Abe & Arthur’s

409 W. 14th St, Chelsea, NY

6.0

map & more

Neighborhood
Chelsea
Meatpacking District

Cuisine
American

Nearby
Highline Ballroom
Hiro

646-289-3930

Official Website

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By Andrew Steinthal
January 10, 2012

One day, you are going to have to face the reality that you just ended up at Abe & Arthur’s for dinner. Surely it wasn’t your call – someone from work “knows the manager”, or your meathead friend from college heard that this is the spot to meet drunk models. Either way, you just go with the flow because, let’s face it, there aren’t a lot of quality options in Meatpacking District, and you know you’ll get a front row seat to some hilarity.

So here we are, with a big group of people we’ve just met for the first time, in exactly that situation. Someone has a friend at Abe & Arthur’s, and they’ve got a large table available in fifteen minutes. Our fate has been sealed. We are on our way to a place where dudes order shots of Patron with their appetizers and a huge group of girls is being treated to dinner by one guy that none of them will sleep with. Yes, we see you buddy, even though you probably can’t see us through those sunglasses.

To the Meatpacking elite, Abe & Arthur’s is old news. They’ve all moved onto Catch by now. But there’s still plenty of leftover riff-raff hanging around to keep this old stalwart highly entertaining. And you know what? The food is pretty good. There. We said it. If you’re a person who is more concerned with high heels and hair gel than famous chefs and foie gras, you can definitely do worse than Abe & Arthurs (see STK, MPD, Spice Market) in this ‘hood. We’d never suggest you go out of your way to come here, but on the random night where the decision is made for you, just roll with it. At the very least, you’ll probably get some tequila shots out of the deal.

Food Rundown:

Spinach & Artichoke Dip
This was a wasted order. The dip just wasn’t very good and the bread was almost stale. No thanks.

Tuna Tartare Tacos
Oh look, build your own tacos! Cute! The ladies at the table thoroughly enjoyed assembling their own combinations of tuna tartare, avocado, citron-soy and red chili aioli into the mini taco shells. It’s like arts and crafts for thirty year olds!

Grilled Octopus
Honestly? This is really damn good. I’d highly suggest ordering it if you do indeed come here. Rumor has it they fly in the octopus from Spain and then cook it in olive oil for 45 minutes before finishing it on the grill. It’s then served a top an nice plate of gigante bean stew, dehydrated chorizo and almond-romesco sauce.

Jumbo Lump Blue Crab Cake
This is another winner of an appetizer, and it’s one that could serve as a main course too. The two plump crab cakes are the size of baseballs, and are deliciously moist and packed with flavor. We were especially into the tropical fruit and corn salad on the plate.

Spinach & Frisee Salad
A well put together salad of greens, bacon, chopped egg and pears in a nice honey-shallot vinaigrette. Yep, it’s a salad.

Wood Grilled Branzino
Simply prepared with lemon and herbs, this fish was well cooked and quite tasty. For a light entree, this is a good option.

Pan Seared Cod and Crispy Rock Shrimp
Another light fish entree and again, while this didn’t blow us away, we managed our way through it. The fish was cooked nicely and the flavors of sweet soy and ginger worked well.

Tomahawk Ribeye Steak
There’s a full steak section of the menu to appease all the testosterone that rolls through here. When there’s a “Tomahawk” on the menu, we’re probably gonna order it ’cause it makes us feel cool. The steak with the cool name didn’t disappoint. It may not be on the same level as what you’ll find at your favorite steakhouse, but it’s worth ordering if you’re in the mood for meat.

Sides
Table favorites included the Brown Butter & Breadcrumb Mac & Cheese and the Truffle-Herbed Parmesan Fries. The duds were the Garlic Mashed Potatoes (too watery) and the Sweet Potato Fries (surprisingly soggy).

Dessert
Abe & Arthur’s know their crowd, we’ll give them that. The Carnival For Two is a ferris wheel of warm ricotta donuts and cinnamon funnel cakes. It was a hit, as was the French Toast Bread Pudding.