STK Midtown Review

By Gerard Boucher on February 12, 2013 · Add Comment · In Dine

stk-midtown-review

Last week, we ventured over to New York City’s resident steakhouse-meets-nightclub STK Midtown for lunch. In a city where another steakhouse looms on just about every corner, we were intrigued by the prospect of a uniquely hybrid steakhouse. Entering the steakhouse, we had one big question on our mind: would it balance the conceptual with the cuisine and serve up great steak?

We arrived for our 1:15 PM reservation slightly early, and were seated immediately. No additional wait time. We were led to our table – although it was near the restaurant’s entrance, there was also a stylish electric fireplace right behind us. Would it keep us warm? We’d soon find out…

Our server came over and offered us a large selection of wines and cocktails. We looked over the restaurant’s lunch menu, which had plenty of selections, including seafood, steaks, salads, and small plates. Appetizer selections include tuna tartare, jumbo lump crab, mini sliders, and various appetizer-portioned salads.

Bread served with blue cheese butter at STK Midtown.

For our appetizers, we ordered the tuna tartare and the hearts of romaine salad. We sat back, continuing to look at the menu, and enjoyed the piping warm bread our server brought us. It reminded me of BLT’s Popovers – the buttery and addicting bread served at Laurent Tourondel’s various restaurants. Very dangerous, yet delicious – if we do say so ourselves.

Tuna Tartare at STK Midtown

Our appetizers arrived and we dug right in, having skipped breakfast and peering over to our neighboring table to see several others enjoying their meal. The tuna tartare – served with avocado and taro chips in a soy honey emulsion – consisted of large cubes of freshly prepared tuna that looked to have been delivered that morning. It was flavorful and delicious. The taro chips complimented it perfectly. Just what we wanted to see (and taste). There’s nothing worse than tuna that’s more than a day old. It loses its redness and takes on a pink color. Not the case here.

Hearts of Romaine at STK Midtown

The hearts of romaine salad – similar to a caesar salad with large, flat croutons and a lemon parmesan dressing – had several large hearts of romaine with four croutons scattered throughout. It was crunchy and delicious, with flavors of citrus combined with an Italian flair. The house made croutons, which were baked with grated parmesan cheese, were to die for. Why aren’t they available as a snack for the table?

For our entrees, we both opted to try different steaks. It’s interesting to note that there were no steaks to share, no steaks for two, or three. STK’s lunch menu offers steaks in two different sizes – small (6-10 oz.) and medium (10-16 oz.). At dinner, large steaks are also offered.

Skirt Steak at STK Midtown

I ordered the medium skirt steak, cooked medium rare. My guest ordered the medium loin strip, cooked medium. Both were served with pickled onions and STK steak sauce. My skirt steak was cooked perfectly, and served in a generous portion that looked suspiciously larger than the 12 oz. size advertised on the menu. I cut right in and dipped a piece in the steak sauce, which was billed by the waiter as “our great, signature sauce.” The steak was well-marbled and delicious, with the sauce perfectly complimenting it.

The loin strip at STK Midtown

My guest dug right in to his New York strip and smiled – it was a perfect steak. He loved the restaurant’s steak sauce even more than I did. We shared two sides – truffle fries and mac and cheese. The truffle fries were littered with a hefty sprinkling of parmesan cheese. The fries were also (very) slightly undercooked and could have used another minute of frying. Our mac and cheese – sprinkled with house made breadcrumbs – was perfect and worth every bite.

Parmesan Truffle Fries at STK Midtown

By the time we had made it halfway through our steaks, we were getting full thanks to the truffle fries and mac and cheese. We slowly stopped eating our sides and continued enjoying our steaks until every last bite was gone. The steaks at STK are addicting, lightly marinated and served with butter and a pinch of salt. The way a New York steak should be served. We were impressed.