Entries from April 2008 ↓

Porcão
360 Park Avenue South

@ 26th Street

212-252-7080

Website: (http://www.porcaosteakhouse.com/

Porcao serves two dining options for lunch (M-F) & one dining option at dinner. Open seven days a week.

1) Executive Lunch

12-4pm M-F ONLY

$22.90 pp (doesn’t include tax or gratuity)

Includes Salad Bar (as much as you want) and Choice of Beef, Chicken or Salmon. (Only one of these)

2) Riodizio

12-11pm M-F

1-11pm Saturday & Sundays

$50.90 pp (doesn’t include tax or gratuity)

Included Salad Bar (as much as you want) and all cuts of meat, poultry and fish available. Plus side dishes.

Dessert: Additional.

Fine & Inexpensive Wine List: 13 Wines By The Glass. Bottles: Many Priced Under $40.

Porcão New York has seats for 290 guests: 50 in the bar, and 240 in the dining room. An elegant private room for up to 55 guests is also available that includes equipment useful for business meetings and special occasions.

Porcão Churrascaria has opened in New York. In its Manhattan location, bringing the rhythms of Brazil to Manhattan. Porcão offers its customers the quality they have enjoyed since its humble beginnings as “Churrascaria Riograndense” on Rio de Janeiro’s Avenida Brazil in 1975. Today, Porcão has ten locations in South America, Europe, Miami, and now, New York City and is a favorite of such celebrities as Naomi Campbell and Kate Bosworth, and celebrity Brazilians including Sonia Braga and Pele.

Back in 1975, the founders of Porcão would not have dared dream of opening a restaurant of this size in faraway New York. New York’s Porcão brings reminiscences of its Rio origins: the marbled floor, with its swirls of black and white, echoes the patterns of the walkways at Rio’s Copacabana Beach. Wall structures are built to resemble the mountain ranges surrounding Rio, especially the famous Sugarloaf Mountain. Dramatic digital lighting in several colors will change the mood. The music of Brazil, classic and modern, envelop diners in a sensuous atmosphere.

Porcão brings New Yorkers the unique and fun Rodizio dining experience. Rodizio is roughly translated as “rotation”; waiters circulate from table to table with the restaurant’s specialties, allowing diners the freedom to sample a little of everything [LV2] , and to take their fill of their favorites. No more longing looks at your dining companion’s plate! Rodizio is best known for the gleaming skewers from which tempting morsels of meat are carved to order at tableside. This carnivorous churrasco style of serving originated in the south of Brazil, where gauchos—cowboys—cooked their meats on [LV3] a bonfire made to cook the meat that had been arranged around it, on long spikes.

Guests are greeted with a selection of warm cheese bread, pastel (stuffed savory pastries that are the Brazilian version of empanadas), kibi, spiced ground meatballs and fried codfish balls. And while Porcão is best known for it’s amazing rotation of 18 different preparation of meat, the festive meal actually begins at the all-you-can eat hot buffet and salad bar. The numerous selections change frequently, so you can eat at Porcão three times a week and never have the same meal, even if you only eat at the salad bar.

The churassco, or barbeque, begat the churrascaria restaurant, which was refined by Porcão. Porcão features the finest Brazilian cuts of meat coaxed to tender perfection on special grills imported from Brazil. Porcao’s offerings (About 15 or more per night) include: Picanha, a noble part of the sirloin. Served with sea salt or garlic paste. Filet Mignon, tenderloin served with sea salt or wrapped in bacon. Alcatra, top sirloin Fraldinha, bottom sirloin Costela, Tender Beef Ribs Lombo, pork loin Carneiro, lamb chops Frango, chicken Linguiça, Pork sausages Peru, Turkey Salmon, served with mushrooms or passion fruit sauce. All meats are of top quality and impeccably timed by Cesar, the main meat chef. Desihes arrive with a variety of potatoes, fried yuca and bananas. Best of all is to request some fiery Brazilian peppers and a dish of the marvelous farofa, fried with eggs and bacon. Black beans and rice are another option.

Herbivores are warmly welcomed at Porcão, where they can choose from a variety of salads (34!), vegetables, cheeses, sushi, seafood, and pasta. All are fresh, if somewhat under-seasoned to our taste. Porcão’s rodizio is a prix fixe experience. There is no menu and desserts are not included in the dinner.

The wine list consists of 200 bottles, which span the globe. There are wines by the glass and specialty cocktails like the signature drink of Brazil, the Caipirinha, using fresh fruits: passionfruit, strawberry and pineapple. Cocktails are made tableside and are super, as is the warm and guiding service. They are also an outstanding value at $10 for the house Caipirinha. Desserts come on wheels, too. The dessert cart is laden with choices. Brazilian specialties include papaya cream, a smooth mixture of ice cream and fruit, rich flan, made with dulce de leche, thicker and more substantive than other flan, beijinho (little kisses) grapes coated in condensed milk and rolled in sugar until they look like sparkling jewels, and quindim, thick sweet custard made with egg yolk and coconut milk, topped with shaved lime.

Porcão’s VIP room, set off from the main dining room behind frosted glass, can be transformed from sexy to utilitarian depending on the lighting and arrangement of tables and chairs.

The private room is also available for private events, and includes projectors and screens for presentations, business meetings and special occasions. A specially priced executive lunch ($22.90) is served from noon to 4PM, Monday through Friday. Rodizio is served seven days a week, Monday-Friday noon-11 pm ($50.90). A 50% discount on Rodizio is offered for patrons 65 years and up. Free for kids under 5.

For an upbeat, offbeat night on the town, Porcão is a sheer delight and Manhattan’s best churrascaria and rates A Major on The Walman Report.

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Benjamin Steak House is located at 52 East 41st Street, (212) 297-9177 and is open seven days a week, Monday-Friday, 6:30 a.m.-Close, Saturday and Sunday 9:00 a.m.-Close.

REVIEW

Award-winning website, Punchin-dot-com, features the Walman Report and reviews of restaurants, travel, wine and theater. After more than 20 years at that venerable institution, Peter Luger’s Steakhouse in Brooklyn, chef Arturo joined forces with fellow Luger alumna, Benjamin to launch Benjamin Steak House. Benjamin is sure to become a landmark in its own right. Located one block from historic Grand Central terminal, Benjamin Steak House mirrors the opulence and grandeur of that magnificent station. Housed on the main floor of the century-old Chemist Club building, which is now home to the Dylan Hotel, the main draw is the steaks: Six cuts of dry-aged beef are available: from 16-ounce porterhouses to top sirloins to juicy and tender rib eyes to succulent filet mignon.

Every steak is grilled to perfection, using the best USDA prime beef. Any cut can be served family style for two to four people. The restaurant also offers steak for 10, which includes every cut on the menu as well as chateaubriand, costs $1,111. Lobsters are also spectacular as is lump crab and succulent sliced tomatoes & onion salad. Don’t miss the German-style potatoes, cream-less creamed spinach and an over-the-top hot fudge sundae with loads of whip cream. Benjamin has an extensive wine list, with selections from Italy, France, California, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Chile and Argentina. The two bars (one on the main floor and one on the mezzanine) serve high-end cocktails featuring top-shelf liquors. The wooden bar on the second floor is the centerpiece to the section and a great place to watch the action below. Set back from the balustrade, the bar, with its low lighting, is also the perfect spot for a private drink with your date. Whether it’s a business lunch, a romantic rendezvous or a boisterous family dinner, Benjamin Steak House is sure to please even the most jaded food connoisseur. Benjamin Steak House vies for “The Walman Award” as one of the city’s best and rates A Major on the Walman Report.

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Avon Bistro

ADDRESS: 155 E. 52nd Street (bet. 3rd & Lexington)

New York, NY 10022

WEB SITE: www.avonbistro.com

TELEPHONE: (212) 752-9587

PROPRIETORS: Barbara & Paul Abramsky

GENERAL MANAGER: Steve Remming

EXECUTIVE CHEF: Kevin Cahill

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Nestled among the cold corporate canyons of Manhattan’s bustling midtown, Avon Bistro is a stylish, somewhat sassy and rather sexy snuggery designed to deliver an array of experiences suiting various moods or occasions – post-work cocktailian pursuits including light bite grazing to more refined multi-course dining.

The menus and décor seamlessly blend the casual and comforting with the swank and sophisticated, but never the pretentious. Avon Bistro is relaxed enough to invite spontaneous visits, but offers enough sense of occasion to make it a deliberate dining destination, one at which (surprisingly) gentle pricing is on the menu.

American with the international inflections that define contemporary renditions of the genre, the food is reassuringly familiar yet fashioned with a distinctive flair That flair deftly avoids gimmickry, solidly grounded in Chef Kevin Cahill’s mastery of classic techniques, while running a gamut from the unexpected – spicy chocolate sauce (more redolent of its namesake than conventional mole), with cashew crusted chicken to the whimsical – the riff on a Southern classic sandwich that is the pulled (barbecue sauced) pork belly with currant pancakes. Throughout, robust flavors are further enlivened with feisty notes of rusticity, attributed by Cahill to his family farm experience, and complemented by enticing eye-pleasing plating.

Other recommended selections include starters from the Raw Bar like sparkling Diver Scallop & Passion Fruits Ceviche and pristine Langoustines, which don’t need the well made cocktail sauce that accompanies them. Bar Bites of note offer Veal Meat Balls with Pinenut Lime Gremolata and Eggplant Polpetti and Bufalo Mozzarell. Entrees are noteworthy: Lamb & Farro Fricassee, Slow Clay Pot Roasted Country Stew with French Beans, and knockout Cassoulets with Duck Confit, White Beans and Garlic Sausage. The Quinoa and Current Salad that accompanies the aforementioned Crusted Chicken would a a perfect vegetarian entree in itself. Don’t miss the fine Paellas. But the Dish to Die For is Seared Diver Scallops with Braised Leeks, Curried Cauliflower and Salsa Verde. An amazing composite that could be at home in the city’s top luxury restaurants

Dessert? Pots de Crème, a Trio of Tangerine, Kahlua-Chocolate and Strawberry steals the show. The restaurant is beautifully run by General Manager Steve Remming, who is also responsible for the signature cocktails (don’t miss the best Gibson imaginable with housemade onions for just $10) and a wine list that is short, well chosen and to the point.

Sleek and visually assertive, yet warm and beguiling, this sliver of a restaurant embraces diners in a distinctive palate of beiges, browns and burgundies punctuated with striking black accents. Lined in velvety softly glowing wood there is a jewel box quality to the space and, indeed, the carefully orchestrated lighting by designer Scott Bromley. Resolutely cosseting booths and banquets nuzzle oversized tables that make multi-dish dining a joy rather than a logistical challenge.

Avon Bistro, 155 E. 52nd Street, is a welcome relief to the cookie cutter restaurants opening these days and rates “A Major” on the Walman Report.

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CHEF JEAN-GEORGES VONGERICHTEN BRINGS THE FLAVORS OF SOUTHEAST ASIA TO ATLANTA WITH SPICE MARKET IN THE W ATLANTA-MIDTOWN

Internationally renowned chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten presents his critically acclaimed Spice Market restaurant in the new W Atlanta-Midtown. A timeless paean to Southeast Asian sensuality, Spice Market will excite Atlantans with Vongerichten’s piquant elevations of the region’s street cuisine served in a casual, sexy atmosphere.

“Atlanta offers me the opportunity to showcase my food to a new community of diners that will appreciate the Southeast Asian flavors of Spice Market. I am thrilled to be able to bring my cuisine to a city with such an exciting culinary future,” says Vongerichten.

“At W, delightful culinary encounters are a passion of our brand, so we are thrilled to partner with Chef Jean-Georges,” says Ross Klein, President, Starwood’s Luxury Brands Group. “Chef Jean-Georges’ culinary vision and creative ingenuity makes him a terrific match for the W brand and we look forward to working together as we continue to re-imagine “Yum” experiences for our local W loyalists.”

Inspired by the vibrant street life of Southeast Asia, Spice Market enchants guests with fun and adventurous flavors served in a relaxed, alluring environment. Vongerichten has traveled and worked throughout Asia for over 20 years, and he recreates some of his favorite street food experiences at Spice Market. Dishes display complex blends of spices and layers of flavor, and are presented to the table family-style; courses arrive continuously throughout the meal and are placed in the center of table for all to share.

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BEEF AFICIONADOS REJOICE

OLD HOMESTEAD RAISES THE BAR ON AN OLD CLASSIC:

THE $81 BURGER COMES TO NYC

Old Homestead Steakhouse (56 Ninth Avenue between 14th & 15th Streets, 212-242-9040) is presenting the most deliciously decadent item to grace its 140-year-old menu: The $81 “Burger”. Made from 100% Grade Five Japanese Kobe Wagyu, this American steakhouse classic with a Japanese accent is well worth the price tag.

While “Kobe” has been a buzz word recently, with many American restaurants jumping on the bandwagon by serving inferior “Kobe-style” imposters at inflated prices, Old Homestead Steakhouse uses only the highest grade, authentic Japanese Kobe Wagyu imported from Japan. This Kobe Wagyu has been designated as “Grade 5”, the highest classification, prized for its unbeatable level of marbling. It’s this intense marbling that lends Old Homestead Steakhouse’s burger its melt-in-your-mouth flavor and texture, unmatched by any ordinary domestic beef burger.

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