Plunging financial markets, bankrupt companies, and an unavoidable recession have produced a parade of somber faces in the media. The endless credit glory days are over. New York is in mourning. Indeed, the City may be grieving, but it’s not doing so in a puritanical fashion. A recent dinner at BLT Prime, situated in Gramercy, on 22nd Street, between Park and Lexington Avenues, revealed that the businessmen and women of this city are paying their respects as if they’re at an Irish Catholic wake. Groups of people in customized suits made toasts and burst into laughter in the comfortably noisy dining room, decorated with sepia images of classic New York. Despite Andrew Cuomo’s recent declaration that the “postmortem parties” are done, cunning New Yorkers have discovered how to continue celebrating.
Unlike the traditional meat-and-potato steakhouses, which these days fill an ironic niche much like the trucker hat, BLT Prime is a forward-looking restaurant. They offer a wide array of high-quality beef, along with substantial seafood offerings and creative side dishes. Prime and Porter House in the Time Warner Center could be siblings. The cuts of beef figuratively and literally take center stage at Prime. They’re housed in a glass dry aging room that you must walk past on your way to be seated. The tags hanging on the aging carcasses should have read “Lehman Brothers,” “AIG,” “Merill Lynch,” “Wachovia” and “WaMu.”
Overall, the food was solid and dependable, unlike the raging Wall Street roller coaster. We borrowed from the Japanese and ordered the special Kobe Flatiron medium rare, seared in a coat of pepper, at the overvalued price of $54. A look around the dining room showed we were not the only ones racking up more debt. A selection of sauces is offered with all of the steaks. This isn’t Applebee’s; there’s no need to cover up the meaty taste of these succulent steaks. Our dinner companions were happily satiated with their filet mignon and 22 oz. rib eye. All steaks are served on cast-iron hot pans and then transferred to your plate, a bit of accident-prone showmanship, akin to chugging Flaming Dr. Peppers in honor of your Uncle Joe O’Connelly.
The side dishes, appetizers and desserts capture the restaurant’s entrepreneurial character. Crunchy blue cheese tater tots served standing up, side-by-side. We expected them to fall, if only because we were too conditioned to the turns of the market. A salad of goat cheese dollops hidden by thinly sliced ruby red beets flavored with a smidge of cinnamon. A lemon “meringue” pie topped with pillowy, campfire-charred marshmallows. All were presented in delicate portions – if only the credit companies had doled out cards in the same way.
The restaurant indulged us with a freebie of two bread courses. A simple white slice, followed up by a gigantic popover, a house specialty. Our check arrived at the end of the meal, and there were no coupons or special sale price slashes to be found on it. We wondered how many patrons would be attaching their receipts to their expense reports tomorrow.
Review: BLT Prime
-Celebrating the recession, Irish Style – 4 olives – It’s good to see that New Yorker’s know how to have a good time during a downturn. It’s like the Irish, when they celebrated their epic potato famine. We bet those were some good steaks.
-Blue cheese tater tots – 5 olives – Not only delicious, but they stood firm the entire time despite our expectations of a downturn. We’re investing the remainder of our life savings in fancy tater futures.
-Freebies for the rest of them – 4 olives – We realize that not everyone can afford the luxuries of a classic Irish wake. Those free popovers can probably feed a family of 5 for at least 2 days.
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