The Striphouse: OK (expensive, too)

Normally, I would be at the beach now, but boy 1 is headed off to camp tomorrow and we are in the City this weekend.  Last night, we took boy 1 and boy 2 out to a steak place in honor of the boy 1's impending 7 week trip to institutional food.  One of boy 1's friends had eaten at the "Strip House," located at 13 E. 12th Street, NY, NY, 10003 (212-328-0000) and liked it, so we went.  I vaguely remember having gone there when it opened some years ago with our friends from London before theater and not running to go back, but, no matter.  The lovely wife did not have similar memories, and off we went into the sticky and gross New York City Evening.

When we arrived, I remembered why I remembered eating at the strip house: naked ladies.  Lots of them.  The walls of the restaurant are adorned in cheesecake photos from the earlier parts of the twentieth century.  Hubba, hubba.  According to the Website, the photos were all taken at Studio Manasse in Vienna.    I assume that there are similar photos at the Strip House's many other locations, including Key West (I will have to ask the in-laws if they have ever been there).  They also have a website that is so web 2.0, its veritably web 3.11.  It takes a while to get a phone number because of all of the transitions and graphics.

The restaurant itself is pleasant, dark, and its red walls are covered with the pictures noted above.  Its quiet enough.  As for the food: good, but, even by New York steak house standards, on the pricier side (I will never get over a $9.00 baked potato).  I thought the oysters were fine, but nothing special.  Particularly good was the bacon appetizer, which consists of two large strips of bacon, some lettuce, and Russian dressing.  Caesar salad was just fine.  We had two steaks, a tomahawk cut ribeye and the porterhouse.  I am always reading about how great Ribeye steak can be, and in all honesty, have never truly enjoyed one.  This did not change on this trip.  What waiters call marbled inevitably tastes "fatty."   The porterhouse was quite good, with an excellent char and done as we requested (medium rare).  We skipped dessert and headed to Pinkberry.  

As we continue our tour of seemingly every steak house in New York, I'd have to put the Strip House somewhere in the middle.  Its fine, and it was pleasant to talk in.  However, when we walked out and saw the (somewhat less expensive!!!) Gotham Bar and Grill, I realized that my children were doing fine with steak and it was time to try to expand their horizons.

Diet Chery Chocolate Dr. Pepper: What Were They Thinking?

Sometime around Thanksgiving, the folks at Dr. Pepper introduced limited edition "Diet Cherry Chocolate Dr. Pepper." And sometime in June, on a particuarly hot day, I found it at the market on 83rd and Amsterdam. Well, I've been on a diet recently, and despite the 6 pound weight loss (yea, 6!) I have been cranky, and decided to buy some. I have a thing for regular Diet Dr. Pepper, and figured this would be worth a try. Despite some positive reviews from other bloggers, and maybe because they stopped marketing the stuff in April (I didn't realize this, of course, when I was in the store), it tasted pretty terrible. There are two lessons here:

1) it is probably best not to combine chocolate and Nutrasweet given the choice. I say this based on some other products I have tried in the past.

2) By the time it makes a store in Manhattan, a "limited edition" can of soda probably has sat unsold in some midwestern warehouse for months; killing its flavor. Check the dates, people. I know I should have.

any other lessons can be left as a comment....

Sole Gran Queso: More Great Cheese From Wisconsin!

As stated time and time again, the summer is a peak cheese eating time in the MM household. The lovely wife is an excellent entertainer and party planner, and we are routinely serving 20 people at our house on a Saturday night. We have been able to experiment with the cheese's we have been buying for some time now, and I am always happy to report on the favorites.

Roth Kase, as noted previously, is the largest artisinal cheese maker in the United States.  While I know that "large" and "artisinal" do not always go together, I have been two for two on their cheeses that I have tried.  The latest is their Sole Gran Queso.  This heese, which is similar to a Manchego,  was really quite tasty with some red wine, some crackers, and, amazingly enough, a banana.  The lovely wife complimented it as well, and she a much tougher judge of cheese than I am.  As you can see from the photograph, its not overly expensive, either.  So, in these times of recession and poor exchange rates, think American!  Help support our nascent fine cheese industry!

links to other sites related to this:

A Cheese A Day

Summer Grilling Cookbook Worth Buying: "Grill It!" by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby

One of the interesting things about documenting most of the things that you cook is that you start to realize when you are repeating yourself.  Like last night, when I made leg of lamb for 20, just like I did around this time last year.  Its a good recipe, but variety is the spice of cooking, if not life itself.  So I was especially happy that the mother-in-law bought me Grill It!, the latest cookbook by grill masters Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby.  I keep a beat up copy of their "The Thrill of the Grill" on my shelf in Fire Island and it is one of my favorite cookbooks ever.  

Grill It! is a glossy version of this book, with pretty pictures and easier to read instructions.  While not as encyclopedic, it is easy to read, and the photos (in the Penthouse style of food-porn; a little fuzzy but lots of detail) are quite good.  Last night I made their grilled mushrooms with bacon and Parmesan.  I can't give the recipe out exactly, but I can say that grilling mushrooms, then tossing them is a mix of crumbled bacon, grated parmesan, butter and salt is a good thing! There are a lot of grilled fish recipes, as well as traditional smoked meals such as pulled pork and leg of lamb (I am going to try their bone in smoked leg of lamb recipe in the next few weeks.  Perhaps the only thing I don't like is their snobbish view of gas: get over yourselves already.  

So, to your arsenal of grilling books, this is one I would definitely add.  Thank you Judy!

NY Yankees: Minor League Food

I had tickets to the Yankees game yesterday. Woo-woo. Unfortunately, work ran late, and the boys and I had to book out of the house to make the game, or so we thought. Actually, there ended up being a one hour rain delay, so we could have easily grabbed something to eat on the way. But who knew?

But, no matter. A short ride on the B train, and we were in the Bronx. Did I ever tell everyone that I lived in the Bronx for four years? And dreamed of leaving? Daily? No matter. We arrived at 161st Street and River, got out, and saw the two Yankee stadiums, milling angry crowds, and pissed-off looking policemen. Even the rain looked unhappy. Ah, back in the Bronx.

Because of the construction, only limited gates are open, so the boys and I waited for the security line, and then the ticket line, to get in. At which point, it started raining more. Which actually was fine, because we were hungry and the delay gave us plenty of time to explore the stadium and get something to eat. And that is what Male Martha is about.

Compared to other Major League Parks I have been too, and even compared to Madison Square Garden, Yankee Stadium has the worst, most inconvenient, food that I have ever had at a Ballpark. Even Shea is better. There was actually a hard thing in my hot dog (no, I'm not sure what it was, and I don't want to think about it). We tried the sushi, which was basically soylent green on flavorless rice. We would have eaten chicken fingers and fries, but you literally had to walk to the other end of the stadium to the one place that sold this exotic delicacy. The cotton candy was edible, however and so was the Carvel in a plastic baseball hat (although it arrives half melted). I should also note that there was a kosher section for those who want to buy overpriced, bad, kosher food.

I am not one to care about the Yankees playing: I leave that to the Yanksgal, who worries about these things. As I look to the new Stadium, being built with my tax payer help (what, you don't think your paying for all those tax free bonds) across the street, I have only one thought: other than this new NYY Steak and three retail stores that they are planning on opening, will there be decent food (at any price) easily available for those of us not in the numerous luxury suites? I'm not holding my breath.

Grand Sichuan International is Good!!

Hockey makes you hungry, and after a rare Thursday evening game, I, the lovely wife and boys were famished. So were our Chelsea friends and their kids. So the eight of us made the walk to 24th Street and 9th Avenue to Grand Sichuan International (229 9th Ave, NYC, 10001: 212-620-5200).  The place, which looks like a throwback to a 1950's style Chinatown Restaurant, was crowded, and we waited about 45 minutes for a table.  Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, but we did have 4 kids with us.  However, while we were waiting, Paul Giamatti left the restaurant to have a cigarette and then returned, giving us adults a little "isn't it cool to live in NY where you can see a famous celebrity at the same mildly dingy restaurant we're going to killing himself slowly with cigarettes moment."  But, as soon as that moment passed, and the lovely wife used her Vulcan mind meld with the staff, we were seated.

Male Martha is no stranger to Sichuan Food.  This is actually the third Sichuan restaurant that has been reviewed, the other two being in Toronto and in Flushing.  I will say off the bat that both of these restaurants had superior Sichuan food to Grand Sichuan International.  Of course, they're not off the 1 train and within walking distance of Chelsea Piers, either.  And, to be honest, the food at Sichuan Gardens was quite good, as long as you stuck to the Sichuan menu. We all liked the Dan Dan noodles and the Sichuan cold noodles.  Although not a Sichuan specialty, the soup dumplings were good as well.  The bean curd and pork was good.  Particularly tasty was the Eggplant with Garlic sauce and Pork (#156).   The shrimp with salted pepper was good, and different than I have had in other places.  It was deep fried.  

Less tasty were traditional American Chinese dishes, including beef with broccoli, sesame chicken, and all the other stuff your kids (and mine) eat.  They ate em, but if you go to Grand Sichuan, you shouldn't. 

So, if you're in Chelsea and have a dan dan noodle jones, consider Grand Sichuan.  Heading out to Queens is better, but its easier to go clubbing after this meal!!!

Kung Foo Panda Rocks: Harry's Burrito's Not So Much

I write this post empowered by Frank Bruni, who wrote a scathing review of Ago yesterday.  This had particular relevance as boy 2 and I had a night out on the town, where we ate at Harry's Burritos on Columbus Avenue and then headed off to see Kung Foo Panda, in IMAX.  Kung Foo Panda was great, and you should see it (you now see why I don't as a rule review movies).  Harry's on the other hand....

The nachos were soggy.  The meat (chicken and beef) were overcooked (really, really overcooked) and flavorless.  Even the rice was dry.  And while the server's were nice, they did lose our complicated order of a burrito and a quesadilla.  I had eaten at Harry's some time ago with the lovely wife and had a similar experience.  I was hoping it was a fluke, but, in the press, two is a pattern.  So pre-movie Mexican on the Upper West Side in the 60's is out for the moment.  Oh Well.

But do see Kung Foo Panda.