Interesting! Dam you will be the first, I tried to get there both Tues and Wed this week but I wasn’t in the area. I look forward to hearing your report, please take pics!!!
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I’m hoping you have a great meal and I hope you get get some steaks!
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Thanks! I’ve been pretty much off beef, but for this special occasion, I’m sure I will.
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Plenty of pictures please!
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Six of us arrived on time for our Saturday, 5 p.m., reservation. As others have said, they’ve done wonders with the decor…a charming, rustic vibe that went along with the personalities of every employee we encountered. We were seated in the produce room. Three picnic-style tables filled the pretty little room.
As she opened our wine, our server went over the few specials. We were served a prebuttered and seasoned loaf of crusty bread. We ordered the special burrata appetizer with local peaches and figs and a balsamic drizzle, the roasted oysters, and fried balls (beef, pork, veal combo deep-fried and served with salsa verde). We were served a complimentary order of ravioli in bolognese sauce.
After we ordered our appetizers, we went to the meat room to pick our steaks. We ordered a porterhouse and a bone-in strip steak, medium rare. We chose to have them served sliced. For sides, we ordered mac n’ cheese, smashed potatoes, and haricot verts. Seeing them next to us in the beautiful produce case, my husband and one of the birthday boys ordered grilled long hot peppers. (They both suffered in a similar manner the next day.)
All of the appetizers were hits. We rabidly passed them around, using extra bread to sop up the oyster, burrata, and bolognese juices. The steaks were cooked and seasoned perfectly. The one person in the party who prefers her steaks mooing was pleased with her pink slices. The sides were yummy too, especially the mac n’ cheese. The smashed potatoes were rich and we were so involved being carnivores that they ended up going home as leftovers. The haricot verts were cooked perfectly, al dente with crunchy garlic bits.
We were too full for dessert (a small selection brought in from Caputo’s). One in our party ordered a double espresso.
It was unanimous. Everything about our meal was perfect, from the service to the food. The absolute only disappointment was that there were no aged steaks available for us. What they had were not yet aged enough. Is that poor planning for a Saturday? I’d think that they’d stagger the aging to ensure that aged steak is always an option, but I know nothing about the restaurant business other than what I’ve learned from the folks on this board. The bill came to $340 before tip. The steaks were $137 and $116 if memory serves.
Because they are cooking the steaks Pittsburgh style in the pizza oven, they are no longer serving pizza. We were invited in the back to see the steaks cooking in the oven.
There’s an air of excitement among the staff and the patrons. They’re not answering the phones for the time being. While I was there, I made a reservation for a friend for August 27. The book was empty for the end of the month, particularly weeknights. Stop by to get your reservation on the books!
Bonus: As we left, we noticed a cooler filled with complimentary beer for those who are waiting for their tables. A nice touch!
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Given what I’ve read about them being farm to table (I thought they owned the farm as well) the lack of aged steaks is truly surprising. So $137 for a (prime?) non-aged porterhouse $116. for a single strip on the bone?? Do you have any idea of the weight of the cuts? That’s some pretty steep pricing for non aged meat. (Unless they were hugemongous cuts)
Thanks for the excellent review and pics, I can’t wait to give it a try but now I’m curiously apprehensive.
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OhBoyOhBoyOhBoy!
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I can’t speak to the farm. The aged steaks were there aging. We were just not there on the right day of the process, I guess. I don’t know what our steaks weighed. I read that the prices start at around $40/lb. The meat room was packed so four of our party left and let two take over the ordering so I wasn’t in the room for the details. Sorry. They were hugemongous and they were the best steaks we’ve had maybe ever. Definitely better than the several times we’ve dined at Lugers. No one in our party felt short-changed in the least. No “buts.” Put your apprehension aside.
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Curious of what I read on the menu when I was there I went to their web site:
We are a whole animal butcher shop located in Long Branch, NJ within our USDA wholesale distribution facility. We specialize in local meats from small, family-run farms in New York State and New Jersey. All of our beef is 100% all natural and our pork and lamb is pasture raised, the way it should be! Our meat travels directly from the farm to family-owned slaughterhouses to our shop with no middle man. Not only do we pride ourselves in having the highest quality local meat available, but also provide the customer with a “cool, hip, fun” experience straight from the warehouse.
I guess I misread it when I was there, but the second use of “family-owned” does give the impression it’s them. I’m not sure what the whole story is, I will ask when I finally get there for dinner, but I was under the assumption they had the farm, butcher and distribution. If not then the lack of aged available is slightly more understandable.
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WOW…what a feast and really reasonable for 6 adults…
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This is going to be loooong, this is going to be drawn out and it’s going to have a sad ending. (in case you just want to cut to the chase)
I went on Tuesday night on a whim with the wife and daughter, thinking on a Tuesday night this would be an easy walk in experience, I was wrong. There was a line out the door and while we were told a 20 minute wait, 40 minutes later we were called to out table. (we arrived around 7:30 sat 8:10) There were a few men outside whom I thought were waiting for a table as well, but they were either the owner and friends or all co-owners. One kept telling us he was going inside to check on our table then he would come out and say they are setting it just a few minutes, this happened at least 3/4 times during our wait. lol (as the night progressed I would see each of them go to and from the kitchen)
We were seated at the counter in front of the chef & “pizza” oven. This gave me an excellent view point of what goes on behind the scenes. They are using a garlic/oil/herbs rub on their steaks, almost of a pesto type consistency, they are then covered in a combination of 3/4 coarse salt & 1/4 black pepper. (typical combination). They are placed on a pan and placed in the wood fired pizza oven. What takes place next is probably as exciting a show as you can get outside a 3 ring circus under the big top. The chef has to negotiate between a dozen steaks in a pizza oven using a pizza stick. I honestly watched in amazement as he juggled steaks all around the small mouth of the pizza oven, it’s as archaic a method of cooking multiple steaks as I have ever witnessed. I questioned him as to what their procedure was prior to this, knowing they recently converted the pizza oven to full time steak oven and having stopped serving all their pizza’s on the menu.
He said they previously used a cast iron pan and oven. In other words they do not have a traditional grill/broiler or even salamander on premises. Interesting…
We ordered:
Fried Meatballs / Wedge salad
AGED / Prime NY Strip on the bone (mine)
Fried Chicken (wife)
Pasta bolognese (daughter)
Roasted Brussels sprouts
The meatballs came out first, we hadn’t been given any set ups so we had no plates or utensils till the food runner provided them for us. While I enjoyed (the same as my personal) combination of meats for the meatballs, beef/pork/veal, I’m not a fan of deep frying meatballs. This was the same complaint I had at Nettie Spaghetti, I would prefer a nicer pan fried than deep fried. I believe it was served with the same garlic and herb “pesto” as the steaks are prepped in.
A few minutes later my “wedge” salad arrived. Yeah I’m nitpicking a bit but it wasn’t technically a wedge but rather a “slice” of iceberg lettuce. It was fine, I would have preferred the actual wedge, I enjoy the “chunk” of iceberg that provides and the bacon was a little too light. They have bacon on the menu as an appetizer I would have expected larger pieces and a bit more of it, overall though the salad was fine. I admit I am nit-picking.
When you place your order if you are ordering a steak they bring you into the “butchers room” which is a room with a deli case with the cut portions of meat for you to select from. (kind of like the old What’s your Beef). There is a separate case with slabs of steaks aging but you do not select from there. I selected what was labeled as “Prime Aged Strip on the bone”, but I’ll admit I was a bit skeptical. (it was the only steak labeled aged) The aged steak(s) were as vibrant and bright-red meat as all the other cuts. There wasn’t any visual indication that this was aged, as is usually common with aged meat. Sure they could have trimmed all the “funky” mold off prior to placing in the case, but I still don’t know about the color it just shouldn’t be such a vibrant bloody red, but more a dull maroon color. Regardless that was my choice. They take it from the case and the waiter walks it over the the chef where I just happened to be sitting. I watched my baby get slathered in the pesto, salt & pepper and into the pizza oven she went.
I watched in curious amazement as orders of steaks piled up waiting for oven room/ I watched as the steaks fought for counter space with the bread and whatever else was taking place at this station. I watched as the steaks piled up on the shelf next to the bathroom where the clean silverware and glasses sit next to the raw meat.
After the proper amount of time my steak was served, sliced off the bone. I waited a good 5+ minutes for the ladies meals to come from the kitchen. They were served but our sprouts were missing so we flagged the waiter down to alert him and 2 mins later he brought out the order. He placed the fine looking bowl of sprouts down when I questioned him:
(me) “Where’s the captain crunch?”
(him) “You didn’t order them with the captain crunch”
(me) " I didn’t order them with captain crunch my last time here and that’s how they came"
(him) " I’ll bring them back in a minute"
And Abracadabra!! Sprouts and Captain Crunch arrived. (f’n delicious!!!)
Now fully served I checked my steak and it was fairly under cooked so I requested some more fire which was provided and it was perfect. The steak was wonderful, and excellent cut of meat but it completely lacked any nutty, woody, funky aged taste at all. The garlic and herb pesto, which was also served drizzled on top was very tasty but it wasn’t strong enough to mask the normal aged flavor. I cannot and will not say they are serving mislabeled steaks but I will say if this is an example of their prime aged steaks I didn’t care for it at all. Still a good steak but not a typical prime aged steak and honestly people I know my steaks.
The fried chicken was very good and served with a side of slaw and the pasta was pretty good as well.
Just a FYI the steak does not come with any sides, salads, potato, vegetable or even a piece of bread. You want bread it’s on the menu and it’s something like $ 4.00. You order a steak you get a steak on a plate and that is it.
Now for the surprise of the night: Check Please!!! My steak for 1, which I could have easily finished had I not had apps and a taste of everyone else’s was $ 100 !!! Actually $ 100 & 8 cents. I mean when you are paying $ 100. for a steak you have to make sure to include that $ .08 do NOT round down!!!
Now let’s assume the steak is a prime aged steak as advertised. That is $ 45. more than Gabriella’s which is a delicious prime aged steak. Gabriella’s serves it with a side of bone marrow and complimentary bread, unlimited along with their house steak sauce. Butchers block does not offer any steak sauces, even at an up charge. That is $ 40 more than Empire Steakhouse in NYC which I LOVE. Hell it’s only $10/$15 less than their porterhouse for 2 which can easily feed 3 or 4, and you are in NYC with table clothed tables and excellent service by tuxedo waiters !!! OH and you get a bread basket that they will refill!!!
$ 100. for a steak for one, in a setting where you might sit at a picnic table with another party. Without a liquor license and where you need to speak at a high volume to hear the person sitting next to you? WTF ??? Yes people are lining up for this!!
I sh*t you not!!!
So…I like this place I really do. I enjoyed my lunch, I enjoy the atmosphere, though a tad loud, and I like the owner/son who I met the first and this time as well. The service is “ok” friendly and helpful but very disorganized with poor communication between servers. They do NOT have a POS system but rather rely on hand written dupes. (see pics) Organized chaos is the best I can describe the service. Again VERY friendly and nice, just no organization at all.
Oh did I mention they are expanding? Yes, they are breaking through another wall for an additional dining area and I have no idea how they expect that pizza oven arrangement to handle it because they get very backlogged as it is.
So I will go back and I will probably try another “prime aged steak” just to see. While I will go back at least one more time, I’m hard pressed to recommend anyone to a place that is charging $ 100 for 1 single serving steak. I’m sorry that price is ridiculous. I can’t believe people are lining up for this, unless they are all ordering the chicken and burgers, but I saw for myself a lot of steaks waiting for oven space.
This is quite an interesting place but I just don’t see how a place in today’s market is going to survive at a $ 100 price point and not even giving you a piece of bread with it? C’mon…as the recently departed GOT from HBO keyed the phrase: Winter is Coming…it will be interesting to see how business holds up for them.
Good luck but I think they need some help in the overall management and game plane of the place.
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If you want the happy ending, it’s another $100.
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Wow. Not what I was hoping to hear… Think this another case of people who love food but who have no restaurant experience opening a restaurant? Is that possible? Perhaps they’d like a partner…
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As I said to someone else who made a similar comment to me, anyone who owns a business with a line out the door at 7:30 on a Tuesday night isn’t going to be listening to any suggestions. Why should they? I just don’t think once the summer is over and it’s just “locals” you are going to be getting as many people willing to throw down $ 100’s on a single steak. Just my opinion but at this point from the owners perspective it ain’t broke so why try to fix it?
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I was there the night after @NotJrvedivici ( That was the crazy night of flooding and tornadoes ). Even with the weather, there was a line . Tommy greeted me at the door telling me that my friend had been there the night before. My cousin knows the family and she had made the reservation. We had the best table in the house. I have no idea how much the meal cost as I was not allowed to pay or even see the check.
We started with both special salads, the highlighted local peaches were perfectly ripe and, although not a salad guy, everyone enjoyed them a lot. I also had a really good locally grown tomato from one of the salads. My mother had the bone marrow - three huge bones so we all tried some and it was unctuous spread on the grilled bread. Then Tommy brought us out something not on the menu yet, sweet and hot sausage they make themselves. They need to put a sandwich of these on the lunch menu as they were juicy and flavorful.
We shared a family size bowl of cacio e pepe pasta and that tasted of real Parmigiano Reggiano so I ate more than my share. We shared two steaks, one porterhouse and one ribeye. Both were done as we requested and I like their oil and herb mixture that they both cook the steaks in and drizzle on afterwards. Sprouts and corn rounded out the meal.
I gotta say, sitting there not thinking about the price, hell, not thinking at all, this was a great night. I liked everything I ate and Tommy is an outstanding host.
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Were the steaks your ordered “prime / aged” and assuming so did you taste the normal characteristics?
Last night Peter Lugar’s Great Neck…two Bombay sapphire martinis, 3 strips of bacon , tomato, onion, Porterhouse for two, creamed spinach, German potato, scoop of vanilla, chocolate fudge, and whipped cream… $230 with tip…
What don’t I get here?..
Junior…you are welcome any time, and you don’t have stand in the street, there is plenty of room at the bar with me!!!
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Thanks for the detailed retelling of this dinner. My husband is definitely more of a steak guy than I’ll ever be (in more way than one!) and was thinking of this as a b-day option for hm. Now second guessing that. Where is Gabriella’s? Or should we go straight to empire steakhouse?
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Gabriellas is in Middletown on rt 35. It is in the shopping center where whole foods is. I haven’t been yet, but if jr gives it a thumbs up, it will be good.
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As @corvette_johnny explained it’s on 35 in Middletown where the old Bonefish used to be. I would definitely recommend it, especially for a justifiable meal for cost.
Empire is certainly a choice and with travel expenses included about equivalent to BB.
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