Last week, my husband (Richard) and I found ourselves on West 25th Street at an opening for a South African sculptor. How being on West 25th Street led Richard to suggest calling Reserve Cut on Broad Street (way East), I’ll never know. Anyway, we asked if we could arrive in 20 minutes and they said yes.
We took the elevator up and entered a vast beautiful dining room. We were escorted to our right; which, I believe, was the quieter room. It was after 8:30 and there were still many free tables. By 9:15, more people had arrived for dinner. The lighting was perfect. Personally, we would have preferred even softer music in the background; but it was still very pleasant. We could hear the servers and ourselves speak.
Our server was a young lady who was well versed in both the wine list and food preparation. I asked her to recommend a good red wine by the glass and she explained the relative dryness and flavor of the selections. I ordered a $15 a glass of 2010 Chianti Reserve produced by Borgo Reale in Tuscany. It was delicious! Although the special 18 ounce steak was sold out by the time we ordered, we had plenty of options. To start, we shared the Tuna and Black Truffle Roll and the Garden Vegetable Roll. They were visually beautiful and equally fresh and delicious to eat. For our entrees, Richard had the 14 ounce Centercut Ribeye with wild mushrooms and red and white pearl onions. I had the 10 ounce Prime Reserve cut with yellow bell pepper caponata. We ordered pan seared garlic broccolini as an extra side. Both steaks, which were ordered and came medium rare, were spectacular: tender, juicy, sweet -just perfect! We both agreed, the best steaks we’ve had anywhere. The vegetables that accompanied both steaks were tasty; but to me, they were a little too elegantly diced up. I would have preferred slightly larger pieces of onions and mushrooms with Richard’s steak and a little more brightness in the caponata with mine. The natural bitterness of the broccolini was the perfect flavor to cut the richness of the steaks. For dessert, we ordered the Bombolini to share. Two chocolate bombolini and one caramel- which was our favorite. I would opt to swap out the mini shake that accompanied them with some fresh berries.
The service was excellent. They anticipated every need without our asking ie. bringing us extra small plates so we could share. The Captain and server kept checking in to see if everything was going well. It was a lovely delicious meal-albeit a small fortune. Reserve Cut is not the type of restaurant most people would just drop into for a casual dinner. On either side of us there were couples celebrating their anniversaries.On the other hand, no one makes you feel uncomfortable for sharing and there is no extra charge for sharing like there is in other places. The portions are generous; so the bill could be cut in half, which would make it a more normal expensive dinner. If you’re in the mood to splurge, I would definitely recommend doing it at Reserve Cut. We will return!
