Swanky Steak
Prime Beef at Porter House New York
by John Mariani

The Time Warner Center set out to become a beacon of fine dining when it opened three years ago, and largely it has succeeded, with the haute cuisine of Per Se, the exquisite precision of Masa, and now the refined steakhouse that is Porter House New York. It is located on the fourth floor where the very odd V Steakhouse, which looked like the Addams Family designed it, flopped after a little more than a year in business.

The nicely named Porter House New York has reconfigured the space to be the most refined version of a steakhouse in New York one could wish for. It has none of those scruffy steakhouse clichés of the past, none of the yellowing sports memorabilia, none of the razzle-dazzle Vegas-like decor of some newer entries. It's a big place, yet it has a bountiful spaciousness about it–140 seats, big roomy, round booths, no tables crammed in, no lousy tables for out-of-towners, no bad lighting. With broad tables with soft tablecloths, good stemware and a view of Central Park that makes you swoon, the Jeffrey Beers-designed room is a testament to New York swank without being "swanky."

Have I mentioned that the chef and managing partner here is Michael Lomonaco, whose previous stints included `21' Club and Windows on the World (where he escaped within five minutes of the 9/11 disaster)? Lomonaco is one of New York's great pros, as adept at being a field marshal as he is an intense perfectionist, so that what comes out of the kitchen has his eagle-eye approval and what does not come out he has nixed. His superiority has not only to do with his longevity in the New York restaurant landscape but in his dedication to American ingredients and cuisine as it has developed over the last two centuries. He respects the tradition of a porterhouse (a term that came from the fellows called porters around London's Covent Garden who carried beer and spirits to waiting theatergoers), and while not doing anything exotically new, he manages to make a porterhouse steak or a rack of lamb an epiphany of flavor. Michael Ammirati is chef de cuisine.

Lomonaco is not trying to re-invent the wheel of a genre menu that has proven amazingly durable, so you begin with unstintingly fresh shellfish–oysters, clams, shrimp, mussels and lobster–or a classic Caesar salad. There are also corn-fried oysters with ancho chile mayo and jalapeño pickles, an excellent crabcake, seared sea scallops with capers and brown butter, and a superlative beef tartare. Everything is of top quality, right down to the bread (not a given in most steakhouses), and the side dishes, like Parmesan-dusted asparagus, fabulously crunchy onion rings, four-cheese macaroni, creamed spinach and great potatoes–mashed Yukons, hot, meaty French fries and crisp made-to-order chips. Curious, then, that the only lobster offered is a two-pound–puny by NYC steakhouse standards.

So whaddabout the meat? It's as good as it gets. I have long ago given up trying to decipher which steakhouses in NYC or anywhere else actually get enough USDA Prime beef, much less the minuscule amount of dry-aged beef out there, so I just go by taste, and Porter House delivers it big time. The signature item, served for two but hefty enough for three or four ($84), is everything I hope for in beefiness and age, surface resilience and crusty char. Colorado lamb chops come as three T-bones–at $38 a downright bargain, and the strip steak is as every bit as delicious in all the right ways. There are four sauces to accompany these cuts, and they are worthwhile in small dabs: you don't want to mask the flavor of those meats, but the Béarnaise is worth a tablespoon or two on the side.

There are also nightly specials, including filet mignon tips, calf's liver with bacon, bone-in filet, cowboy rib steak, braised short ribs, hanger steak and skirt steak.

Ah, yes, desserts! Well, you've gone this far so go further overboard with crème brûlée, an "Old School" hot fudge and whipped cream sundae and a delightfully retro pineapple upside-down cake with butter pecan ice cream. You'll leave heavier but happier than when you arrived. All desserts are $10.

By the way, Lomonaco, who has co-hosted the "Epicurious" TV show, has a book Nightly Specials available at the restaurant. Lomonaco might easily have given up his chef's whites and the heat of the kitchen for a career as TV cook or perhaps gotten on the bandwagon of opening a series of restaurants and eateries with his name on it. And maybe someday he might roll out the Porter House New York concept, except PHNY seems so quintessentially a part of NYC, and its glorious location so unique, that I very much doubt a Porter House Cincinnati is in the works.

John Mariani is well known for his frank and poignant writing in Esquire, Wine Spectator, Diversion and the Harper Collection. He is author of The Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink, The Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink and co-author, with his wife, of the Italian-American Cookbook.