This new sandwich joint and bar slings some great sandwiches. We ordered for delivery, but it was good enough to mention as a restaurant review here.
We tried a spicy mortadella, a Korean rib sandwich, a meatloaf banh mi, and a chicken Caesar salad sandwich. They have funky names and I forget which ‘wich is which.
The bread is great here, and if I had to choose favorites, I’d go with the banh mi and the mortadella.
CLUBHOUSE SANDOS & SUDS
22 Orchard St
New York, NY 10002
I finally got to try some of the famous pizza in New Haven. My buddy and I took a ride up and tried both Sally’s Apizza and Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana.
First, Pepe’s:
We tried the white clam pie, and their tomato and mozz pie.
Both were pretty good, but we liked the tomato and mozz pie better.
The award winning clam pizza was nice, but I feel like I’ve had better.
Next up was Sally’s:
Here, we tried the tomato and mozz pie, along with the potato and rosemary pie.
We both liked the tomato and mozz pie slightly better, but I have to say, I really enjoyed the potato and rosemary pie. It had a ton of flavor!
Over all, though, the classic was king. And between the two pizza joints, we liked Sally’s better than Pepe’s.
I’m still partial to NYC pizza, but this stuff was pretty good.
FRANK PEPE PIZZERIA NAPOLETANA
157 Wooster St
New Haven, CT 06511
SALLY’S APIZZA
237 Wooster St
New Haven, CT 06511
Allure is the new restaurant inside the Belleclaire Hotel on the upper west side, right on the corner of 77th and Broadway. The dining room has a beautiful skylight atrium overhead, almost like an old timey greenhouse.
My wife and I started with a round of delicious cocktails, my favorite of which was the smoked old fashioned, made with pistachio infused spirits.
Next, we had a trio of apps: prawns, tuna tartare and grilled baby cuttlefish. Of these, the prawns were definitely our favorite. The mole-esque sauce and spice levels were absolutely incredible.
For our mains, we had the rainbow trout with charred kale, olives and artichokes, along with the prime NY strip, which comes from Golden Packing.
Both were excellent, but, as predicted, the steak was the winner for me. The reverse was true for my wife.
The steak was a juicy and perfectly cooked center cut gem, smothered with a peppery au poivre cream sauce that I could drink every day. 9/10.
Served with florentino, a sort of broccolini meets cauliflower green-stalked flowering veggie, this is a steal of a composed meal at just $55. The steak was about 12oz. That’s blue cheese or gorgonzola on top, not butter.
We also did a side of mushrooms to go with this. Delicious.
For dessert, we had the “Nutella Kiss” with pistachio ice cream and merengue, and a creme brulee bread pudding. Both were top notch.
I would 100% go back here again. What a beautiful and delicious restaurant!
ALLURE
2175 Broadway
New York, NY 10024
My wife took me here for a nice dinner last week. I’m calling this a French steakhouse. Not sure if that’s correct, but I feel like it fits into my review categories nicely.
First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:
Flavor: 7
Sadly, the boneless domestic wagyu rib eye was WAY over salted. I hunkered through half of it, but I could not finish and had to give up. It was a beauty though, with a great crust. 5/10.
My wife had the bacon wrapped venison loin, which was much better, despite the little snaggle of connective tissue in the middle.
Nicely cooked. Irony without game flavor. Lean and clean. 8/10.
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 7
There’s a good selection of cuts here all day long, but they don’t have enough dry aged selections. I would also like to see more traditional Angus on the menu, as opposed to all the fancy wagyu cross breed shit.
Portion Size & Plating: 8
My steak was like $105 for a pound, which is about right for the domestic wagyu varieties. Portions here are good for everything else, and plating is definitely understated but elegant.
Price: 8
The prices here are average to slightly above, which makes sense for the location near lots of FiDi businesses.
Bar: 8
The bar here is small but nicely appointed as you walk in. No sidewalk people watching views, but its snug and cozy. They made some nice drinks too, both standard cocktails and their signatures.
Specials and Other Meats: 8
I mentioned there was venison, which is rare and nice to see. They also offered a Peri Peri chicken dish, which I’d love to try. It feeds two and is only $68.
Apps, Sides & Desserts: 7
We started with the beef tartare summer roll with lemongrass sauce. This was really nice, but they just need to wrap it a bit tighter. This was probably the best dish of the night, with a close second to a side that I’ll discuss below.
Skip the marrow. The table-side service is unnecessary (at least it wasn’t theatrics), and it was mainly just a fancy bread service or sandwich. Probably better off getting a burger and fries for a few dollars less.
The mushrooms were ever more over-salted than the steak We actually had to send them back, which is wild because we NEVER do that.
They replaced it with this bean cassoulet thing, which was actually quite good and was a close second for my favorite dish of the night.
The miso creamed spinach was nice. As you can tell, there’s a distinct theme for trying to bring Asian fusion into the menu.
For dessert, they forgot to bring out our Vietnamese style egg coffee, but the basque style cheesecake was nice enough.
Seafood Selection: 8
We didn’t take on any seafood, but they did have some nice looking shellfish and tower selections, as is common with steakhouses. The king crab cake was a whopping $45. I wonder if that is any good. Too rich for my blood!
Service: 10
Service was really good here. They brought out some complimentary bubbles at the beginning and end of our meal, since my wife told them it was our anniversary on the reservation. They also comped the drinks, desserts and the bogus side for us, which they replaced gratis as well. This was a really great gesture, and they genuinely tried to make the evening nice despite the mishaps. They did forget our coffee, though. I was done complaining for the night, so we just let it slide. A for effort, I guess.
Ambiance: 9
Gorgeous dining space, with big private booths that you can curtain off if you’d like. I really dig the space. Very elegant but casual. A nice balance.
LA MARCHANDE
88 Wall St.
New York NY, 10005
