Bobby Vans – A Traditonal Christmas Shot

I love Nick Tieder. Nick is a dear friend and someone who let’s his passions fly unbridled to ensure maximum enjoyment. His teenager like appreciation for music, events and people is admirable. So when Nick asked me if I wanted to join him in planning another holiday steak-out for our friends, I undoubtedly said “HELL YES!!” Traditions are good, well at least the ones that don’t cause harm to others, but it gives people a reason to spend time together. Last year at this time I planned and holiday outing for our friends at Peter Luger’s Steakhouse. A grand time was had by all and it was well worth resurrecting once again.

Bobby Vans has several locations but this fantastic, NYC style steakhouse is best enjoyed at their Broad Street location, right across the street from the New York Stock Exchange. Diners have the option is sitting upstairs in the formal dining room, at the bar or in the more laid back atmosphere in the downstairs grille that still sits in the 1898 built vault room of the J.P. Morgan bank that was formally located here. Try booking a table for on Friday and Saturday nights when their ENTIRE wine list is half price. Traditional in every way, this formal dining room, covered in rich mahogany wood, chandeliers,  white linens and operated by well dressed and very courteous  staff. The regular menu has a selection of steaks, seafood, salad veggies and of course, potatoes. Everything at Bobby Vans is done with class and quality but don’t think for a second that it creates a stale atmosphere. Bobby Van’s knows how to make your dining experience fun and delicious.

If you’re going to stop in for a fantastic meal experience, please ask for Vincent and tell him Rev from Burger Conquest / Steak Club 7 sent you. It was absolutely the right choice for the Rev & Tieder Annual Holiday Steak Off!

We started off our meal test tasting the latest creation from GiddyUp! Sauces, a NYC Steakhouse style Steak Sauce on the Bobby Van’s bread basket. I wish I could tell who they were for but trust me, they are FANTASTIC.

HEYOH HEYOH! A surprise for the table, an order of the secret menu Chef’s prepared bacon. It was grilled to perfection in a balsamic reduction and it was spectacular.

We also got an order of calamari and baked clams, neither of which I tried because seafood is YUCKY.

Ahhhhh! The apex moment of excitement, the arrival of the porter house steaks, ordered for the entire table (that’s 4 porter houses for 2 between friends.)

Watch the magic happen, listen to my reel of clichés and see what everyone had to say about the PERFECTLY prepared medium-rare porterhouse for two.

Add in some tasting veggies and potatoes on the side and you have one fantastically traditional NY Steakhouse style meal.

It was at the monumental celebration that the “shot of steak fat” had its public debut. (See video entry here.) It’s taken from the juice of a porterhouse, poured into a glass and shot like one would liquor. It sounds disgusting but trust me, it’s AWESOME …

…and now it’s a holiday tradition!

The official “change the gloves” sign of Steak Club 7, the upright t-bone.

As always, I polished off my steak meal with a black Sambucca and espresso but at BV’s, espresso comes with rock candy on a stick!

Until next year, happy steak eatin’ all

4.5 out of 5 knives
-Rev

Maloney & Porcelli

We dined shorthanded this month as two of our “dogs” had last minute emergencies come up. Quick fact about SC7, we’ve been to dozens of New York City Steakhouses, but we’ve never dined at Smith & Wollensky’s as an official outing. I thought this would be the month we caved in, but decided otherwise. While on the S&W site, I decided we’d visit one more of their offshoot restaurants. We’ve had good luck at The Post House & Quality Meats (also Fourth Wall Restaurants), thus the decision to visit Midtown’s Maloney and Porcelli.

Loved the location of our table on this night. We were in the back left corner of the restaurant in a quiet area. Was perfect for us to talk and also enjoy the ambiance of the restaurant.

We started things off with salads and a shrimp cocktail. The wedge was good, having crumbled Bacon always gets a thumbs up! The shrimp cocktail was just ok. As a restaurant, Maloney and Porcelli offers more than just steak and on this night, two of our guys strayed from red meat, one went home happy, one was less than satisfied.

Box ordered the Crackling Pork Shank and loved it, the Firecracker Applesauce was a solid complement. The Rev ordered the Venison and was less than satisfied.. Joe and I ordered the smaller Dry-Aged Prime Rib Eye and it was fantastic! Cooked perfectly and for a rib-eye wasn’t too fatty. Rich ordered the thicker cut and was also very satisfied.

The sides were really solid as well. If you go to Maloney and Porcelli, you must order “Our Signature Balls” as a side dish! We also shared creamed spinach, mushrooms and hash browns, but the big winner was the Signature Balls, which is a potoatoes, bacon, chives all fried together!

Overall, a great night leading into the Thanksgiving break – Always great to have a big meal, before “the” big meal! Service was attentive to our needs.

3 and a half knives
-Jon

Il Latini – Solo Mission

Il Latini
http://www.illatini.com/
via dei Palchetti 6/r (Palazzo Rucellai) Firenze, Italy 50123

If you are looking for the truest of Tuscan dining experience while in the fantastic city of Florence, Italy, look no further.

Did you make a reservation yet? No?!?!? Keep reading and learn why you should.

If it wasn’t for the crowd gathered outside sipping complimentary wine and snacking on mellow Italian cheeses, this unique foodie haven would appear to be one of the most unassuming restaurants in the town of Firenze. Down a little alley, not far from the river Arno, you will find Il Latini. Reservations are a great idea but due to the surprisingly large sizes of the 4 dining rooms within, getting a seat, as long as you are patient, shouldn’t take too long. Soon you’ll be seated, of course family style, and sipping HEAVILY on the delicious house Toscano Rosso.

The restaurant gladly showcases off a gigantic selection of cavatappi (cork screws) as well as hocks of Serrano ham, proudly hung, and aging, from every piece of ceiling available. If you can get a seat in the section waited on by Julio, you’re already ahead of the game. Julio (and any staff member for that matter) will guide you through their amazing selection of Tuscan cuisine offerings but pay attention, there are no menus. It’s all in the servers head and they will make every effort to design you the perfect meal from their Tuscan country side cooking.

It’s a special place where conversation is almost as important as the food. Menu highlights include ribollita, Pappa al pomodoro and stracotto soups, ravioli made with white wild boar, braised pork and what I considered to be the star of the show, the most delicious and savory perfectly cooked bistecca Fiorentina. Don’t skip out on their home made desserts and wash them back with a selection of after dinner drinks and espresso.

Did you enjoy the robust wine, the thick and hearty olive oil or the sweet and chewy biscotti? You’ll be glad to know all of these items are for purchase and if you don’t bring back your friends and family something from Il Latini, what kind of person are you?

If you don’t LOVE Il Latini, you don’t love food and perhaps yourself as well.

4.5 out of 5 Knives
-Rev

 

With that, I give you THE official Il Latini Ribolitta Recipe. If you make it, I expect an invite with at least 24 hours notice. Thank you

Ingredients: Tuscan kale, savoy cabbage, beet, olive oil, leek, salt and pepper, carrots, celery, red onion, white beans, parsley, basil, whole wheat bread, ripe tomatoes

Preparation:
Fries of olive oil and leek.
Add the ripe tomatoes preserved if possible.
Then add the vegetables, that before you have cut in cubes.
Add the white beans with their water.
When the vegetable soup is ready, cover it with the bread slices; add olive oil and let boil

Quality Meats – Dressed Up Scoops and Happy Endings

I can’t entirely take the credit for the choice of Quality Meats being the destination for August’s outing.  I generally feel that if you add the word ‘Quality’ to anything then it usually isn’t, ‘Quality Used Cars’ being a prime example.  Yes, I’m cynical but then again it’s a national trait for us Brits.

I was telling new boy Box that he’d be joining on a month that was my pick and that I had a lot to live up to being perhaps the only member of SC7 yet to make a bum steer so it was actually he that suggested we roll through Quality Meats.  Needless to say, after an exemplary example of what a fine New York steak house should be, I’m more than happy to take the credit.

We were seated in a secluded side room, with former NYC mayor Ed Koch a couple of tables over, his presence and the vibe of the place reminding us that we all had to be on our best behaviour this evening.  Not long after seating we were presented with fresh melon lollipops, intended, I’m sure as a palate cleanser .  Not being a fan of melon I decided my palate was cleansed enough already.  Besides, my excitement at seeing a sausage sampler on the specials list was too powerful, and it was all I could do to get the order in quickly enough.

My companions shared my excitement so we ordered two servings of the sausage sampler (containing rabbit, smoked duck, chorizo and andouille, fact fans), I have to say though, we were all pretty disappointed if truth be told.  Not sure how I was expecting it to be served to us, but cold was not what I thought, and bluntly, the flavour wasn’t that great.  In fact there was sausage remaining when the plates were collected, so the esteemed gentlemen voted with remains such were their thoughts of the sausage sampler.  A big avoid.

We went a little off script with the ordering of the appetisers, such were the massive choices available.  Thus, in addition to the usual shrimp and iceberg wedges we ordered crab cakes, New England clam chowder, baby back ribs, a charcuterie sampler… and more.

All the apps were off a very high, dare I say, ‘quality’, standard that served only to enhance the anticipation of the main event.  Much as we love the preliminaries, we are Steak Club 7 and it’s the steak that really has us talking.

As we’d already gone overboard on the appetisers, there was a general, albeit unspoken acceptance that we might as well continue as we’d started so the list of sides ordered was quite vast.  We had potatoes galore – the pan roasted, bubble and squeak and the ‘quality’ potato rounded off with gnocchi and cheese (amazing, of course), yorkshire creamed spinach (so called as it was served in an edible Yorkshire pudding) and just to add the greens (see Mum, I did listen) the buttered edamame finished with a mint salt (delightful).

Hang on, didn’t I mention steak a paragraph or two back?  Clearly I was getting carried away with the memory of the fine sides but don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten… There is a pattern at SC7, Joe C and Jon generally go for the strip (although Jon will sometimes rock the rib-eye), Matty Winks is a fillet guy and then the Rev, the Meat God and I hammer it out for dibs on sharing a porterhouse and tonight was no different.

I was phenomenally happy with the porterhouse (which interestingly isn’t a regular menu item but a special tonight, lucky us).  The taste was full and the temperature was as ordered (medium rare, if you’re interested).  The satisfaction of cutting off a slice and letting the flavour tickle the tastebuds whilst chewing, quite wonderful.

Desserts are a sometimes addition at our meetings however The Rev, whose most recent visit here had only been a week or two earlier, had told us that the desserts at Quality Meats were amongst the best he’d tasted and man was he not joking.

I urge you, should you feel compelled to visit Quality Meats, and really, you should, please, please save room for desserts.  They take it really seriously here and you’re short changing yourself if you don’t give it a go.  The ‘dressed up scoops’ are as good as any dessert you’ll have tasted.  Furthermore, for an expensive joint, the desserts are reasonably priced.  It’s almost like they’re saying “come on now, we know you’re full, and we know you’ve already dropped a lot of your hard earned tonight, but let us send you home with a smile on yer face, for not much money more”.

A true happy ending, indeed.

4 out of 5 knives
-Big P.A.