Jan/100
“money’s too tight for steak”
after spending my christmas and new year’s holidays in (relatively) sunny california, i hopped on a plane headed eastwards for new york city.
unfortunately, as this was a work trip, i didn’t have all that many free meals, but i knew that with one of my meals, i wanted steak. big thick american cuts of steak. i had obsessed about having steak since reading ruth reichl’s garlic and sapphires and about her search for the best steakhouse in new york city.
however, as i got in pretty late and it was FREEZING cold. seriously, 0 degrees F or -18 C (that’s like harbin weather!) we didn’t want to go far. despite not really being a steak person, my former intern (has it really been 7 years?) michelle obliged to take me to bobby van’s for a nice cut of beef.
located in midtown manhattan, near my hotel, bobby van’s is somewhat of a new york institution. i say somewhat, because it doesn’t have the name recognition or history of other new york steakhouses like a peter lugar or keen’s or the palm or sparks, but it had just enough history, and more importantly was walking distance from my hotel.
i had the rib cut. my goodness this is a lot of meat.
seriously, this thing is the size of my head! it was perfect. i think i’m a pretty decent cook, but there’s no way i can reproduce the love and care and char and dry aging of a fine piece of meat that a professional steakhouse and chophouse can.
michelle, for some reason, orders the seafood in a steak restaurant. here’s her chilian sea bass (patagonian toothfish!) – next time i’ll give her the monterey bay aquarium guide to sustainable seafood. she did say they did a fine job of preparation.
steak is not just steak, however, it needs sides. and after reading mrs. riechl’s autobiography, i knew that i had to get hash browns. unforutnately, bobby van’s ended up being a big salty mess. all i could taste was the salt. the crab cakes were much better – next time, i’ll go back to my old reliables of asparagus or creamed spinach or mashed potatoes.
one last thing – an old style, long time, midtown steakhouse was not going to be cheap. and bobby van’s wasn’t either. but that steak was pretty spectacular, especially for someone stuck with a supply of australian import meat – or even worse, poor sichuanese cows. so, in that sense, i’m glad i was able to go. however, dinner for 2, not including wine (because neither of us had drinks) set us back about $150 USD.
bobby van’s
230 Park Ave., New York, NY 10169
at 46th St.
212-867-5490
$$$$