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12 July 2005
Steak! New York City people: where can I get a decent steak in NYC (preferably Manhattan) for a decent price? I'm thinking cheaper than a steakhouse but still good quality. And they have to know what rare means! Someone? Anyone?
What neighborhood? Hanratty's is on the West side of Madison Avenue between 97th & 98th - excellent filet mignon, but no reason to travel that far north if you are downtown. Around $20-$22. Someone should be able to recommend a place for you in the neighborhood of your choice.
Hmmm. . .I will defer to fellow tri-state area Metachatters. I know the steak houses but am not as familiar with neighborhood joints that have great steak at a reasonable price.
/Off Topic/
East Village!
If I was there today I would hit the The Original New York Milkshake Co. (Fruit drinks and such, too, not just milkshakes) St. Mark's btw 2nd & 3rd
Bao Noodles is fantastic - 2nd Ave @ 22nd - take out! (also have a place on Ave. C somewhere)
OMG! East Village Meat Market, 2nd Ave 8th & 9th, amazing butcher shop.
Azul Bistro, 152 Stanton St. at Suffolk. Kickass steaks, Argentine-style. Reasonably priced. Small, though, and not very accomodating to big parties if they're crowded. Outdoor seating, as I recall. Well worth it.
If I was there today I would hit the The Original New York Milkshake Co. (Fruit drinks and such, too, not just milkshakes) St. Mark's btw 2nd & 3rd
No offense, but I found that place to be a total ripoff (especially with the worlds best egg creams just around the corner at Ray's Candy Store). But it's not as bad as that nouveau grilled cheese place on ludlowe. They make the sandwiches in a fucking panini press, on unbuttered bread. That's just wrong.
Sadly, I don't have any steak recommendations, since I too broke to eat steak most of the time. Someday I'll hit Peter Luger's though to see if it lives up to the hype.
I hate panini presses. And their offspring. The panini.
I'll stop there, though. People who eat panini are misguided, and thus worthy of pity, not hatred.
On preview, I gather it's hard to get a reservation at Peter Luger's. And some say it's overrated. Some say it's not. Then the one set of somes who like it start bickering with the somes who don't, and a fracas ensues. Over steaks. I'd still like to try PL's sometime, though.
Set a reservation for a "late" lunch if you can, it's easier to get in. Basically, we went right at the end of their lunch offering (which is a pretty low cost hamburger or you can do $teak, too). We did the steak. I took the day off for it, truth be told. It's what I did for my birthday last year. I don't have any other NYC steakhouses to compare it to though.
Lugers is weird if you are not forewarned. It's a shithole, the bathrooms are filthy, the waiters are RUDE. You don't go for the service or the ambiance, the steaks are really really good (but not like buttery Filet Mingon, Like giant grilled toilet seats of steak). It's worth it for the experience (and the bacon, jesus the bacon, it's the bacon that Odin eats, God Bacon).
Gaspode, if you are in the east village I would prowl around the various french bistro joints in the area for a steak frite that you like. I haven't been around long enough to remember specifics, but in that area it's your best bet. But you could go to lugers and drop a hundred plus for two and make an event of it. Eat beans for a week and then wild out.
Good suggestions, people. Thank you (but if you have more by all means keep them coming). I'm not averse to steakhouses: I'd just like to have a few places in the back of my mind that don't need reservations or saving for. I like the idea of checking out the french bistro places, good idea Divine_Wino.
Hrrmm we used to live around the corner from Balthazar - has anyone eaten there?
mlis, I too love Bao noodles. And I have harrassed my husband into overpriced milkshakes at that place on St. Marks (after a huge burger at Paul's... I was paying for that all the next day). Mmmm mint chip.
Hrrmm we used to live around the corner from Balthazar - has anyone eaten there?
Very good steak (they do it with the decadent knob of butter on top), I ate there on the corporate dime back in the bubble, but lord the attitude and get this - There is a guy in the bathroom and after you pee you have to give him money! WTF? This is America, we fought a war just so we wouldn't have to get mugged for a dollar every time we pee. (that was what that was about right?)
Divine_Wino is totally right about the atmosphere and service you might get at PL. It's good that he pointed it out. It made me remember how disappointed I was with that part.
Hrrmm we used to live around the corner from Balthazar - has anyone eaten there?
Eaten a meal there? No, but, working a few blocks away, I have gone there for happy hour, ordered an overpriced beer, then feasted on the free hardboiled eggs, parmesan crisps and other goodies they put out. One nice thing about soho, even if you dress like I do, people will assume your an artist rather than merely a bum, even in a joint like that.
I've had great steak frites at Markt on W.14th, and at that Belgian place on Greenwich Avenue (i always forget the name). Most French places do a good one. Florent's is not terrible, but not as good as other places.
Unless you go the skirt steak route. Brazilian joints do 'em well, and cheap cuts like skirt wind up cheap on the menu. But I only know the ones in Queens.
I think it's 50 bucks (not including drinks) but there is this place in Tribeca, Brazilian steakhouse. All you can eat and they are really nice, really really nice. I caught a meat overdose for real, when I went there for my friends PG-13 bachelor party. I was beet red and hell of woozy for like 6 hours. Although it might also have had something to do with the fact that we had to go to Yankee's game beforehand and I hate the janks, so I had a hotdog eating contest with myself to prove that Mets fans are more nuts.
Anyway good steakhouse, turns out I can eat a shitload. These dudes in sashes come around with swords and big meat on stick deals and they have Mojito carts and carts with that amazing Brazilian drink that starts with a c or a q and has mad limes in it. It's tamer than the ones in queens cause they don't have rabbit and whatever that hell else it was I ate that time. Good salad bar too, sushi and everything, don't eat anything from the salad bar, it's a trick.
Hot damn, Divine_Wino, that place looks awesome! I was gonna go to an all you can eat Brazilian steakhouse when I was in Portugal last year, but never got around to it.
Well, it's not cheap, but if you're going with a friend or two, it's totally worth splitting a porterhouse - MarkJoseph Steakhouse - Best steakhouse in manhattan IMHO.
There's a Brazilian steak joint in Astoria called Churrascaria Tropical (which has a nearby outpost called Sabor Tropical) on Broadway, I think. I'd google it but I have to pull a few rates right now.
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