Bar Food in NYC: Two Stellar Restaurants--Modern & Halfsteak

Tuesday night, looking for something a bit different in NYC, a friend and I went to the Bar Room at the Modern. I’ve been to the main restaurant at the Modern a couple of times, and have enjoyed the dinners, but didn’t find it earth shattering. Looking for something different, I said to my friend–why don’t we try the Bar Room? Voila–OpenTable secured our 8pm reservation. (disclaimer–Chef Kreuther is a friend)

As I started to sit down, I heard someone say “Wilfred!” and it was Chef Floyd Cordoz from Tabla, who–himself–was enjoying quite a nice meal at the Bar Room. Chef Floyd whispered to me “You’ve got to get the egg” and later I understood why.

I sat down and ordered a cocktail, waiting for my dining companion, Lisa. Gabriel sent out the Alsatian Tarte Flambée which the menu describes as an “Alsatian thin crust tart with crème fraîche, onion and applewood smoked bacon.” This was stupendous. “I knew you were a great chef, but I didn’t know you could do THIS!” I found myself saying, putting my foot in my mouth but expressing my inner self. The next dish was better than the one before it. We asked the server to pick out some of his favourite menu items and send them out, which he said he’d do in consultation with the chef. I did ask for the liverwurst, which about brought me to my knees. This was the real deal. Words almost fail me but the texture was sublime and the flavour intense. I would definitely get this and the tarte next time I’m there. The steak tartare was very proper–with a quail egg on top. For me, it was a bit bland but the texture excellent. (Hand chopped meat–I cannot take the Hormel type processed texture one finds at some places). But I wanted more spark in the dish. Next! The egg that Chef Floyd recommended was next. The menu describes it as a “Slow Poached Farm Egg ‘In a Jar’ with Maine lobster, sunchokes and sea urchin froth.” The lobster together with the creaminess of the egg was a marriage made in heaven. Now we’ve got a 3 way tie for dish of the night. Being Dutch, I asked for the wurst–described on the menu as “Homemade Alsatian Country Sausage with sauerkraut and whole grain mustard sauce.” The sausage was good, but what really made this dish was the sauerkraut. AMAZING sauerkraut. Heaven. Skip the wurst and just bring me the sauerkraut. OK, you can bring the wurst too. I think that completed the menu they planned, but in the end, we wanted to also try the sweetbreads. They were quite good but not in my top 3 dishes. All went well with a nice Boxler Brand 2005 that we had decanted. I kept asking myself why I had never been to the Bar Room before. Yes, its a bit noisy, but the staff is superb. Thomas (or is it spelled Tomas?–he is from Brittany) was outstanding as the manager, and Ehren is an excellent beverage manager (he did promise to have the Old Raj for our next visit) and even served us a 4 vermouth comparison tasting at the end of the night. Belinda Chang is outstanding as a sommelier/wine director but I didn’t see her that night. But Gabriel’s food, if I may say so, is so terrific. Just as with Halfsteak below, the food at the Bar Room is like a totally different concept/menu/taste etc. from the regular restaurant. It isn’t “The Modern Lite”–its a whole style on its own. I never realized that before. Just beware it can be noisy. As an aside, their wine list is great with a huge array of Alsatian wines (the Chef is from Alsace).

Last night I was to meet another friend for dinner, and he suggested Halfsteak–the menu in the lounge at Craftsteak. Being a fan of Craftsteak, and knowing I could order from the regular menu as well in the lounge, I readily agreed. But when my friend arrived, it just seemed easy to say “Would you mind to just order what you like for us both?” and he did. Wow. Shane, the chef de cuisine at Craftsteak, totally outdid himself with these creations. The chicken wings with a white BBQ sauce are the best chicken wing’s I’ve had in NYC. (They put the wings at Blue Smoke to shame). They were not greasy but they were tender and succulent. My friend and I even had two orders of these. Next up, my buddy ordered the lamb ribs and again–WOW. Meaty, succulent, and rich in texture and flavour. We ordered the hamburger to share (its about 1/2 or 1/3 the size of a normal hamburger and served cut in half) and I must say–this may be the best burger I’ve had in NYC–Shake Shack included. Last up, we got the “half steak” which really wasn’t half a steak but maybe 1/4 of a steak (as my friend said, “What do you expect for $9?”). But the burger, the wings and the lamb ribs were the hits. As with the Modern, the food at Halfsteak isn’t really “Craftsteak lite” (except for the ‘Half Steak’ on the menu) its different and stands on its own. Again, I asked myself “How come you’ve been avoiding this all this time?” Truly, next time I go to Craftsteak, I’d probably prefer to order from Halfsteak. Shane was on vacation, but when he gets back, I’m going to praise his efforts because he has created something wonderful here.

Bar menus. Who’da thunk it?

How nice to have two really enjoyable restaurant experiences in a row, especially after your disappointment at L2O. I loved your description of the dishes-- all that’s missing is the complementary food porn!