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