Delmonico's

by Celia Sin-Tien Cheng
July 29, 2009

DELMONICO STEAK
56 Beaver St
@ S William St
New York, NY 10004
212-509-1144

Silvana Paunova

Located on Beaver Street in the Wall Street area, Delmonico’s is a historic institution established in 1837. Unlike other landmark restaurants in The City, Delmonico’s is not a dilapidated tourist trap just cruising on its reputation. The service is old school professionalism, not a stuffy boys club, and the food and wine menus are contemporary yet classic. The overall experience — one of pure enjoyment — is achieved through excellent food and attentive service.

My sister and I started with the Oysters “Diamond Jim Brady,” Gorgonzola- and herb-crusted Malpec oysters topped with Gruyere then baked. The name comes from the railroad magnate and successful financier, James “Diamond Jim” Brady, who had a big appetite and deep pockets to spend on entertaining. While I prefer my oysters raw, this baked version was no less juicy.

I would have gone right for the steak next, but learning that chicken a la king was invented at Delmonico’s, I had to try it. That’s right, the dish of buttered noodles with peas, peppers and mushrooms was created at Delmonico’s in the 1880s by the French chef, Charles Ranhofer, after a horse breeder and son of a Wall Street broker named Foxhall P. Keene dreamt about a pimento-studded cream sauce. The chef created the dish for him and called it chicken à la Keene, which then evolved into chicken a la king. The noodles were buttery and springy, the chicken tender, and the sauce was not overly creamy, but rather light and fluid, with the piquant aroma of peppers and mushroom. Comforting yet elegantly sophisticated.

After we had whetted our appetites with the oysters and chicken à la Keene, the main attraction was served: Delmonico steak. Except for Kobe beef, I had never tasted beef that had better integration of marbled fat and lean meat than Delmonico’s signature 22-ounce boneless rib eye from Meyer farm in Montana. The perfect steak, it was not the least bit stringy, just juicy all around. The meat stands on its own — as good steaks should — without any sauce and is accompanied by finely crisped onion rings.

Opting against the usual creamed spinach and potatoes, we ordered the bok choy. Though I had my doubts beforehand, the bok choy with Napa cabbage and shiitake mushrooms sautéed in mushroom jus was flawless. If not for the steak, I would say this was the best dish of the meal. Not even the Chinese make bok choy this good!

Satisfied by this point, we still could not refuse dessert. Especially since the baked Alaska was also created here at Delmonico’s by Chef Ranhoffer. The dessert was created to celebrate Russia’s sale of Alaska to the U.S. Without any gimmick of setting the meringue aflame tableside, we were simply presented with fresh baked Alaska made with banana ice cream and Turkish apricot jam on a sponge cake, wrapped in meringue and baked in the oven.

It’s a really wonderful feeling to be so excited about a dining experience that you want to share it with as many people as possible. July’s been a good month. I can’t eat steak every day, but for special occasions and for any steak lover, I would not send them anywhere else but Delmonico’s.

Also in American, Beef, Financial District, Steak