Restaurant: Angelo & Maxie's

Yes, I know, yet another steakhouse, but I can't help it if steak is popular, but at least this one is near union square and didn't take me to scary places like midtown west. On my trip to Angelo & Maxie's a group of 6 borderline professional eaters including myself were celebrating a recent engagement of a friend. We picked the steakhouse for a couple of reasons - it was steak, it could handle a rather boisterous group of guys, and it wasn't overly expensive. We went in with no pretense of expecting the best steak we had ever had, and we left knowing it was by no means the best steak we ever had.

We had three bottles of wine throughout the meal, but they were all somewhat after thoughts to the actual food. None of them were too expensive, and on average probably came to about $50 a bottle which is not bad at all for any restaurant, let alone a steak house. The bread was actually a pleasant surprise, including a nice selection of rolls, and soft doughy pretzel bread. We all decided to forego appetizers and just concentrate on tons of meat and sides. 2 groups of 2 decided to share the porterhouse for 2, while another person got the 13oz filet mignon with béarnaise sauce. I myself went with the 13oz filet mignon au poivre (a personal favorite when it comes to steak). The sides can be ordered as smalls or larges, and we of course assumed we would need large shoestring fries, onion strings, garlic mashed potatoes, 2 creamed spinach, and fried zucchini sticks. Our waitress suggested, and thank god she did, to split the fries and onion strings into a single large order.

The guys who had the porterhouse seemed very happy with their steaks, and all seemed to eat as quickly as possible to make sure they "got their money worth" in meat. The filet with béarnaise sauce also seemed to make the person next to me happy, although I tasted the sauce and it was extremely lacking in flavor, closer to a tartar sauce than a béarnaise. My steak, while very tasty was a little over cooked, and also lacked that certain flavor that the better steak houses seem to always have with their meat. Maybe it's how they cook it, how they age it, or just the quality of the steak, but I wouldn't even put it in the top five au poivre steaks I've had. While the au poivre part of the steak was good, the sauce itself lacked much flavor, and relied too much on the pepper and high quality cut of meat, and was a total after thought.

Apparently one thing that Angelo & Maxie's prides itself on is its portion size, which I guess would be great, if we had known that in advance. When the sides first started appearing we were a bit shocked. Depending on the steakhouse you will either get small sides, or bigger sides, but nothing like what we got. The same size platter that held the porter house for two contained foot tall piles of fried zucchini, and the other platter was just as tall split in half with fries and onion strings. The bowls of mashed potatoes and creamed spinach were equally huge, and we realized suddenly that we had extremely over ordered. Despite this we did our best to try to clear our plates, taking it up as a challenge. The fries, sadly, were nothing more than filler, but the onion strings were light, crispy and flavorful. Garlic mashed potatoes were just a bit too much garlic for me, and with all the other heavy foods on the table I had as little as possible. The two biggest standouts for the sides were creamed spinach and fried zucchini. We managed to finish both spinach bowls and even argued over who could get the last spoonful. It was rich, but the cream in the dish didn't overwhelm the actual spinach and made for a great classic side. The fried zucchini (arguably the healthiest thing eaten the whole night) was crispy when it first came out, and seemed to use the same batter as the onion crisps which meant you didn't just feel like you were eating fried dough. The horseradish dipping sauce was both cool and tangy, and almost refreshing compared with all the other food. Sadly, by the time we got the bottom of the huge dish the zucchini had become soggy and lost its crispness.

The idea of dessert was almost a joke, as we all sat around wondering how we could possibly go out drinking afterwards, but all in all the meal was a success when we realized that we got all that food for only $500 (including a very hefty tip). Angelo & Maxie's, while not on the same level as the better steak houses in New York, is a good deal, with good enough food and has a fun and easy going vibe to it.

There aren't that many steakhouses near union square...

Restaurant: Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse

I think anytime your heading to a steakhouse you need to assume two things: Your going to eat a lot of food and really enjoy it and you better bring a lot of money. I am the first to admit that I am not a "steak guy", generally preferring somewhat lighter more elegant food like fish, but my experience at Del Frisco's was very eye opening to me. The night started with a well made 7 & 7 at the bar where I managed to overhear the bartender talking about how the New York version of this nationwide "chain" started off so slowly that corporate had to convince people to stay on. This was followed by him mentioned that they are now the second to only Tavern on the Green in what they are making in New York on a yearly basis. A $12 cocktail probably helped their cause even further.

The restaurant, housed in the McGraw Hill building is immense and immaculate. It has a very old world feel to it with most things being made of wood, or huge wide open windows. We were lucky enough to be seated on the second floor in a room with not too many tables so the only noisemakers were ourselves. We later found out that the space is an old cigar club, which explained the labeled cigar lockers next to us, as well as the wood and airyness of the space. The service itself was almost impeccable, except for two things: Sometimes we couldn't get drinks fast enough (although that may have just been the bunch of alchies I was with) and we didn't get baseball score updates quick enough. The one over the top thing is when they bring you the steaks, they ask you to cut into it in the center, shine a small pen light into your steak and ask you if it is cooked right. I mean, this is one thing I could do without. If it isn't cooked right I will tell you and send it back.

Ok, I should probably get to the food by now huh? I had a Caesar salad to start, and apparently everything is bigger in Texas, including the croutons. I immediately took them off my plate and fed them to the table. You could probably feed a family of 4 with them, and do I really need that much toasted bread before I have my steak? Caesar salad is what it is, a solid salad, but I don't think anyone has ever waxed poetic about a caesar . We also got some crab cakes in a lobster sauce and some onion rings. The onion rings were again huge, but very nice crispy batter, with a pepper mixture that gave it a little kick. I would say it would have been even better with some sorta of Cajun remoulade dipping sauce. The crab cakes were good, but for something that the waitress described as a "specialty" I was a bit underwhelmed. The crab cake itself was meaty and moisthttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif, but the sauce was so strongly flavored that I could taste the crab.

I'm saving the steaks for last if you can't tell. We got a ton of sides, including mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, creamed spinach and some cheesy potatoes (I think?). The creamed spinach was the standout among these to me, although I as I've said before I am now biased towards mac and cheese. So steak....yeah mine was great. I had a huge porterhouse, that was cooked perfectly medium. I actually really like the dry rub that is seared onto the steak, but be warned it is very peppery and could turn some people off. It was on every cut of steak that was had at the table, from the double porter house to the strip. The filet mignon was the only cut that didn't get the rub, but hey, every steak house has their thing, and at least his add a nice accent and flavor to the meat.

I didn't even mess with desserts, but as a whole the meal was excellent, and I left with a very heavy stomach, and a very light wallet. Sometimes you wish the opposite of a meal, but in this case, I was pleased.

Cut That Meat!!!