

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For sides we ordered the Crisp Duck Fat Potatoes.  I was very excited for this, but I found it VERY disappointing. It was a dome of bland potatoes with a slightly crisped outside.  I had to really try to taste the duck fat.  Bummer.

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The other side we had was truffled creamed spinach. THIS was sensational.  My favorite part of the meal.

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For dessert, we had to try their famous 24-layer chocolate cake.  It was good, and very rich, but it fell short simply because I’m not a big cake person.  Cake to me is boring when I can have a creamy mousse or a crispy brulee.  Perhaps it’s a texture thing.  But as far as cake goes, this was certainly a good one!

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Overall, I would say Strip House is good, but not great.  It’s definitely a top steakhouse in NYC, but across the board, I’ve had better steak experiences at places like Keens, Uncle Jacks, and BLT Steak.  If given the choice, I would pick any of those over Strip House.  Not to say I wouldn’t go back.  It just wasn’t as good as the buzz.

Total Nom Points: 7 out of 10


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Albert Hall Tavern- Back for Brunch

9 Mar

Yes… I am writing another post about Albert Hall Tavern.  I can’t let new meals come up and not try them!

We managed to get there to try their brunch.  I was hoping a bit for some bumped up, fancy brunch choices.  But it’s mostly just the classics here.  Here’s the menu:

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Then they have a number of items from their dinner menu.

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Mike chose to get the smoked salmon bagel, which came with capers and smoked cream cheese.  The salmon was REALLY fresh and full of flavor.

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They had no fried potatoes of any kind (bummer), so we split my second favorite hangover brunch food… a side of the bacon (extra crispy).

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I got the eggs benedict with Canadian Bacon and “tomato hollandaise.” I’m not sure what made the hollandaise tomato, but it was good.  And the ham and eggs were cooked perfectly.  I wish it were served on a potato pancake, but that’s probably just my incredible fascination with fried potatoes during brunch.

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Albert Hall Tavern is one of the very few places in the neighborhood that do all-day brunch.  It has a lot of classic items, and while I like a little more panache in my brunch, this was still a very good classic brunch menu with well cooked comfort food.  (I just wish they had damn good potatoes! Or something like The Heap from Thumbs Up Diner.  I feel like Chef Bill could do a damn good heap)

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Forwarding our Food Network Sluttiness with Marc Forgione

5 Nov

Mike and I were watching The Next Iron Chef on Food Network and decided to look up Marc Forgione’s (a contestant on the show) restaurant since it’s in NYC.  We found it was in TriBeCa… and served brunch.  So we, of course, decided to schedule brunch for the next day (Sunday) since we’re such Food Network sluts.

There were many awesome sounding things on the menu, and I was especially excited to try the Eggs Benny that came with butternut squash “homefries” and crispy prosciutto.  Unfortunately, however, there were peppers in the hollandaise… so I was SOL.

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The interior was very rustic.  I loved the candle lamps above the big table in the middle.

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And they even had a mini spiral staircase.

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The most tips on Four Square were about the “Suck You Sliders” made with suckling pig.  They warned us they had peppers in the rub, however, I decided to risk it and Mike and I split them.

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The meat inside was perfectly tender and delicious with a bit of crackling still on it.  It was definitely spicy (especially, surprisingly, in the pickles and on the potatoes!) but it was worth the pain.  Hurts so good.

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Mike went with “The Sandwich,” which was buckwheat pancakes as bread with crispy bacon and a sunny side up egg in the middle.

The pancakes looked very weird. (Were they cut out with those weird rough edges?) They were a bit dry and bland as well.  Disappointing.

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But the bacon was fantastic.  Thick cut and crispy.

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I went with the bacon, egg, and cheese (which came with a parmesan popover)… even though I had to trade out the bacon for the sausage since the bacon had peppers.  But I’m glad I did because this was probably the best sausage I have ever had.  It was sweet and savory all at the same time.  Tasted incredibly fresh.

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The eggs were soft scrambled and mixed with sun dried tomatoes.  Well cooked but lacking in flavor.

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And the popover just threw me for a loop.  I LOVE popovers.  And I mean LOVE them. Really really love them.  Did I mention I love popovers?  (And yes, while I really do love them, that was mostly an excuse to link to 4 other blog postings where I talk about how much I love popovers.)

These popovers, however, were too eggy and COLD.  COLD!  The flavors of everything were so good but there is no excuse for a cold popover.  Shame.

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Oddly, when we asked for a dessert menu, we were told they don’t have one!  Seemed like a huge missed opportunity to sell more to current customers… but what can you do? I was disappointed, however, because I read good things about their pumpkin pie and it WAS Halloween and all.  Oh well.

Overall, I think this place was fantastic for flavor, and average for execution.  I was surprised that the popover was cold and dull, the buckwheat pancakes were dry and dull, and the eggs themselves were kind of… dull.  But for the bacon, sausage, and sliders, I would definitely go back and try this place for dinner.

Total Nom Points: 6.5 out of 10

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