there are so many steakhouses in NYC that i've tried and haven't tried, and my S.O. and i always have this argument as to which steakhouse is best. so we've decided to eat at every steakhouse in NYC (even the boroughs!) until we have a definitive winner. we call it "steak club".
we had our first steak club dinner on friday with four of our friends at Old Homestead Steakhouse, which makes sense, since Old Homestead is supposedly the oldest steakhouse in NYC. (i'm not planning to eat at the 2nd oldest steakhouse next.) i actually chose Old Homestead because i see it all the time, i've heard so many mixed reviews (mostly less than stellar) and we've actually takeout from Old Homestead while working across the street, but it was sorta eh.
so i went with less than the highest expectations on the food... and Old Homestead definitely surprised us. the crabcake was full of large, tender chunks of jumbo lump crabmeat. the manhattan clam chowder (soup of the day) was clammy and flavorful. even the chef's special bread appetizer (toasted garlic bread with a parmesan sauce) was different but yummy (suggestion: try dipping the onion bread in the parmesan sauce - mmmm). a plain old tomato and mozzarella salad had seasonal and juicy tomatoes, although the mozzarella was unmemorable. the biggest disappointments were the salads: the signature salad was barely chopped, tossed or good; and the iceberg wedge was blanketed with dressing.
the steaks also blew us away. one of my fellow diners thought the gotham ribsteak was one of the best he'd ever had. my prime rib had that delicious aged aroma. i didn't like the whole peppercorns crusting the prime rib; i'm not a fan, and i wish i had some warning. we aren't generally fans of filet mignon (it's just so lean - fat is flavor!), but Old Homestead's filet mignon on the bone actually had flavor and fat; that bone really makes the difference. and everything was perfectly cooked.
the one entree we didn't like was the american kobe burger. at $41, it was dry (REALLY DRY), crumbly and tasteless. the accompanying sauces were no addition. the entire thing was unfortunate.
of the side dishes, we loved the creamed spinach (really creamy, really spinachy, no competing flavors) and the super crispy hash browns. the steak fries made me sad - there were so few, and they weren't even good. we also had asparagus with hollandaise, which was fine.
they had a very varied and interesting wine list, which has been awarded a Wine Spectator award of approval. we went with an inexpensive malbec as well as a portuguese red (double the price of the malbec, but not as drinkable). i liked that the options were available.
if you have room for dessert, which we really didn't, the cheesecake is good and so was the key lime pie, but really, who needs those calories???
finally, the service and room... it was loud (it may have had something to do with the table next to ours that continuously toasted something or other throughout their entire dinner) and i didn't really care for the layout (or location - meatpacking district, ugh) of the restaurant. plus, they tried to seat us at a table right next to the waiters' station (i asked for a different table; it's so difficult to enjoy a meal in the midst of the thoroughfare). the service, considering the number of waitstaff - which was almost 1:1 with the number of diners, was pretty crappy. there was a lot of running around, and not so much actual serving.
overall, the food, particularly the meat, was excellent, but the experience was only good. i would think the oldest steakhouse in NYC would have gotten rid of the kinks by now.
Old Homestead Steakhouse
56 9th Ave
New York, NY 10011
212/242.9040
we had our first steak club dinner on friday with four of our friends at Old Homestead Steakhouse, which makes sense, since Old Homestead is supposedly the oldest steakhouse in NYC. (i'm not planning to eat at the 2nd oldest steakhouse next.) i actually chose Old Homestead because i see it all the time, i've heard so many mixed reviews (mostly less than stellar) and we've actually takeout from Old Homestead while working across the street, but it was sorta eh.
so i went with less than the highest expectations on the food... and Old Homestead definitely surprised us. the crabcake was full of large, tender chunks of jumbo lump crabmeat. the manhattan clam chowder (soup of the day) was clammy and flavorful. even the chef's special bread appetizer (toasted garlic bread with a parmesan sauce) was different but yummy (suggestion: try dipping the onion bread in the parmesan sauce - mmmm). a plain old tomato and mozzarella salad had seasonal and juicy tomatoes, although the mozzarella was unmemorable. the biggest disappointments were the salads: the signature salad was barely chopped, tossed or good; and the iceberg wedge was blanketed with dressing.
the steaks also blew us away. one of my fellow diners thought the gotham ribsteak was one of the best he'd ever had. my prime rib had that delicious aged aroma. i didn't like the whole peppercorns crusting the prime rib; i'm not a fan, and i wish i had some warning. we aren't generally fans of filet mignon (it's just so lean - fat is flavor!), but Old Homestead's filet mignon on the bone actually had flavor and fat; that bone really makes the difference. and everything was perfectly cooked.
the one entree we didn't like was the american kobe burger. at $41, it was dry (REALLY DRY), crumbly and tasteless. the accompanying sauces were no addition. the entire thing was unfortunate.
of the side dishes, we loved the creamed spinach (really creamy, really spinachy, no competing flavors) and the super crispy hash browns. the steak fries made me sad - there were so few, and they weren't even good. we also had asparagus with hollandaise, which was fine.
they had a very varied and interesting wine list, which has been awarded a Wine Spectator award of approval. we went with an inexpensive malbec as well as a portuguese red (double the price of the malbec, but not as drinkable). i liked that the options were available.
if you have room for dessert, which we really didn't, the cheesecake is good and so was the key lime pie, but really, who needs those calories???
finally, the service and room... it was loud (it may have had something to do with the table next to ours that continuously toasted something or other throughout their entire dinner) and i didn't really care for the layout (or location - meatpacking district, ugh) of the restaurant. plus, they tried to seat us at a table right next to the waiters' station (i asked for a different table; it's so difficult to enjoy a meal in the midst of the thoroughfare). the service, considering the number of waitstaff - which was almost 1:1 with the number of diners, was pretty crappy. there was a lot of running around, and not so much actual serving.
overall, the food, particularly the meat, was excellent, but the experience was only good. i would think the oldest steakhouse in NYC would have gotten rid of the kinks by now.
Old Homestead Steakhouse
56 9th Ave
New York, NY 10011
212/242.9040
