11.15.07
Review of BLT Prime, Friday November 2007
111 E.22nd and Park/Broadway, 212-995-8500
Great for: medium parties, bacon satiety, civilized carnivores, healthy appetites
We had some friends visiting and thought this would be a quintessential hip New York steakhouse experience for them. We adore BLT Fish and loved Prime last time we went. I called up a week in advance and was pleasantly surprised to snag a table for 6 at 8:15. As it turned out, our friends changed their trips so we asked some other friends, only one of whom could make it. I called Thursday to update our party number and found out why I’d gotten such a good time. The reservationist had booked us for Sunday! Good thing we didn’t need a 6-top anymore. We ended up being 4 at the last minute, and were lucky that the table they’d earmarked for us was not one of the 3-tops on either side of it. It probably also helped that I’d called them 30 minutes ahead when we found out the other friend was coming.
It was a miserably cold, rainy night but we were instantly warmed by the atmosphere and bustle when we walked in (their heat may have had something to do with it too). We had been looking forward to our meal all week – we went 1.5 months ago and were very happy. In fact, it became our favorite steak restaurant in NYC. Don’t skip the bread. It comes with some amazing chicken paté. I don’t like liver by itself, but this is incredibly good. Nibble the big fluffy popovers as well, although you should only try a bit of one to save room.
For appetizers we shared baby spinach salad with bacon and Stilton, the crab cake, bacon and potato skins (from the sides column). The tuna tartare was good last time, too. The salad’s ingredients worked surprisingly well together. I love when a dish is so good that it makes me like something I usually don’t, as this did for the Stilton. There was some kind of vinaigrette with it that unobtrusively unified the whole thing. The crab cake is a very thick patty, for lack of a better word, full of crab and some vegetables. It’s really good, as is the creamy sauce it sits on. The bacon comes in traditional steakhouse-style slabs, almost as good (according to Boyfriend) as at Luger’s. The potato skins are not what you’d expect; they’re very thin rectangles similar to large flat pita chips, covered in cheddar, chives and bacon. They taste even better than the greasy TGI Friday’s kind.
Our table was split between 22 oz rib-eyes and 12 oz filets. Every steak has a pat of seasoned butter on top and comes in its own skillet, a nice touch I don’t remember seeing anywhere else. You have the option of maybe 10 different sauces with your steak – I got Béarnaise. Usually restaurants charge extra for sauce, so I like that it’s part of your order here. Especially since each cut is about $40 or more. There was no conversation for a good 10 minutes, as we were too busy devouring everything in sight. They do steak extremely well. It’s juicy and tender and generally the outside is perfectly crisp. One corner of my filet was a little charred this time but I ate around it. Boyfriend was also very happy with his filet, and the other guys tried heroically to finish their giant rib-eyes. Those come with the “eye” full of cooked marrow and a little spoon. My friends said one was a little overcooked and the other a bit under, but seemed pretty happy generally.
The sides come in cute little skillets too – we had leek hash browns, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes and the special artichoke hash browns with bacon. Didn’t really like the last (except the bacon, of course) and I think the leek version is maybe too big a portion for how heavy it is. The spinach was pretty good. The mashed potatoes were the star of the sides, though. They’re a little sweet, look kind of like polenta and are irresistible.
At this point we were completely stuffed with bacon, steak, potatoes and more steak, almost a pound of beef each. I had the Moscato d’Asti – sweet and lovely – and the guys had double espressos. They have some good cocktails as well. The pomegranate sidecar and caipirinha are very good. I found the grapefruit one slightly too citrusy.
The service is great. They’re warm and friendly, and happy to help even if you’re not in their section. They won’t push you to order more expensive things – I finished my Grey Goose soda when they cleared our steaks, and asked the waitress if I should get another one ($12) or the Moscato ($9). Without hesitation she said the Moscato, and she was right. The vodka wouldn’t have rounded out my meal the same way. We like the ambience a lot, too – it makes you feel happy and fun and of course well-fed. I like the giant meat room you can see through glass as you walk into the dining area. It’s good that it doesn’t feel too full of testosterone, the way some more traditional steakhouses do. You could have a lovely date, boys’ or girls’ night out, business dinner… Definitely one of my favorite places in all of Manhattan.
Rating: 9 / 10
Our cost (4 people, ~2 drinks each): $480
Noise level: Well controlled, especially with so many people. We had a pleasant four-way conversation without raising our voices much.
Chance of walking in: medium, but it seems pretty easy to get a reservation a day or two in advance.
