"I hadn’t been there in a while and, frankly, was a little wary. I feared it might be resting on its laurels. An icon, not really a restaurant. Man, was I wrong. This is as good a restaurant of its kind in New York, and I say that as a native Manhattanite and as someone who has been to and enjoyed all of the more celebrated and trendy names that serve similar dishes. The various steaks, especially the ribeye, were extraordinary (right word). Everyone in our foodie group of eight felt that way, and we felt the same about the asparagus—cooked expertly—the cream spinach and the potatoes. Just a great night that wasn’t overpriced. We will all be regulars there. Bravo to the service, too. Lone qualms: They need to add some better medium-priced wines to their list. It’s just too ordinary. We brought three bottles of our own—each was excellent and ran around $25 per—and paid the hefty $45 per bottle corking fee and it was worth it. And they need to offer full cakes for celebrations. We brought a small birthday cake from Whole Foods (delicious) and paid the $10 per plate fee. However, if they had been able to tell me they had a cake that they could do with writing for, say, $125 or a little more (ours worked out to $105), I would have happily said yes. We needed a full cake. Individual pieces wouldn’t have made it. Small stuff. Here’s to an icon that’s also a great restaurant."
