I don’t want to sound like one of those elitist snobs that put down Americans…I am an American and I’m very proud of it. But, there are a few things we, as Americans, can learn from Europeans. In my mind, chief among these lessons is the ability to make dinner an event. To sit and enjoy a long leisurely meal and not rush to get the check the second our dinner plates are cleared. A sort of sit back and smell the beautiful food aromas type attitude. Therefore, as you can imagine, any restaurant that promotes this aura of decelerated dining and doesn’t try to rush you through each course, earns many points in my book. And, as luck would have it, I had such a dining experience this past Friday evening at Porter House in the Time Warner Center.
My sister and I attend the NY Holiday Pops Concert at Carnegie Hall every year. It’s our Holiday tradition and one of those things that officially makes it feel like Christmas. Before the show, we go to dinner somewhere nearby. This year we chose Porter House, as we knew we needed to get some last minute gifts and figured we could get in some shopping indoors before dinner.
In the “spirit” of the season, we began our meal with a cocktail. I had a smoked black tea and gin cocktail and my sister had a Japanese kiss which was whiskey and strawberry. Both were suitably strong and delicious. My sister wished aloud that her strawberries had been a bit more muddled in the mix and crushed them with her straw to get the desired flavor. Mine had this unique/interesting smokey finish and a great tea and gin flavor. It was one of those drinks that on the first sip you're not entirely sure you chose the right one, but then it starts to grow on you and you start to really enjoy it. Holiday indeed! Now, here’s where this leisurely spirit began. We ordered these a few minutes after we were seated and were left alone to finish and enjoy these cocktails for a good deal of time before our waiter approached and asked us if we were ready to order.
For our appetizer, we selected the clams casino. We pondered the bone marrow but the waiter explained that he didn’t love the texture of their bone marrow but loved the clams. As we awaited our appetizer, the bread basket came around and we were offered a sourdough, a nut raisin, and one other option. I opted for the nut raisin, which was a delicious taste of salty sweet carb heaven. On a tangent, I would like to say that I really like the walked around bread basket. I believe that it results in a lot less wasted bread at the end of the night and doesn’t leave you wondering whether your table’s bread basket is a leftover mishmash of other diner’s rejects!
Ah, the clams. Pairing seafood and butter is only natural, and when you throw some breadcrumbs into the mix it only gets better. The clams were nice and tender, and the butter was the perfect amount so as not to overwhelm the clams. The breadcrumbs gave that nice crunch, and there was just a hint of diced red pepper in the mix. I hate when all you can taste on clams casino is pepper, so I was very happy to find the application of peppers to be very conservative. Overall, a nice way to begin our meal.
My sister had the rib eye with cabernet shallot sauce and I had the skirt steak with chimichurri. We couldn’t decide on the sides, as they all sounded pretty darn good. So we went the more is more route and ordered three: creamed spinach with bacon, macaroni and cheese, and truffled mashed potatoes.
The steaks (both ordered and prepared medium)– I thought both were good. The cabernet shallot sauce was a nice, rich yet slightly sweet sauce that I thought was going to have a bit more depth but fell a little short of my expectations. My chimichurri was good, but I wanted a bit more of the sauce and a bit more flavor in the sauce (maybe a little more garlic). The steaks themselves were nice quality meat, but they didn’t melt in my mouth in the silky tender way I prefer a steak to. Thats not to say they were tough, but they were just not as tender as I would want from an expensive steak. Perhaps, the way to go at Porter House is the porterhouse for two (you're probably saying duh Jen the namesake is typically the best). The table next to us ordered that and they must have been happy with it, because there was nothing left but the bone.
As far as the sides go, the macaroni and cheese was the best by far. It was incredibly cheesy, rich, and had a nice breadcrumb crisped top. The truffled mashed potatoes were also very good (I mean not much with truffle oil in it isn’t good), but these could have been a bit warmer. The spinach with bacon was just okay. The texture of the spinach and the balance of spinach and cream was ideal, but the bacon didn’t transmit the amount of salt that the side dish really needed. It was a bit on the bland side.
To accompany dinner, Karen had a glass of cabernet and I had a glass of malbec. Both of these nicely demonstrated the quality of the restaurant’s wine list. The wine list is massive, but the binder of choices is made very user friendly with a table of contents and tabs with categories like Big and Bold Reds. I really liked the list and presentation of the list.
I’m going to blame the fact that I don’t get invited to cookie swaps during the holidays on my not living in the suburbs. Not that my cookies aren’t good, but I like to get a mix of holiday cookie cheer around this time of year. Consequently, when I saw the cookie plate dessert at Porter House, I begged my sister to let that be our dessert for the night. To accompany this we each ordered a glass of port (because we’re 90 year olds). I had the Grahams port and Karen had the Taylor Fladgate Tawny Port. I love both of these ports and can never decide which one I like more (yes my sister and I drink port that often that we have favorites). The cookie plate consisted of 15 cookies – 3 of each of the 5 varieties. The 5 types were oreo, chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, brownie, and spiced crescent. The clear winner of the plate was the oreo, with a chocolate cookie that was a bit chewier in a nice way then the store bought variety and enough delicious cream center to be called a double stuff. The next favorite was the spiced cookie that had a nice crisp snap to it and the warming cinnamon/nutmeg winter flavors that I love. The remaining cookies were good but not extraordinary.
Now, was Porter House the best meal I’ve ever had? No, but it was a solid, good meal without serious disappointments. The timing between courses was ideal and the servers were friendly and attentive without being annoying. Overall, just a nice night out in a nice atmosphere and location. I think that the best thing you can say about a place is that given the choice you would eat there again, and while I'm not going to rush to return, I will keep it on my list of places that I can rely on for good food.
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