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!
