Category Archives: American

American, Burgers, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews

Legasea Bar & Grill

May 8, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Connected to the Moxy hotel near Penn Station is a pretty cool bar and grill that serves up a great burger, named after my friend Dave from Golden Packing, their meat supplier. Check out my Ride & Review video HERE (second stop in the video):

You may think this doesn’t look too great. I thought so too. The cheese isn’t melted and the tomato is too thick. But it is DAMN GOOD! It’s made from ground prime NY strip steak. It’s more like a steakhouse burger than a standard bar burger. Go give it a shot! But skip the “wagyu” pigs in a blanket. They were dry!

LEGASEA BAR & GRILL
485 7th Ave
New York, NY 10018

American, Burgers, Eastern European, Fusion, Midtown East, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Other Cuts, Restaurant Reviews

Mischa

April 27, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First off, check out my YouTube Ride & Review video HERE.

This joint popped onto my radar via Instagram, and I saw a couple of dishes that I really wanted to try when I browsed their menu online, Namely, the mortadella and foie gras terrine, and the dry aged prime rib. There were some pasta items on the menu that looked good too, so I rounded up another couple to give this place a thorough try across the entire menu.

This joint serves eastern European flavors and derives inspiration for dishes from India, the Baltic region, Russia, Scandinavia and more.

The cocktails I tried were split down the middle: One was great, the other was too sweet. If you like margaritas, get this horseradish and cucumber version with smoked salt. Amazing.

Skip on the old fashioned – it’s way too sweet.

We decided to start with the foie gras and mortadella terrine. All of us were excited. It was good, but I think we all agreed that we like both items separate rather than together. Good flavor, thoughtful presentation, etc. It’s just that 2+2=4 in this case, not 5. Math.

Next up was the mushroom patty melt. The bartender recommended this, and it turned out to be our top two or three item of the night. I never would have ordered it otherwise. It was both beautiful and tasty.

It comes with two “long tots” which eat like a cross between tots, fish sticks and knish. Enjoyable.

For the middle course, we tried two items under the pasta menu: spaetzle and kasha varnishkes. The kasha varnishkes were bowtie pasta shaped noodles, cooked al dente, and served with a mix of caramelized onion, couscous and herbs. It was good but a bit heavy on the onion. My buddy said there wasn’t enough butter. The spaetzle was the better of the two. In fact, that was my favorite item of the night.

For the mains, we ordered the braised pork belly, the dry aged prime rib, and a side of saag (Indian style stewed spinach).

The pork belly was good. It had a nice flavor despite some of the leaner portions being slightly dry. Nice touch with the charred lemon.

The prime rib was dry and mealy/grainy in texture. I’m not sure what happened here, because even though it was overcooked there should have been a lot of juiciness left. The dry aged flavor was nice though, at least, but the jus should have been left in a gravy boat on the side rather than poured over the entire plate without asking. The jus was over-reduced and a bit bitter, sadly. Also, at $120 for 20oz it’s way steep, even with the boiled potatoes as a “composed dish” rather than “a la carte” like a steakhouse. 6/10.

Here’s a shot of the saag. I always love this stuff. It’s my go to order at Indian restaurants.

Dessert was a beautiful and warm sticky bun with apple and a touch of flake salt and spices like cardamom. This was a hit.

Over all this place served up a good meal, but not great. I was disappointed by the prime rib and probably wouldn’t go back.

MISCHA
157 E 53rd St
New York, NY 10022

American, Midtown East, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Other Cuts, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

Albert’s Bar

March 11, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Albert’s is a fancy bar that just opened up near Grand Central that features some really nice cocktails and a killer menu. I highly recommend the Salt & Pepper Martini, which is made with celery salt and sun dried tomato -infused vodka.

This joint is brought to you by the folks behind the great upper east side spot The Penrose, so I didn’t expect any slack!

I stopped by one Friday after work to meet my wife for a drink, but we ended up ordering their jojo fries, and their t-bone for two, which is a dry-aged 35oz beast that also comes with two sides for $150. What a deal!

We went with the lemon and walnut crispy Brussels and the spatzl “mac” and cheese. Both were incredible!

The steak itself was an easy 8/10. It had mild aged flavor, but it ws cooked to a perfect medium rare with a great, deep golden brown crust all over.

I’ll definitely be back to try the tartare, the strip steak frites, and the burger.

ALBERT’S BAR
140 E 41st St
New York, NY 10017

American, East Village, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

Down and Out

January 25, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

My wife and I went to Down and Out in the East Village to try their crazy “double dozens” oyster happy hour. They currently offer two varieties of oysters for $1.50ea, but when you order a dozen, you get a second dozen for free. Essentially, they’re $0.75ea, which is the cheapest I’ve seen them in town!

We tried both the Kusshi (small ones, west coast of Canada) and Glidden Point (pictured above). My wife preferred the Kusshi, and I liked the ones from Glidden Point.

We also tried their “oyster pan roast,” which is a really nice bisque-like oyster and potato soup. It might not be much to look at in the photo, but I assure you it was delicious!

We also got down on their blue claw crab cake sandwich, which was nice and tasty, topped with a home made slaw.

They also serve a lot of high end canned fish items, like these sardines.

Their deviled quail eggs are good too. These come eight pieces per order.

Lots of these food items are discounted at happy hour, like the oysters. The happy hour runs daily from 4pm-7pm, and they also offer two different beers for $3, as well as discounted cocktails.

Most notable about this place, however, is the great whiskey selection, which includes some very rare, vintage bottles that the owner/bartender Josh secured from various estate sales.

He gave us some samples of a few really nice old bottles, like that Canadian Club from 1940! Soon there will be an entire separate menu of vintage whiskeys here, which will nearly double the current selection of whiskey on the menu. Stay tuned!

DOWN AND OUT
503 E 6th Street
New York, NY 10009

American, French, Midtown East, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, NY Strip, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews

Cornelius

January 22, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Cornelius is a new French and American style joint in Grand Central. My wife and I came in to give it a try, as the menu looked pretty incredible.

We started with some cocktails, all of which were killer. My favorites were the Sazerac (not pictured) and the caviar martini. If you have some time before you start to eat, grab the espresso old fashioned. That also works well with dessert too though.

We started with this foie gras terrine, which wasn’t on the menu. This is basically delicious meat butter, and it would also pair well with their cheese plate. We had that for dessert.

Next up was the beef tartare. This is made from hand cut prime tenderloin, but the bump of caviar is extra/not standard. I really loved this, and it’s definitely large enough to eat as a main course.

We shared this beautiful 28oz, 30-day dry aged NY strip/shell steak on the bone.

The sauce is a velvety and mild Hollandaise, and draped over the bone is a nice portion of sautéed broccoli rabe. On top, shaved Perigord black truffle. 9/10 – very tender, well rested, and great aged flavor coming through on that evenly browned crust.

Of course we didn’t stop there. These two dishes were both beautiful and well executed, but the winner of the night goes to the duck leg confit. The lamb collops of tenderloin were perfect, it’s just that the duck was masterfully prepared, The meat was so tender and well seasoned/balanced. And with a huge bed of lentils underneath, it was filling as well. Make sure you order that!

For dessert, along with the cheese plate up above, we had these incredible dolce de leche donuts. WOW! I was actually shoving some of the currant jelly into the hole to make them even more decadent.

This place is crazy good, and I really can’t wait to go back to try the chateaubriand for two and a few other items that look great.

CORNELIUS
89 East 42nd Street
New York, NY 10017

American, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, Union Square/Flatiron

Olde City

January 18, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check out my Ride and Review video of this joint.

Aight, let’s get into it.

Rumor has it, a former partner from Shorty’s struck out on his own after some creative differences. Behold, the birth of Olde City – in fact, Olde City has taken over this former Shorty’s space on Madison Avenue. While it may seem redundant, it isn’t. Shorty’s has gone downhill lately, and Olde City is better than Shorty’s ever was.

Here’s what we tried:

Authentic Philly Cheese – wiz wit. Absolutely delicious. I was almost going to add some American cheese to this, but I think the move for me next time will be “extra wiz.”

Roast Pork – my favorite item of the meal.

Slow cooked to perfection and thinly sliced, the pork is melt-in-your-mouth. Best paired with provolone cheese to contrast with the brightness of the broccoli rabe. I went for many dips into the au jus.

Mango Habanero Chicken Philly Cheese, with ghost pepper jack cheese. I was dead set on trying something different. This was really nice.

Contrary to what you might expect, I actually love chicken Philly cheesesteaks. Nevertheless, this one came in third behind the other two sandwiches.

We also had the Old Bay dry rub wings – a crispy hit!

Italian fries and beer battered onion rings rounded out the sides.

And, of course, great beer selection.

I’m a huge fan of this place, so I hope to be back to try their burgers and other sandwiches as well.

OLDE CITY
66 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016

American, Midtown East, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Other Cuts, Porterhouse, Restaurant Reviews

Monterey

December 17, 2022 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Taking over the old Maloney & Porcelli space is Monterey, a gorgeous mid-century modern decor and cuisine inspired restaurant.

The cocktails are fun here, especially the martini cart, where you choose between three gins or three vodkas, then you choose your vermouth as well as bitters and garnish. While a bit small and not so strong for the high price point ($26), it was a great presentation and idea.

They have a nice big gin and tonic.

For starters we tried the special pork trotter with sweetbreads and coddled egg.

This was richly delicious.

To balance that, we cut it with some crisp fried artichoke that came with a bright citrus aioli.

On a second visit, we tried the steak tartare, the sweetbreads and the foie gras. Of these, the foie was the best.

For my main, I ordered the prime rib, which comes to you on a classic table side cart.

While mine was a bit diagonally mis-cut, it was a perfect chuck side beauty. Check out the pronounced spinalis and complexus.

Very nice medium rare temp and with a great crispy seasoned coating on the edges. 9/10.

The prime rib comes with a generous sized cup of buttery, whipped mashed potatoes. We added the red pepper broccolini to go with it.

On a second visit I had the porterhouse. 8/10.

My wife had the crab and uni spaghetti with lime butter sauce. Really nice! The sauce tasted almost like a roux.

On our second visit, she had this really awesome Iberico pork chop that came on a bed of corn and with garnishes of mushrooms and bacon. This was the winner that night.

On the side we had Cy Eats’ Romano Beans with her chili oil.

For dessert, we had the dark chocolate tart and the ricotta beignets. Both good, but we preferred the donuts!

On a second visit, the cloud cake dessert really hit the spot. Light and airy like a strawberry shortcake almost.

We were both very happy with this meal, and I definitely want to come back to try more of their offerings – especially the pork chop! Here’s the damage – not sure why the header says “Book and Fox.”

MONTEREY
37 E 50th St
New York, NY 10022

American, Burgers, Fusion, Midtown West, Press Reviews, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

The Elgin

November 16, 2022 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

The Elgin is a great midtown bar with international flare to the menu. My friend Sean, the chef who developed the menu here, recently invited me in to try some of the food, and, of course, to shoot some photos for Instagram. Here’s what we had:

Curry Hill Wings

These dry-rub wings are intensely flavorful and deliciously crisp, and they come with a nice tangy yogurt-based dipping sauce.

Detroit Style Pizza

Although these are more flatbread than Detroit, they are absolutely delicious. We tried the spicy sausage pizza.

Tuna Poke Nachos

These are incredible. This was by far my favorite dish of the night. Make sure you order this when you come here!

Burrata

Very nice. Super soft and flavorful, especially with the balance of sweet and savory coming from the tomatoes, blackberries and strawberries.

Lamb Burger

This thick patty beauty was so flavorful, and with the tzatziki style sauce, it really brought home those Greek comfort food flavors.

Southern Chicken Sandwich

Bacon and pimento cheese sauce with fried chicken? YES! So good. We actually liked this better than the burger.

I definitely cant wait to come back here to try more of the menu, especially the cocktails. We were stuffed! Likely because of the beer.

THE ELGIN
64 W 48th St
New York, NY 10036

American, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

Flower Shop

September 30, 2022 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

My wife and I tried this place for happy hour. They offer $1.50 oysters, lower priced starters and some drink specials as well.

The oysters were great (not pictured), and so was the scotch egg.

We also tried their fried chicken. This was pretty good. At $24 the price was a bit steep, but I really enjoyed the charred lemon and unique flavors in the batter. Worth a try for sure.

I would definitely go back for more, and to shoot some pool.

FLOWER SHOP
107 Eldridge St
New York, NY 10002

American, Deli, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

Joey Roses

September 10, 2022 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Joey Roses dive bar/social club on the Lower East Side that was recently featured on Eater as a spot where you can still get some cheap, good eats. After reading the article and seeing how close it was to home, I had to try it.

The thrust of the article was that, from 5pm-7pm and from 10pm-12am, they offer “buy two get a third free” deal on their sandwiches. Their sandwiches are regularly priced at $8. Can’t beat it!

They’re nicely packed Italian sandwiches, filled with mortadella, beef, salami, you name it. They have a few different selections you can make. My wife and I picked up three different sandwiches. All were good, but the mortadella sandwich was king. It comes with mozz and sweet cherry peppers on it. Killer.

Make sure you also get some of their crispy fried Brussels Sprouts. The touch of agave syrup on them really sets them apart from others. They’re perfect!