Montreal ! Steaks at Moishes

For the Labor Day weekend, I had four glorious days of freedom, so the boy and I decided to check out our neighbors up north - Montreal !  The drive is so beautiful from New York, and though we got lost for about an hour, we made it in time for our 9:45p dinner reservation at Moishes, a Jewish steakhouse institution.

The average age of patrons was probably 60.  Everything is very classic and lovely with dark woods and white linens.

At Moishes, you get a few complimentary treats to nibble on.  A plateful of sour, juicy pickles.

A thing that looks like coleslaw but is so much better - tangy, sweet cabbage slaw.

And a plate of sliced butter in ice.  Somehow the butter doesn't get watery, it stays cool, and slathers on beautifully on your choice of rye bread and baguette.

From Thursday-Sat, after 9, Moishes offers a 2 course meal for $25 that also comes with tea / coffee.  It's an unbeatable deal, since the steaks range $40-$50.

Choice of appetizers are limted and included chopped liver (shown below).  I would have to tell you that it's chopped liver, because your immediate thought is probably that it was dog food, and I'd have to say that that is exactly what it tasted like.  I never want to eat chopped liver again.

You're way better off ordering the choice of salads on the menu or the salmon tartare that was absolutely bright and delicious with the squeeze of lemon.

The boy and I both ordered rib steaks, the closest thing to the ribeye.  It's a touch thinner than a ribeye, but just as juicy.  The steaks have been seasoned well with salt and fully flavorful.

In contrast to a lot of New York steakhouses, these steaks come with a choice of side: a plain baked potato (that the waiter described to us with much reluctance because you should never order it unless you're deadly boring) or the Monte Carlo potato, which is a twice baked potato dusted with paprika.

This potato was ever so creamy, buttery, and melt-in-your-mouth wonderful.

For a bit of greens, we ordered a side of sauteed spinach.  It was heavy on the butter, and not very good.  Skip!  Eat a salad tomorrow !

Not shown is the Moishes mojito that I got knockered on.  It was sweet, chock full of mint (how I prefer to get my greens!), and tasty.  

A great start to our trip!  Recommend making reservations on Opentable - this place was packed 'till midnight.

Moishes

3961 St Laurent Blvd  Montreal, QC H2W 1Y4, Canada

Peter Luger's, Coney Island, Doughnut Plant, MIlk and Honey and the 53rd & 7th Halal Cart

Work has been seriously kicking my butt.  This week especially has felt like an entire month, and as dumpy as I feel of late, these pictures sure remind me that there are better times out there !  And I just need to revitalize !

So I think we're at Tuesday of my trip, and I had made lunch reservations at Peter Luger's. 

J and I had gone to Peter Luger's for their famous porterhouse steak last winter.  Tip: if you want to eat at Peter's at a proper time, book FAR in advance.  We had booked a couple of weeks in advance and could only get a 2:35 p.m. reservation for "dinner."  Let me tell ya.  Nothing ends your day quicker than eating a porterhouse for two at 2:35.

So.  We played it smart this time, and went for lunch to try their burgers. 

The bread basket.

Signature sauce.

I have no idea what this sauce is, but every table gets one regardless if steak is ordered or not.

The insides of their onion roll.  Has nice pieces of onion and poppy side inside.  The outsides are a bit chewy, but hey, no pain, no gain.

The $10 burger ended up being more like $13.50 once you add cheese and bacon.  The American cheese I could live without, but c'mon.  The bacon is the main attraction!

Hello, my thick cut beauty.

Hello again from above.

I was too distracted by the bacon to realize there was a burger on the plate too!  The burger was super thick and made of coarsely ground beef.  It had great flavor and needed no additional seasoning.

J splurged and got the fries.  While you don't get a lot of fries, it did appear they had rough cut one whole potato to fry, so there was enough potato for us to share (or J was forced to share :)

We interrupt this broadcast with scenes from a troll-man eating meat OFF OF the porterhouse bone !  This is shocking news.

Leave no meat behind my friends.  I had never seen anyone do this before, but hey, that porterhouse was $100.  Get yo money's worth, shameless!

J and I could not leave without their signature "Holy Cow" sundae, loaded with their aaamaazing schlag (whipped cream).

I just adore sundaes that look like they are made entirely out of hot fudge.

Hello you little cow, peeking out from behind the schlag!  Why don't you come out...

SO I CAN EAT YOU!  (and I totally did)

Schlag.  It's sooo thick and creamy.  I can make some pretty great whipped cream, but nothing tops this schlag.

Or this hot fudge.

Or these awesome gold coins which I snack on at home when I'm feeling fancy.

After we finished up our cow-niverous meal, we unbuckled our jeans and sat back on the F train and headed straight for Coney Island.

We ate lemon Italian ice and watched people on the boardwalk.

And then we ate our crushed peanut butter and blackberry jelly filled doughnut from the Doughnut Plant and watched more people.

Doughnut innies.  Totally tasted like a peanut butter sandwich, and it was great.  I absolutely loved the chewy-yeastiness of it all.

After watching a series of kids dive off the pier and old Russian couples dance at their nursing home, we headed back to Manhattan to relax a bit before checking out a New York speakeasy, Milk and Honey.  This establishment used to be super exclusive; in order to make reservations you had to know their super-secret unlisted phone number.  But since they've become private, offering two types of memberships (expensive, and more expensive), you can now email them and request a reservation.  We lucked out and were able to snag a reservation for 9:30p within just a couple of days.

Non-descript door of Milk and Honey on the Lower East side, posing as a tailor shop from the outside.

The place was ridiculously dark, as speakeasies should be, but in order not to cause any crazy distractions, I only took flashless photos.  Which are useless, but at least you can kind of sense the ambience!  Milk and Honey does not have a drink menu.  Instead, you tell your mixologist (fancy, yes) the flavors you like and what kind of alcohol you prefer, and he will just "take care of you."  I told him I liked ginger and citrus, and he whipped me up a Pimm's Rangoon which had fresh cucumber, candied ginger, fresh muddled strawberries, blackberries and orange.  It was single-handedly the most amazing drink I have ever had.  J had a Dominican mojito (?) and a gin based drink featuring fresh strawberries and foamy egg whites.  All were unique, delicious and so enjoyable.

And then as if we didn't already love the place enough, they brought us a plate with a couple of whole strawberries, a schmear of marscapone in the middle and a generous drizzle of honey across the plate.  The mixologist recommended that we try to get a bite of all three at once to really capture the full delicious effect.  And.  Seriously?  OMGSODELICIOUS.  I have never thought of having strawberry + honey together, but they are a match made in DELICIOUSHEAVEN. 

We ended up spending a couple of hours in the place; it was comfortable, played great old-fashioned music and did not feel rushed at all.  I am hoping for people to come visit soon so I can take them here.  So hip and oh so tasty.

After, we grabbed dinner at midnight from the 53rd & 6th Halal street cart.  My coworker absolutely loves this cart and so do the other masses of New Yorkers and tourists that stand in their line non-stop from 7:30p-4:30a.m. every day.  When J and I arrived there at 11:30p, there were at least 50 people ahead of us in line.   Who are these loons?  Why are we one of them?

Scene from back of the line

53rd and 6th guys in action.  They cook up super chopped grilled chicken and super chopped lamb / gyro meat on rice with some lettuce leaves.  You can order just chicken, lamb or a combo of the two for $6 a plate.  The whole platter ends up weighing about a couple of pounds.

The plate.

The real draw of the place is their "white sauce" which is described as similar to a tzatziki sauce, yogurt based goodness that you drown the whole plate in and go to town.

Example of going to town.

53rd and 6th also have this red hot sauce that is the spiciest sauce I have ever tasted.  I can only tolerate a few drops of it swirled in my rice, but it is really good.  I ended up eating more of that than the white sauce, but you know how I like to keep things spicy.

And that was Tuesday!!
More to come!

Peter Luger's

178 Broadway

Brooklyn, NY

Doughnut Plant

379 Grand Street

New York, NY

Milk and Honey

134 Eldridge Street

New York, NY

53rd and 6th Halal Cart

@ 53rd and 6th - the real cart is on-site from 7:30p-4:30a only.

New York, NY

Steaks @ DeStefano's

I love Restaurant Weeks.  I never participate in them though, for one reason or another, but this year, is a new year.

And this year, my first restaurant week was in Brooklyn ! (I know!  There's a running theme here of late!)
For Dine-In Brooklyn, a three course meal is $20.10 (cute), and a three course dinner is $25.00 - huge bargoooon!  So, Greeshma and I perused the eateries, and opted for DeStefano's, a steakhouse that people cannot help but comapre to Peter Luger's but is nothing like PL's aside from being a steakhouse.

PL's has tall, looming male servers, coarse service to match and limited menu.  DeStefano's is more varied in food options and has a warm, homey ambience.  They both have strongsuits.  And DeStefano's is definitely ambience.

Dinner was very enjoyable.  Here is a scene that I particularly liked:

After that shenanigan, we started to eat!

The dine-in menu was a variant of the one posted online except it featured two unexpected additions: 8 oz filet mignon or rack of lamb with pistachio nut butter.  Both Greeshma and I had lusted for the hangar steak in pomegranate reduction sauce because the words pomegranate and reduction and sauce is such a lovely series of words.  But she quickly changed her tune at the thought of lamb + pistachios.  So we ordered one of each to share with the other.

Starters: Greeshma salad.  Han tuscan with white bean and sausage soup.

Greeshma liked the salad, sprinkled with carrots, but the dressing was heavy and recommended the dressing be requested on the side.

The soup was served in a cute ceramic bowl atop a doily !  Buttery croutons floated along the surface and hearty large white beans were beneath.  I had expected ground sausage in the soup a la Olive Garden style, but it had cut slices of spicy sausage links - rather tasty !

Then the entrees ! 

Hangar steak with pomegranate reduction sauce, the lightest and creamiest mashed potatoes and maple glazed carrots.  The red onions and pomegranate sauce added a light sweetness to the heartiness of the steaks, and they were perfectly cooked at medium.

Greeshma was beside herself at the sight of the rack of lamb.

The rack of lamb was cooked very well.  I am not the hugest lamb fan though and found the meat a tad gamey for my tastes, but Greeshma was a huge, huge fan.

Then it was my favorite time ! 
D.e.s.s.e.r.t.s! ! !

Tiramasu, served cheesecake style vs. a square slice!  Super creamy and wonderful.

Chocolate mousse, my beloved.  Simply. Bliss.

And then we waddled home.

The End!

DeStefano's Steakhouse

89 Conselyea Street

Brooklyn, NY 11211-2301

Sidenote: as observed by Greeshma, DeStefano's has the nicest smelling restaurant bathroom we have ever been in the Tri-State area.  And real towels !