Category Archives: Long Island

Long Island, Rib Eye, Steakhouse Reviews

J&R (Islip, Long Island)

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J&R overall score: 65

J&R is a local Long Island steakhouse chain. They are reasonably priced, decent places to eat.
 
Flavor: 5
J&R usually does a better job (I’ve eaten at several locations and usually it is good), but my latest experience wasn’t too great. My friend and I both ordered the marinated 24oz ribeye – his medium rare and mine medium – but both of ours came back two levels overcooked than we ordered.  His was medium well, and mine was well. The marinade here is heavy on soy sauce flavors, and I think they let the meat hit the grill while it was still wet with marinade, which is a big no-no in steak cookery ethics. Unlike Murtha’s, which knows how to marinate a steak for maximum flavor extraction, J&R simply ruined theirs. I chalk the over cooking up to bad kitchen staff at this particular location, since I’ve had better steaks at their other locations. They offer standard grilled as well as marinated in terms of methods of cooking. This was my first time trying the marinated kind. I was unimpressed with it. As I said earlier – too heavy on the soy.
  
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 7
All choice cuts, but lots of choices here at J&R. They have three of the four basics, and then some, offering t-bone, roumanian (usually skirt), pork, and lamb cuts. They may lack a strip, but for the price of the porterhouse, you can just grab that and take the filet side home with you. They also offer three sizes of prime rib for women and men with vaginas.
 
Portion Size & Plating: 7
The ribeye (their signature steak) comes in two flavors: 12oz for pussies, or 24oz for men. The porterhouse is 36oz, the t-bone is 24oz, and the filet is 7oz. Prime rib comes in 8, 12 or 18oz portions. These are average for a good steakhouse, so for a cheap joint, they are great.
 
Price: 8
You get a large meal here for your money. The total bill for two 32oz beers and two 24oz steak dinners (they come with veggies, potato, and soup or salad) came to $82 with a generous tip included. Not bad! I deducted two points based on not getting the best flavor for your money – but as my dad always says – “shit you pay, shit you get.”
 
Bar: 7
Not the best place to hang out, but they do have a cool bar. I did not order my standard martini this time, since I saw that they had monstrous 32oz beers and a good wheat beer on tap. The bar area is nice, and we sat on high tables there rather than in one of the two dining rooms that flanked it.
 
Specials and Other Meats: 6
No specials here at J&R – their menu is already huge and full of selections. They have pork chops, ribs, lamb chops, and chicken by way of non-beef.
 
Apps, Sides & Desserts: 6
We didn’t order any sides or apps, since the steaks come with veggies and potato in a composed plate. The french fries were well executed; the veggies were a below-average mix of green beans, onion and broccoli. Dessert sounded mediocre so we passed on that. The salad was above average, but nothing more than good diner fare. The bread for the table was warm and toasted, and they also served a pasta salad with a nice big pickle along with it. A point for that!
 
Seafood Selection: 6
Lobster, salmon, tilapia, shrimp, and flounder were under the seafood section. No clams or oysters on the half shell! Damn you J&R. I may have ordered an app if you had them.
 
Service: 7
We saw our waiter three times: Once to take drink orders, once to take food orders, and once to get the bill. Nothing was done poorly, but nothing exceptional either. It was busy, even at a late 8:30/9:00 seating, so good marks for not screwing anything up!
 
Ambiance: 6
The decor is kinda bare in comparison to other J&R interiors. The tables had white paper on them as opposed to the red & white checkerboard or weathered wood of other locations. My thinking is that they tried to make this location look more up scale since it is in a nice looking stand-alone building. It needed something.

J&R’S STEAKHOUSE
116 Montauk Hwy.
Islip, NY 11751

Long Island, Rib Eye, Steakhouse Reviews

Murtha’s (Long Island)

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Murtha’s overall score: 70

Murtha’s is a small neighborhood joint in the area where I grew up. It holds a special place in my mind, since I have been there a number of times and have even had friends who worked there back in high school. UPDATE: Murtha’s is now CLOSED FOR BUSINESS. The owner passed away, and the family decided it would be too difficult to keep the busines going. What a shame!

Flavor: 7

Murtha’s packs a punch. This little mom & pop offers better tasting choice steaks than some of the prime and aged steaks you find at more expensive places considered “top steakhouses.” That is the difference that truly knowing meat can make. You can coax really great flavor out of even grocery store cuts if you understand meat, how it tenderizes, and how flavor develops while cooking or during preparations. Murtha’s knows what they are doing. This is the kind of place to order a marinated steak; it turns choice into prime. Simply getting a broiled steak here may leave you unsatisfied; go with the blackened or marinated versions. I ordered my ribeye medium but it came back medium-well. It was, however, cooked evenly throughout, and it was delicious.

Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 7

Murtha’s covers the basics of steakhouse cuts (though they call their strip a NY sirloin, so it might not be the most marbled of that particular cut). They also occasionally offer a flank or something on special. On my last trip they had a t-bone and a special filet as well. The meat is choice, but it is treated with care and different preparations are offered for boosting the flavor, such as marinated, blackened, or charbroiled. Occasionally they offer a garlic-rubbed preparation as well. They also offer pork chops, lamb chops, and several styles of chicken.

Portion Size & Plating: 7

Murtha’s portions are on par with the big boys here, which is impressive for a small place, especially one that does not charge you an arm and a leg (the exact same cost of a pirate’s hook and peg-leg). They regularly offer a 24oz porterhouse, a 20oz ribeye, a 12oz NY “sirloin,” and a 10oz filet. The t-bone is 20oz. Plating is basic: nothing fancy. All steaks come with a veggie and a potato, and soup or salad. Bonus.

Price: 9

You get a great meal here for your money. I came with a gift card, so even better for me! Total for two entrees, two appetizers, soup, salad, and a side of creamed spinach was just under $100. My gift card covered more than half, so this was a steal for us.

Bar: 7

Not the best place to hang out, but they do have a decent bar for watching sports and they do make a solid martini – even leaving the small shaker for you to pour out that last bit of ice-melted gin into your quiffy, curved, diva-style martini glass for a second slurping. Occasionally they have live music at the end of the bar too.

Specials and Other Meats: 7

Murtha’s definitely offers a variety of specials that run across each section of the menu. They often offer garlic preparations of each of their steaks, which are nice. In the “other meats” category they have pork chops, lamb chops, and chicken.

Apps, Sides & Desserts: 7

Despite the lack of oysters being on the menu, which I consider to be a steakhouse MUST HAVE, Murtha’s offers some less traditional but still yummy alternatives. The fried ravioli is delicious. And if you need to get your shellfish fix like I do, they still offer clams on the half shell (at a very reasonable price), as well as shrimp, crab and calamari. The crab cakes are a bit under par, but not horrible for $9. At $9 for the clams on the half shell, you get 6 on the plate. Not cheap but also not that expensive. The creamed spinach was average to slightly under par (a little bland but okay for a few bites). The soup and/or salad that comes with the meal are basic throw aways – filler. The fries, however, are great – nice and double fried to a golden crisp.

Seafood Selection: 6

In addition to the semi-typical seafood appetizer offerings, Murthas has a decent amount of fish on their menu for the weak, vaginal appetite: several preparations of shrimp and scallops, sole, lobster, and king crab legs (nice touch Murtha’s!). Nothing fancy though – either simply broiled, scampi, or fried. The scallops were good, nicely cooked, and you get about eight large ones in your order.

Service: 7

As a local joint, Murtha’s generously employs local school kids as bus boys. The service is good, reliable, and friendly. Murtha’s has provided me and my family with satisfying meals for between 15 and 20 years now, so, clearly, it makes no difference if a waiter wears a tie or knows his/her meat. As long as they are friendly and the food is good, what else really matters? Appetizers were a little slow to come out, but everything else was well timed. Bread was warm, butter was spreadable.

Ambiance: 6

Go here knowing that Murtha’s is not the greatest location (a storefront next to a Sleepy’s and a floor/carpet place), it is a little small, and it’s not very classic steak-house. But also understand that it is not cheesy like some local places with horrible themes.
Flash Deals, Long Island, Rib Eye, Steakhouse Reviews

Mac’s (Long Island)

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Mac’s overall score: 80

I stumbled upon Mac’s while browsing some half-off coupon deals on a local Long Island website; it turned out to be a nice find. I purchased a half-off coupon (I paid $25 to get $50 worth of gift certificate) because I was impressed by what I saw on the menu online, so my wife and I went to check it out for a late lunch. In summary, Mac’s is a great restaurant, but as far as pure steak is concerned, I have had better. Read on:

Flavor: 6

First, please note that the flavor marks here are for the steak only. As it turns out, the flavor of their other items probably would have merited a higher score, possibly something like 8 or 9, but I felt a sense of duty to score primarily on the steak. I ordered a dry-aged bone-in ribeye. It was cooked a bit over along the edges, and a bit under in the center, but other than that it had a good charred flavor and good crisp despite being a little bit under-seasoned. Perhaps the uneven cooking was a result of the fact that it was a Sunday, early in the day, and just after brunch service. They may have had a different cook/chef in the kitchen and the steak was fired in a way that is not typical of their normal dinner service. The chop itself had a bit more gristle than I would have liked or expected from a well-aged steak, but that is the nature of a ribeye sometimes. In hindsight, I probably should have ordered the boneless ribeye, which seemed to be dressed up a bit more to impart additional flavor (Gorgonzola and truffles were involved in its preparation). Sometimes I am a purist, and want my steaks pretty much just cooked correctly with nothing except salt & pepper, but other times I want my taste buds to get a kick in the ass. Today I was somewhere right in the middle. The server even offered to have the bone-in prepared in the same way as the boneless; I guess I was just thinking the dry-aged bone-in would have a better natural flavor. I may have to go back and try the boneless ribeye.

Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 9

I was blown away by the selection of beef this place offers. They have all of the four basic cuts (ribeye, porterhouse, strip, & filet), offered in various sizes and preparations. On top of that, they also had a T-bone, skirt steak, a Kansas City sirloin, some “Texas Kobe,” braised short rib, and other great selections of meats; a true chop house. They offered wet-aged steaks that were also served with starch and veggies as composed plates, and they also offered larger dry-aged cuts served solo. Lots to look over and think about before ordering. On the down side, the cut I did get was a little uneven. It was a little thinner on the edges than it was in the center. It also had too much gristle for something that is dry-aged: that stuff should break down and eventually cook/melt into the meat if done properly. If my cut was clean, this place would have definitely gotten full points here.

Portion Size & Plating: 7

The steak portions here are normal. My bone-in ribeye was 28oz, the boneless ribeye was 18oz, the strips were 16-18oz, the filet was 10oz, the porterhouse was 21oz per person, the “Kobe” was 12oz, and the T-bone was 30oz. The appetizers, however, were large (if the short rib appetizer came with a side of string beans it would pass for a full entree portion). The side of creamed spinach was average sized.

Price: 7

The prices here are similar to slightly less than they are in the city. The boneless ribeye is a fair $30, and the most expensive single cut of meat from the dry aged section is $44. Mac’s participates in that half-off coupon deal on the WALK FM website – so that helps. My cut was $42. If cooked perfectly, I would say that it was worth the money, but since I had a slightly uneven fire I took a few points off for price, despite the half-off deal.

Bar: 8

Mac’s bar was really nice. An amber, back-lit shelf showcases their top liquors, and I could see even from a distance that they had a nice selection of scotches and after dinner drinks. They have an extensive selection of nice wines as well. Nestled in the heart of Huntington’s village, this is a good spot to hang out even if you aren’t shoving steer carcass down your esophagus.

Specials and Other Meats: 10

This place had everything: duck, lamb chops, veal chops, pork chops, and chicken. I mentioned above how they had plenty of other beef cuts outside of the basic four steakhouse cuts, and they offered specials from each part of the menu: apps, salads, fish, and beef. This place has a lot to choose from.

Apps, Sides & Desserts: 6

Unfortunately, I had to take off a few points here because my wife had a fly underneath some of the sliced fish in her sashimi appetizer. It was unfortunate too, because she had to stop eating it even though it tasted nice. Once you see that bug on the plate, it kinda just throws you off and you can’t finish the item. The restaurant was very apologetic, and I am sure it hardly ever happens there – we just had a little bad luck. They were kind enough not to charge us for that item. As for me, I had the braised short rib appetizer; it was HUGE and tasty, and fall-apart soft. We also ordered creamed spinach with our meal, and it was quite possibly the best I’ve ever had. Just the right amount of cream, just the right amount of salt, and there was what seemed like chopped up gnocci folded into it (something starchy with a texture between a potato and pasta). I’m not sure if that is what it was – it could have even been clumps of a thickener like flour or corn starch that didn’t fully mix in for all I know – but it was delicious no matter what it was. For dessert we had a blackberry Cabernet sorbet, made in-house and topped with fresh blueberries and strawberries. Delicious; a perfect dessert item – it tasted like a good dessert wine.

Seafood Selection: 10

My wife was hard pressed to choose an entree here. They offered salmon, white tuna (which is not actually tuna), tilapia, shrimp, lobster, yellowfin tuna, scallops, and seabass. My wife, however, ordered the red snapper special, which was cooked perfectly (with some crispy skin to boot). There is also a great selection of seafood appetizers that run across the entire range: cooked and uncooked shellfish, crab, lobster and shrimp. Mac’s could easily pass muster as a seafood restaurant if all the meat suddenly disappeared.

Service: 9

Our waiter Steven was fantastic. He allowed us to order off the full dinner menu despite it still being brunch when we arrived (1:20pm on a Sunday) in order to honor the half-off coupon we had. He knew everything from the size of each cut to the details about how the dishes were prepared, and, most importantly, he knew all about the steak cuts. The staff was very professional and sincere, and, as mentioned earlier, they were upset that we happened to get a fly in the sashimi app. The bread was good, but the butter was a little cold since it probably just came out of the fridge.

Ambiance: 8

Mac’s is nice inside and out. The front doors look like nice weathered greenish-painted wooden castle gates. There is outdoor seating, and the interior is all dark wood. They have leather wrapped and cushioned wood chairs, and the walls are decorated with abstract paintings of the bulls and other animals that you will be dining upon. An elegant curved staircase rises up to an upstairs, but I did not get a chance to check it out.

MAC’S STEAKHOUSE
12 Gerard St.
Huntington, NY 11743

Flash Deals, Long Island, Rib Eye, Steakhouse Reviews

Cattlemen’s (Long Island)

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Cattlemen’s overall score: 54

NOTE: THIS PLACE IS NOW CLOSED!
Alright this is a low-rung steakhouse, but I figured I would write it up because it has been a while since my last review. During that time I have made business cards to drop at check paying time, so that waitresses, chefs, and owners can take a look at the blog and read my review for themselves. You may also be wondering why I am reviewing so many Long Island steakhouses and neglecting the NYC standards. The answer is that I have found a half-off coupon website through a Long Island radio station, and, well, why not? Blackwell’s and Mac’s are on the list as well. This place was close to home, and doable on a weeknight after a shit-bag commute on the shit-bag LIRR.
 
Flavor: 5
Flavor is kinda run of the mill here. I can make a better steak at home, but then again I am a pretty damned good cook. Seasoning was good, and I ate the whole thing, but it just wasn’t where it should be, especially if the establishment calls itself a steakhouse. They do offer original, house seasoned and marinated preparations, which is good to do in places that don’t have prime cuts. I had the double cut (14oz – lame and small for being a “double cut”) ribeye with house seasonings.
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 6
Props to Cattlemen’s here, especially for a cheap-o place. They have all four basic steak cuts, along with a few sizes of each. Negatives: the double cut ribeye was a sad, pathetic, less-than-an-inch-thick 14oz cut, and it was boneless. Positives: they also do a skirt steak, T-bone (but why bother when the porterhouse is only $5 more?) and prime rib. The cuts are all choice grade, which is fine, but they are on the skimpy side. They DO have an 88oz ribeye steak challenge. Ahhhh John Candy. I will miss you. They have other challenges too – like a 5lb burger, and 10 insane hot wings in ten minutes.  Interesting. Where’s Adam Richman?
 
Portion Size & Plating: 5
Portion sizes ranged from small to average. As I mentioned above, the double cut ribeye was a sad, thin, boneless 14oz slice. It may have been better utilized sliced up and in sandwich form, with some spicy horseradish sauce and melted swiss. I’d hate to find out the size of a single cut steak at this joint. Plating is on par with Fridays – nothing fancy.
 
Price: 7
We came here to use a $35 gift certificate that we purchased online for $15. So right off the bat, my price rating is biased and skewed. However, two meals totalled $60 – including drinks and apps (drinks were cheap!). That’s right – our bill was $25, for all you math whizzes. We spent a total of $40 when you take the $15 we spent on the gift certificate into consideration. They even knocked off the appetizer for us since we waited a while and they messed up a side order. Down side: “shit you pay, shit you get,” as my dad always says. The price is low because the quality is low. You do get full, however, because you get a bunch of crap for your money.
 
Bar: 5
I can’t picture myself hanging out at the bar other than when waiting for a seat (which we did). It is a basic square bar with a jukebox and regular, standard beers on tap and bottles behind the bar. They do offer a house microbrew called Cattlemen’s something-or-other, but the bartender said it is a light beer. Overall this is the kind of place to drink a beer – not martinis or manhattans. Prices are good though.
Specials and Other Meats: 6
Cattlemen’s suffers from a slight lack of identity. They offer ribs, pulled pork, lamb chops, chicken, etc. They are a western-themed eatery, so maybe that is how it is done out west, but when I see “steakhouse” in the name I expect more chops and cuts rather than BBQ, among other things. Don’t get me wrong – I love BBQ – but the softest meat I want at a steakhouse is MAYBE a braised short rib or some prime rib (for chicks). They had some specials but no other steaks or chops than what is on the regular menu.
 
Apps, Sides & Desserts: 5
To start we had the rattlesnake bites: minced shrimp and bacon with some bell peppers and cheese fried into shrimp-shaped discs. They were kinda heavy, but the chipotle mayo dip was nice. My wife had a house salad with “cusabi” dressing (cucumber + wasabi), which I thought was a really awesome dressing, despite being added to a bagged-lettuce quality salad (not a problem for a guy like me, but ladies like a fancy salad sometimes). For sides we ordered creamed spinach (creamy but may have been frozen), smoke pit home fries (sweet and heavy, with onions and bell peppers), fried onion strings (good), and sauteed mushrooms. The ‘shrooms came late because they gave us a mashed potato dish with gravy by mistake, but both were just okay – par at best. We skipped dessert since we weren’t that hungry and the food wasn’t wow-ing us. The good: you get two sides with your meal, and the portions are sized just right.
 
Seafood Selection: 4
They have a good amount of seafood selections – broiled salmon, tortilla crusted tilapia, several “gulf shrimp” preparations, and lobster tails – but we didn’t really like what we had. My wife had the combo with shrimp scampi, tortilla crusted tilapia and a lobster tail. The lobster tail was the only thing worth eating; it was cooked properly, and was sweet and juicy. The tilapia was soggy – not crispy as you would expect with a tortilla crusting. The shrimp scampi was rubbery, but at least not overcooked: a tell-tale sign of frozen items. Seafood was sub par all around despite the selections looking good on the menu.
Service: 5
The service was weird. First, we were told there was a 15 minute wait. I found that odd for a Thursday on Long Island. The dining room was maybe half-full at best, and they seemed to have enough waitresses. My only guess was an under-staffed kitchen. So be it. We had a drink at the bar and hung out. Other noteworthy issues: they brought us mashed potato instead of the sauteed mushrooms we ordered. No problem though, because they brought us the correct item when we told them. Later, however, it took a long time to get the check after asking for it. Maybe the gift certificate or the transfer of our drinks from bar tab to table check caused problems? Not sure. Staff seemed nice though.
Ambiance: 6
The western theme didn’t really seem corny until after we sat down and got our food. It doesn’t FEEL western in there. There are some wanted posters on the wall and some longhorns over the fireplace but that doesn’t transport the customer to the west. Especially when you are situated along Montauk Highway and the side windows open up to a nice outdoor area along a wide canal that leads to the Great South Bay. I think they should refocus their theme to something more like an ocean grill, and re-tool the menu. Make it smaller, offer better quality items, etc. The feeling you get when you look over the canal is nice, so they should work that into their theme and take advantage. Salt water + wild west does not compute. Weird thing: at 8:30 the jukebox kicked on and the lights abruptly shut down in the dining room, but then went back on at 8:32. Then the lights went back off at 8:35. Whatever.

CATTLEMEN’S
127 Montauk Hwy.
Lindenhurst, NY 11757

Long Island, NY Strip, Rib Eye, Steakhouse Reviews

21 Main (Long Island)

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21 Main overall score: 85

UPDATE: THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED
21 Main is located on Long Island in the Sayville/West Sayville area on Montauk highway. In addition to being a steakhouse restaurant, they also sell various cuts of 28-day dry-aged steaks to take home and cook, retail, at reasonable prices.

Flavor: 8

I’ve been to 21 Main twice. The first time I ordered the 32oz ribeye, and the second time I ordered a strip, which was a special menu item. I enjoyed the meals, but, while both steaks were very good, they weren’t the best prepared meats that I ever had.

Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 9

21 Main offers three of the four main four cuts in a few forms; some are 28-day dry aged prime, and some are 28-day dry aged certified black angus. These are top quality, and there are various portion sizes to fit each appetite. The back angus sirloin is similar to a strip steak, and they also offer a boneless ribeye (delmonico). Occasionally they have additional cuts on special, and they also offer a skirt steak and other chops like pork.

Portion Size & Plating: 9

Portion sizes at 21 Main are average to above average. The bone-in ribeye is a whopping 32oz; an extremely generous hunk of fantastic meat that clings to the end of a nearly full 12+ inch rib bone. When someone orders this, everyone in the restaurant turns their head and stares, appreciating the fact that they are graced with the presence of such manliness. Even the boneless ribeye is still at the 20oz mark! The other cuts are average/normal sizes, and plating is elegant but not obnoxious.

Price: 9

Out on Long Island, you tend to see some more reasonable pricing. At $45 for a prime, 28-day aged 32oz ribeye, you are getting a massive amount of majorly good meat for your moolah. Everything else on the menu is anywhere from $3 to $8 cheaper than comparable NYC steak joints.

Bar: 8

21 Main has a great and socially active bar that attracts locals even when they are not gorging on steer corpse. The room with the bar has a piano for live music as well. The bartenders make a good martini, and they offer several specialty drinks on their cocktail menu.

Specials and Other Meats: 8

I ordered a special steak cut off the daily specials menu on my second trip to 21 Main. They also offer chicken, a pork porterhouse, and lamb on the regular menu for losers who are afraid to man-the-fuck-up and order a real meal.

Apps, Sides & Desserts: 8

It has been a while since I was first at 21 Main, but I do recall the oysters being fresh, cold, and delicious. They even allowed us to add a wasabi foam to them despite the foam being listed as part of a different sashimi dish. The creamed spinach with crispy pancetta was delicious. The smoke and saltiness of the pancetta is cut nicely by the cream and makes for a nice balance. The calamari was nicely cooked in a very light, crispy, and firm batter. By far, though, my favorite side was the blue cheese potato croquette. If I wasn’t there for steak, I would have had a few of those bad boys. For dessert I had the creme brulee the first time, which was good, and a Baily’s shake the second time, which I sucked down faster than the oysters at the beginning of the meal; it was really incredible. My wife had the 21 Main Split, which was really yummy, but looked like a cock. Yes – a dick.

Seafood Selection: 9

21 Main offers lobster, salmon, tuna steak, and a variety of items from the raw bar menu as far as “steak from the sea” is concerned. If I recall correctly, there was also a fish item among the daily specials. Every manner of shellfish I can think of is represented, with perhaps the exception of the mussel (who cares), in some way shape or form, whether it is an appetizer or an entree. The only seafood item I tried were the oysters, however, and they were delicious.

Service: 9

The wait staff knows their meat well. They will press you for your preferences if you ask them what they recommend, which tells me they are looking out for the diner and not the amount of the bill. Without hesitation they allowed me to swap a mignonette sauce for a wasabi foam on my oysters appetizer, and they are very attentive to things like drinks. Table breads were warm and unique, and the butter was soft.

Ambiance: 8

21 Main is a classy joint. It is not a traditionally decorated steakhouse; it looks more like a fine dining type of restaurant. It essentially is a large, old home on a hill, with carpeting throughout, sheer white drapery, valet parking, and a view from the window that overlooks a small peaceful pond just north of Montauk Highway. There is additional seating upstairs. The crowd is mostly adults, although they do offer a children’s menu.