Strip House was on my list of restaurants (sorry, this will not be a naughty post) for a while now, but I decided to move it up my long list after meeting Executive Chef Michael Vignola at the Bacon and Beer Classic at Citi Field, for the second year in a row. 

We went to their location downtown, few blocks from Union Square. This place that has been feeding the carnivores for more than a decade is fairly big, with a decor centered around the burlesque, a play on the name. It goes from the portraits of burlesque actors from 1920 to the napkins print...

We got of course the usual bread basket and butter to start, right after we ordered.

Food wise, you will find the traditional dishes steakhouses feature but with their own interpretation. For instance, their lobster bisque has pearl couscous, the crab cakes are served with a potato salad and haricots verts, etc... Well, I decided to go for the Strip House roasted bacon, influenced by the event I mentioned before. 

It was served with baby arugula, perfectly dressed with a Russian dressing. This was delicious: slightly charred and crispy, it is the kind of guilty pleasures that no one can resist. But, hey, there was arugula with it, so it must be a healthy dish!

For our steaks, we went for the 14oz dry-aged ribeye (ordered medium rare and aged 29 days) and the 8oz filet mignon (ordered medium). 

The meat was perfectly cooked and tender, my favorite being the ribeye that had nice char and was delightfully fatty. It was served with their steak sauce and we also ordered a béarnaise that was perfect.

With it, we ordered the Mac and cheese, that was a perfect side with the steaks and was Deliciously creamy, with plenty of cheese and a nice smokiness that I suspect was due to the use of some smoked cheese as I did not see any pieces of bacon. 

I decided to order some Pinot Noir with my meal and went for a 3oz glass of Chorey-Les-Beaunes, domaine Tollot-Beaut, Cote D'Or 2010. 

It is part of their reserve wine and I truly appreciated that they propose higher quality wines in small quantity for the price of a regular glass (this one was $14 for 3oz). 

For dessert, we went for the Strip House chocolate cake, a 24 layers cake that is their signature. 

It was definitely spectacular, the size of the slice being huge. But, taste wise, it was a bit disappointing, the best part being surprisingly the cake rather than the chocolate. We should have ordered the baked Alaska!

Despite that, we had a very good dinner at Strip House and the service was excellent. It is not my favorite though, Ruth's Chris, Bobby Vans or Angus Club Steakhouse being better. And it is without considering Peter Luger that is fantastic...

Enjoy (I did)!

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