The Palm Restaurant

250 West 50th Street

New York, NY 10019

(212) 333-7256

Yearning for an excellent steak, I entered The Palm with very high expectations. It is another chain, just like Morton's but I let that slide. The decor is modern meets Tommy Bahama. Very southern Florida-esque and not too snooty. There are caricatures that paint the walls with famous people who have visited the eatery. And, apparently anyone can get their face up on the wall- with the stipulation that you join the Palm's 'club' and by earning a certain amount of points you, too, can be staring at patron's as they devour their steak!

Anywho, with a coupon that was mailed to my boyfriend, we were more easily able to afford dinner here. Otherwise I'd probably ONLY be eating the steak and then saying my goodbye's to the waiter. However, with the coupon, though limited menu choices, we were able to have a lovely full course meal with wine and have a pretty good opinion of the restaurant. I started with the Lobster bisque, and while I normally love the stuff (yes, despite my odd relationship with seafood), it really did not impress me. My boyfriend, however, loved it and thought it was the most amazing lobster bisque he's had. Maybe I've just been eating cheap lobster bisque all my life? Moving on to my entree, I ended up with NY Strip and we shared sides of sauteed spinach and mashed potatoes. The sauteed spinach, first of all was to die for! I am a huge believer in Ina Garten's theory that good quality food made simply can often be the best. This was precisely the spinach. It was fresh and perfectly seasoned with loads of garlic and salt. Ces't Magnifique! The potatoes on the other hand, while good were nothing to delight over.

Now let's see how the steak measures up- and if you haven't noticed by now, I take terrible pictures, so please, let's remember that old adage our mom's told us, "Don't judge a book by its cover." I took my first bite and knew that I had found it. And, I will readily admit that my NY strip was much better than the Filet Mignon that my boyfriend ordered. I actually have always found it rather interesting that many people believe Filet Mignon is the best cut; and while I have also thought so, sometimes I feel mislead, as there are many other wonderfully tasty cuts of steak, i.e., my NY strip! It was perfectly fatty and unbelievably scrumptious with a magnificent crusty char on the outside and juiciness on the inside. I have found the answer to my steak yearnings! It was a nicely sized portion too, as I needed to (happily) save the rest for leftovers. I ended my scrumptious meal with something I'd been wanting to try- macerated strawberries with reduced balsamic. The balsamic, reduced to a thick syrupy consistency became sweet and the tartness of the strawberries pared nicely.

I was so satisfied with my meal, I will be happy to oblige another trip to the Palm in the near future! Oh yeah, the one bad thing to this story- an apparent aura of Alzheimer's-like symptoms overcame me with a food coma and I forgot to put my leftovers in the fridge. My mistake was sadly realized the next morning. I hope you're happy, garbage can! You just got a really good meal in there!

Cafe Espanol

172 Bleecker St

New York, NY 10012

(212) 505-0657

Spain has some remarkably complexly flavored, yet simple, savory food made with exceptional flair. Fortunately, because my Grandma lives in Spain, I've had the opportunity to experience some of the amazing culture and beautiful cuisine. Cafe Espanol has instilled great excitement in me that outside of Spain, there IS great Spanish food. Wonderful food and service is what you will experience here.

Ordinarily when I read something, it needs to be incredibly interesting or else my attention span, already unfortunately short, will quickly turn to something else. However, when I read menus, sometimes you can't budge my attention. At Cafe Espanol, I was blessed with that experience. First of all, when tapas are offered, how can you NOT peruse through each and every item?? I love reading through, salivating and wondering what my meal could potentially be, based on the menu. After a very difficult decision, the tapas I ordered was Chorizo Salteado. It was EXCELLENT. The saltiness of the sausage and sweetness from the peppers and onions permeated the sauce, which was wonderful to mop up with with crusty bread. I could have eaten that all night, to be honest. I only chose one tapas since the others also ordered some (which is typical of a tapas-style restaurant). One other tapas of note was the Tortilla Espanol, a Spanish omelet with potatoes. In Spain, many restaurants devoted to serving tapas and no other main dish, so of course, I would have been happy sampling the tiny appetizers throughout the evening picturing myself in the country, but tonight we all ordered a main course instead.

My boyfriend, as you can see in the picture, ordered a lobster dish and he loved it. I got the Paella Valenciana. This was a big step for me as paella is a saffron rice dish with chicken but primarily filled with a variety of seafood. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, seafood is not my forte, but I want it to be a part of my diet, so I bit the bullet. What happened next was a revelation: I LIKE most seafood! I still don't like shrimp, but the clams, mussels, and scallops were lovely as they were scented with the broth of the dish. There was also an abundance of food- I was given my plate plus a pot-full of more paella. I was generally satisfied, as it was a good choice and one that I am happy I made. It only makes me want to go to Barcelona and experience paella over there!

Morton's Steakhouse

Morton's Steakhouse

551 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10017

(212) 972-3315

(Multiple locations throughout the country)

I'm on the hunt for meat! Steak to be specific! I was eagerly anticipating my visit to Morton's, as it seemed a legendary place to eat some great steak. Hopefully the franchise will live up to my expectations...

I went here for a surprise proposal party, so of course, a fun evening with friends was going to be had. Upon entering the restaurant, it was a dark vibe and quite smaller than I had expected. Either way, the crowd appeared lively and I remained excited to eat.

Because we were here for a private party, the menu was practically pre-determined; choose your appetizer, salad, entree, and dessert from one or two selections. I was rather surprised when deciding what to order for my appetizer because there were only seafood choices: Broiled Sea Scallops, Colossal Shrimp Alexander, Jumbo Lump Crab Cake. Being a relative newbie to most seafood I was forced to choose the broiled sea scallops with bacon, as I unfortunately still do not like shrimp (I'm trying though!) and I didn't care to know what Alexander had to do with it! Reluctantly, I tried my selection and was actually quite surprised. Even though my scallop tasting history is scarce, I thought that these were very well cooked and paired nicely with the saltiness of the bacon. Satisfied, I was hoping for a lovely steak to follow. Unfortunately, my filet mignon was not as tasty as I'd hoped. I really hoped for something that would 'hit the spot,' but it tasted rather ordinary. It was not as juicy or lip-smacking as I'd hoped. Sides were also standard- potatoes and asparagus; didn't make me jump for joy. Oh well, I can always rely on dessert, right? I ordered the Morton's legendary hot chocolate cake- you know, the stuff with the gooey inside. I quickly forgot about my dinner and enjoyed the company I was with. With that said, I will not lie- my edible hopes were dashed Maybe you can't turn into a franchise and truly maintain quality.... will I ever find the Great Steak?

The Olde Ship British Pub & Restaurant

709 North Harbor Blvd

Fullerton, CA

(714) 871- 7447

I was a bit skeptical when my dad said that we were going to eat at a British place. I thought, British food.. in California?! For some reason, it just seemed odd to me, but The Olde Ship was a lovely place and makes you think you just stepped into a pub on the corner in London. The vibe was very much akin to a true pub, not a dingy bar where you feel uncomfortable and people are spilling their drinks on you. I recommend going to the website and reading about what a real pub is because they have a great description on their menu. My pictures of the menu are a bit difficult to read.

Their food was very tasty, hearty, and abundant. I ate the Cornish pasty which is a light, flaky pastry filled with ground meat and different vegetables. The traditional usually calls for ground meat, but at this restaurant, the filling is with chunks of beef. I know that many people would tend to favor hunks of meat, but I was slightly disappointed as I expected and prefer the old-school way. My Cornish pasty was also covered in brown gravy which kind of banished my hopes for crunchy pastry. All in all, it was certainly not a bad meal, it was actually very flavorful and savory, but I guess when you are so used to one way, it's hard to stray from the familiar.

One awesome thing about the Olde Ship is that they serve their huge selection of beers in actual pint-sized glasses! This statement probably sounds funny, but sometimes when you ask for a pint in some bars, believe it or not, the glass is deceptively not a pint!

It was a grand "olde" (<-- ha ha I crack me up!) time at The Olde Ship and a nice place for some British type fare in SoCal.