Joseph Leonard is 650 square feet of seriously hyped restaurant. By my estimation that makes about four bloggers per square foot that wrote it up based on a pencil sketch and insider information from a delivery guy. I guess that makes us late to the game. So while we won’t exactly follow suit and take you through the place of origin of every antique light fixture and picture frame in the building, we will tell you this – it looks like a tastefully furnished studio apartment that’s 50% bar (my kind of apartment). It’s also pretty obvious that the restaurant was conceived in the spirit of Little Owl. Every inch of space serves a purpose, including the upper level bar seats, perfectly engineered for surveying the action while you eat. The menu is American with both French and Southern touches, and while dinner is generally better than brunch, it’s a nice place to dine any time of day. We like it and will visit often – a new West Village go-to even – but you’ll find that all that hype is pretty hard to live up to. Don’t look to us if you go in expecting a religious experience and come away a little disappointed. That’s what you get for spending too much time on Yelp.
A loyal reader recently reached out to us on our Facebook page with a great point: we need a Damn Good Steaks tag. Damn right we do. Thanks Valerie. So it shall be.
There aren’t all that many steakhouses that meet our Infatuation standards for high quality and low quantity of business class asshats. Quality Meats is one of those places, and is precisely why we needed this new tag. Even though it’s in Midtown, this multi-level meat market serves up one of our favorite steaks in town, and it’s not what you might expect from a steakhouse in the area. Though they aren’t nearly on the same level, Quality Meats has a downtown aesthetic in the vein of Gramercy’s BLT Prime, just a little louder and heavier on the testosterone. This definitely isn’t a quiet dinner over a steak. This is where you kick off your bachelor party. You’re going to Abe & Arthur’s after aren’t you? She’s a lucky girl.
Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill is kind of a ridiculous concept on paper – a Frankenstein fusion of Blue Ribbon Brasserie and Blue Ribbon Sushi in a Thompson Hotel lobby. We’re huge fans of the Blue Ribbon brand, especially the brasserie and sushi outposts. We’re not huge fans of Midtown, especially Midtown hotel restaurants. How is this going to work exactly? Believe it or not, pretty well. The sushi at this Blue Ribbon is excellent (as it should be), and they put some delicious tweaks on a few brasserie classics that will blow you away (see fried chicken with wasabi honey below). This place is, however, insanely expensive. So expensive that we don’t recommend coming unless you’re dropping a corporate card or rolling with someone that’s so rich they eat Faberge eggs for breakfast. The service can also be a bit clumsy, and we don’t exactly love the clientele. The crowd is usually some combination of old guys with young girls, executives having dinner meetings, and John Popper. Seriously, we sat next to John Popper when we ate here last, and had a front row seat as he threw some awkward rock star game. Unfortunately, no harmonicas were present.
Photo Credit: ny.eater.com … read more
I have read a lot about this place lately, mostly about the adventurous and allegedly amazing pork dishes that populate the menu. Looking for a new spot to add to my rotation, I decided to give it a try on Saturday night. Upon arrival, I was immediately impressed with the room. Think rustic farmhouse, but not over the top … tastefully done. It’s a big space with high ceilings, yet it still feels comfortable. Adding immensely to the vibe is the fact that they pump great tunes into the room at a well balanced volume – just quiet enough to talk over, and yet loud enough that the table next to you won’t hear every word of your conversation. The bar selection is good, with five or six beers on tap (mostly east coast micro-brews), a serviceable wine list, and prices are reasonable. My meal at Irving Mill was fantastic. The dishes were daring enough to impress any food snob, yet the menu was diverse and varied, well suited to please pretty much anyone you bring. I’m going back soon … and bringing friends.
It would seem to us here at Immaculate Infatuation that the only way to properly assess the fawned over revival of the Minetta Tavern is to take aim directly at the ridiculous love fest that both the national and New York food media has had with the place. Let’s start here – everyone chill the f–k out.
I don’t want to start this review out with negativity, but it’s only fair that we discuss what has been said about Minetta. All the hype led us in with high expectations, as it would with anyone paying attention to the heavy hitters like The New York Times, New York Magazine, and The Food Network. It’s one thing to read a chorus of glowing reviews about a new restaurant online, but once Frank Bruni crowns Minetta Tavern “the best steakhouse in the city,” you should be expecting perfection. It’s also probably worth mentioning that Tyler Florence went off about the burger on the Food Network for a full half hour, but then again, anything that guy puts in his mouth on television is “fantastic.” That being said, here’s the Infatuation bottom line: while the food at Minetta Tavern is very good, it does not, and can not live up to all the hype. Is it the best steakhouse in New York? No way.
Our meal at Minetta was definitely satisfying, but there were some notable let-downs. The $26 Black Label Burger is excellent, and the cheaper Minetta Burger is also very good, but going to a place like this just for a burger seems counter-intuitive … a burger joint, this is not. For starters, there is a gigantic bouncer with a clip board at the door, and reservations at a decent hour are nearly impossible to secure. The room is appealing and the service is good, but an attempt at exclusivity diminishes the charm. If Minetta Tavern were a little cheaper, a little more accessible, and a little less Waverly Inn, it could be one of the great restaurants in New York for a long time to come. We’ll see if it can continue to thrive under the weight of such great expectations.
Feature: Infatuation TV: P.O.S.
