The Lion is a new joint opened by the chef from Waverly Inn and a bunch of other people you would only know if you a) spent too much time at Beatrice Inn or b) give a shit about who the “celebrity” investors are in a restaurant. Either way, this place is New York’s newest hot spot, and if you read all the other reviews, you’ll no doubt find a long list of A-listers recently sighted here. Exciting! But what has us considering an amendment to one of our beloved dining axioms is that despite all the baggage that comes along with a “scene” like this, the food at The Lion is actually pretty damn good. We’ve even found the place to be generally tolerable on all of our recent visits. Yes, tables can be hard to come by, and yes, it’s full of people who probably refer to themselves in the third person, but so far we’ve found the staff to be friendly and courteous. And while the quality of food and service are a bit surprising – what makes the biggest impression is the interior of the restaurant itself. The main dining area is an amazing two-story space that looks like the living room of a drug addled safari hunter/art collector (my dream job). It’s a pretty incredible place to eat your steak, and makes the hefty price tag a little more bearable. The bar in front is cozy and tavern-like, a perfect spot for sucking back dark and stormys and even possibly scoring a walk up table, especially if you arrive for dinner on the earlier side of the evening.

So while we can’t fully throw our full Infatuation approval behind a place that has a door guy out front, we have to admit that there is a lot to like about The Lion. Enough for us to make one exception to a big time rule…for now.

Photo Credit: Janelle Jones

Food Rundown:

Artichoke Fritters
Delicious little fried spheres with soft artichoke and lemony goodness inside them. On the small side for what you pay, but tasty nonetheless.

Spring Asparagus
A straightforward Spanish classic – fresh asparagus with a soft egg on top. This is always a crowd pleaser, and the Lion’s version is no exception. I think I saw one of these things coming over the kitchen counter and off to a table every twenty seconds.

Pasta Annunziatta
On one of our visits, the waiter had the balls to recommend I try this pasta rather than the burger, which I appreciated. After having both, I’m glad he steered me in this direction. Octopus, guanicale and olives make for an incredible combination tossed with pasta. That guanciale pops in your mouth and leaves behind a fat slick that makes everything that comes after taste awesome.

Burger
We’ve heard people throwing around comments that this thing is up there with Minetta’s Black Label Burger. It’s a good burger for sure, but let’s everyone sit down and take a breather. Plus, we’re not entirely sure that a piece of pork belly on a burger is a good, or particularly responsible idea. We do respect the gusto though.

Lobster Pot Pie
Flaky crust, lobster, vegetables…what’s not to like? This is a football shaped pie full of lobster, and it comes to the table volcano hot.

Delmonico Steak
An expensive steak at $55, but one of the better things on the menu here. This guy is tender and has a nice marble, so it definitely doesn’t lack in flavor.

Now that we’ve been to Blind Tiger, we will retract that last part. I grew up in Colorado, and went to college in Fort Collins, which is place that several very successful breweries call home. Needless to say, I became accustomed to drinking in bars with incredible beer selections. What I also became accustomed to, was eating some kind of terrible chicken ranch sandwich for dinner in these places, because that’s what you get in Fort Collins (ranch dressing is a religion in this part of the country). What we have found at Blind Tiger is a New York City bar that actually has an extensive microwbrew selection AND excellent food. Unfortunately, we’re not the only ones that know it. The place gets very crowded at times, but weekend afternoons are perfect, as are late nights when you need a good beer and a grilled cheese. The wings and sandwiches are also excellent, and it’s a great place to mix it up and meet people. Be warned though – the bar staff know their beer, but they’re not very friendly. We’ll let it slide…but only because there are Colorado brews on the tap every once in a while.

Food Rundown:

Hot Wings
We have been pretty vocal about our distaste for most wings that we come across in this town. Blind Tiger’s wings are actually pretty great. Tangy, peppery, and of decent size, we’ll come back just to eat them.

Old School Grilled Cheese
A really great classic grilled cheese. You can even get a bowl of tomato soup with it, just like what I used to have every day after school when l when I was six. Yes, including the beers.

Classic BLT
A killer BLT on white toast. We highly recommend this as it’s a prime beer absorbing agent.

Bloody Beast Sandwich
Great name, great sandwich. This is a fist sized roast beef sandwich with cheese, served with a sauce on the side that they call “bloody mary” sauce. I think it’s just a bowl of bloody mary mix, but I am also totally cool with that. Probably because I carry tiny bottles of vodka with me at all times. Order this.

Banh Mi Mini
We’re growing a little tired of the banh mi thing that took over the city last year, but this one is a good snack sized sandwich. But it’s not quite the traditional bahn mi. This one comes on a round crusty roll and has a mango slaw rather than the usual fixins.

We certainly have an opinion on the topic, but are also equal opportunity eaters. We haven’t met too many lobster rolls we don’t like. Not the case for some. As a matter of fact, there is a rivalry that exists between fans of Pearl Oyster Bar’s roll and Mary’s Fish Camp loyalists that’s almost as heated as the Biggie/Tupac beef was before Al Gore had them both killed (we’re entitled to our theory).

We’d like to use this review to go on record and say two things: we really like Pearl Oyster Bar, and stop the violence. Pearl’s lobster roll won’t take the title of best in town from us, but the place does score high on the Infatuation meter. Almost everything on the menu is fantastic, and we love sitting at the bar with an Anchor Steam and getting into some seafood with our hands. What really keeps us coming back though, is the fried oyster sandwich. That thing is food worth fighting over.

Food Rundown:

Market Oysters
A selection of six oysters from the East Coast. Pretty standard, but tasty nonetheless. Make sure to ask for some horseradish on the side.

The Pearl Lobster Roll
This is one creamy lobster roll. Big chunks of lobster and lemony mayo are all over the place – no celery though. This comes served with a huge pile of salty shoestring fries that make for one satisfying plate of food. It’s the antithesis to the purist simplicity of Luke’s, but is still one of the best lobster rolls you’ll find anywhere.

Fried Oyster Roll
For us, this is the real star of the Pearl Oyster Bar menu. Crunchy fried oysters on top of the same soft roll that the lobster is served on, but slathered with tartar sauce. Insanely good.

Soft Shell Crab
A tasty option if they’re in season and on the menu. Nothing but two crunchy crabs on a plate with some garnish. Who needs more?

Scott’s “Perfect For” Picks

Fine Dining

Del Posto (85 10th Ave.) – “How do you top Babbo? You don’t, you just create a different experience. Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich’s grand European hotel vibe makes you feel like you’re sitting in the old world eating the best of the new world. A real fancypants experience.”

Late Night Eats

Blue Ribbon Brasserie (97 Sullivan St.) – “You can eat great here any time but at 3AM the fried chicken is the best thing ever. EVER.”

Wasting Your Time and Money

Shake Shack (Madison Square Park) – “If there’s no line, go for it. If you have to wait even 3 minutes, go find another burger.”

Vegetarians

Candle 79 (154 E. 79th St.) – “Vegan food that doesn’t taste like cardboard and sawdust. The Babbo of veggy.”

Chronic Brunch

Barney Greengrass (541 Amsterdam Ave.) – “Best Jew food in NYC. The terrorists hate us for our Sturgeon.”

Scott’s Twitter People

@thebrianposehn – Comedian writer, actor, friend, funny.

@thedamnedthings – Greatest band you haven’t heard yet.

@anthrax – Duh.

@sutterink – Writer, creator of Sons Of Anarchy. Badass.

@pearladay – The lady rocks. She ROCKS

“The” Blue Hill experience is the Stone Barns experience – a fantastic petting zoo for adults where you get to eat all the animals. Blue Hill New York is a top-tier New York City restaurant that’s equally ideal for Special Occasions, but is better suited for a fancy date night (just ask Obama) rather than Mom’s birthday or an anniversary. All the same farm-to-fork principles that you find upstsate are in place at BHNY, and the service is amazing. You’ll also still find unmatched dedication to serving quality ingredients, a great wine list, and some incredibly memorable food. Just don’t cross a trip to the Stone Barns off your list after dinner having dinner here. That’s a field trip everyone needs to make at least once. You look like you could use a day or two out of the city anyway.

Food Rundown:

Maine Sea Scallops
A tasty scallop dish, served up with a citrus marmalade and some endive. A good way to start the meal, especially for conservative diners, but we reccomend going for something with more vegetation on the plate instead.

Beet Greens and Swiss Chard Tortellini
A fantastic starter with ricotta cheese, kale, a few really delicate and tasty tortellini, and some hazelnuts. Hazelnuts make everything better.

Stone Barns Berkshire Pig
This was as good as the Berkshire pig we ate at the Stone Barns, but the shelling beans and black trumpet mushrooms on the plate don’t hold a candle to the Stone Barns carrots. A great piece of pork nonetheless.

Rabbi Bob’s Veal
We aren’t sure who Rabbi Bob is exactly, but he must really enjoy some baby cow. This is a pristine cut of veal, served on a bed of chickpeas, hummus, and root vegetables (at least in the winter).

Wild Striped Bass
Sure, the fish dishes are solid at Blue Hill…but you should be ordering something that comes out of a land mammal. This striped bass was fine, but was definitely not the star of the table.

Food Rundown:

Bone-In New York Strip
The steak you should be ordering at The Strip House. It’s twenty ounces (and fifty dollars worth) of perfectly charred goodness, with the ideal balance of lean meat to fat.

Filet Mignon
A butterflied 10 ounce filet is a nice way to go if you’re looking to do anything other than sleep in the bathroom after dinner.

Porterhouse for Two
Now, we’re not going to claim that this porterhouse is as good as the famous Peter Luger’s, but it definitely does the job if you don’t feel like making the trip to Brooklyn. The filet side is about as tender as a piece of meat can possibly be.

Ribeye
Either for one or two, the ribeye at Strip House is also an excellent piece of meat. Probably our second favorite cut behind the bone-in strip.

Black Truffle Creamed Spinach
Just in case basic spinach sides aren’t getting it done for you, here comes a little copper pot full of creamed spinach with black truffle. Amazing.

Goose Fat Potatoes
Another side that Strip House is known for, this is a mound of crispy, duck fatty potatoes that probably just took a year or two off your life. Eat and pray for speedy advances in stem cell treatments.

OK well it still isn’t really on that list. Waiting in a line outside of any restaurant seems a bit silly to us, but Tomoe is arguably one of the best sushi restaurants in the city, as you will see by those patiently standing single file out front on most nights. And it certainly isn’t the atmosphere that’s got people queued up on Thompson Street. The place is a dump. A studio apartment with a sushi bar and some Japanese paraphenalia hanging on the wall to cover up holes and various electrical hazards. People line up for a table at Tomoe strictly because the sushi is excellent. Yes, prices are a bit high, and there are plenty of annoying things about the place that we could go on and on about. But at the end of the day it’s a great once-in-a-while spot, when you’re in serious need of something excellent. Those looking for a destination for Girl’s Night Out, a First/Early In The Game Date, or a Birthday should look elsewhere. Tomoe is for getting down to business only.

Food Rundown:

Sushi/Sashimi
The sushi pieces are quite a bit larger than normal, but the quality is fantastic. Sashimi comes in smaller cuts, and melt in your mouth. We reccomend ordering a la carte rather than going for a value play, but if you’re going to order in bulk, the sashimi regular is the way to go. Some of our favorite pieces include the classics like hamachi, toro, and mackrel, but also don’t miss the smoked white tuna. So good.

Hand Rolls
Some places just don’t know how to do hand rolls. Sometimes they fall apart, other times the seaweed wrapper is so thick it’s like trying to chew through a belt. Tomoe excels in the hand roll department. They’re delicate and perfectly assembled, and you need to make sure you have at least one on your board. Our picks are the spicy hotate (spicy scallop and cucumber), and the amazing spicy tuna.

ShumaiA must order when consuming sushi in my book, and worth an honorable mention. To be honest, these are good, but not mind-blowing – not much on the appetizer menu is. Save your dollars here and go deep on the sushi.