The Grill

My wife took me to The Grill for a birthday dinner. I had no idea this place existed, but apparently it’s the former location of the Four Seasons.

excellent table breads and cocktails

Famed Torrisi restaurateurs opened this joint and stuck to an old fashioned theme with things like a wheeled cart for prime rib and a “meat press” for squeezing the juices out of various bits of fowl in order to create a nice sauce reduction for their pasta app.

The crab cake exhibits some of that classic technique as well, with thin sliced scalloped potatoes forming a crust on top of the $36 lump crab cake appetizer.

A nice refreshing endive and apple salad cut the fat of our steak entree perfectly.

But for $220, this 50-day, dry-aged Creekstone Farms 40oz steak for two was way overpriced.

It really should have been half that price, but I will say that, despite the wallet raping, this was a pretty good steak. It had a great seared crust, and was cooked to a nice medium rare throughout. 8/10.

Dessert was a fun throwback as well, with this fruit cake style rum raisin ice cream.

Everything here is delicious, but at over $500 all-in for this meal (we had four drinks total), you really need to be ready for a gorging.

UPDATE 1/5/18

I came back in with some friends to try more shit. The steak tartare was incredible. I didn’t think I’d be into it because it contains anchovies, but I really loved it.

The foie gras was incredibly creamy, smooth and delicious. You could order a bunch of these and eat them for your entree if you’re daring enough. The crazy thing is that a friend I was with was unimpressed with this, since he said the foie in his home country of Israel is way better. I can’t even fathom that. This was so good.

We shared the honey mustard duck entree as an appetizer as well. This was easily the best duck I’ve ever had. The mustard has a spicy kick to it, but the honey rounds it out. The skin is perfectly crisp, and the breast was incredibly tender.

One of the guys I was with had the bone-in strip steak. He ordered it medium, but it still had great flavor and texture. The crust was similar to the porterhouse I had on my first visit. At a much more friendly price point of $74, I think this comes in with the same score at 8/10, even though I did enjoy the porterhouse better.

The prime rib, on the other hand, might just be the best piece of meat I’ve ever eaten in my life. This is a 10/10. It gets sliced from a wheeled cart table side, and then topped with jus and freshly shaved horseradish.

It is served with spicy mustard and horseradish cream sauce. Insane. Well worth the $62, and it wasn’t as small as I thought it would be.

Also tried an end cut – not necessary since the flavor penetrates all the way into the center even on the middle cut.

They even give you the bone with all the attached meat still there. This is the best part of the meal.

I little something we looked at but did not touch – 112 day dry aged wagyu rib eye. Not much of a cap on it, and it didn’t have a very dry-aged smell to it. We passed. Especially since it was $650.

The lamb and ham are both excellent . There are no mediocre dishes.

Squab was nice but overpriced for the size (to be expected here).

On the side we had a broccoli pot pie thing, as well as some fries that were similar to JG Melon (but way better).

For dessert we shared a slice of grasshopper ice cream cake, which is chocolate and mint. Despite not being a big fan of mint ice cream, or the combination of mint and chocolate, I did like it.

Also worth mentioning – I really love the bar here.

Afterwards we were chatting with the manager and he ended up giving us a quick tour of the kitchen. It was immaculate back there.

UPDATE

The burger and prime rib sandwich are both excellent!

Veal Schnitzel ($68, lunch menu) – 9/10.

THE GRILL
99 E 52nd St
New York, NY 10022