Delmonico's
Delmonico’s was a steak restaurant I recall going a long time ago. I wrote that the steak kind of sucked because it wasn’t flavorful or fatty. Now that I’ve gone through an extensive journey in steak world, I’m curious how my palette has updated itself. We went to this restaurant mainly because it apparently is known for its Baked Alaska, my favorite dessert. Fortunately, they offered this dessert option in their restaurant week menu at $60 per person, which includes choice of 1 appetizer, 1 entree, and 1 dessert.
About Delmonico’s, here’s a snippet from their website:
In 1837, at the beginning of New York City’s evolution as the financial center of the world, the genesis of what would become a world-renowned culinary institution, Delmonico’s Restaurant, was set. A small shop selling classically prepared pastries, fine coffee and chocolate, bonbons, wines and liquors as well as Havana cigars was operated by the Delmonico brothers. Its success led them to purchase a triangular plot of land at the intersection of Beaver, William, and South William Streets where, in 1837, they opened the first fine dining restaurant in the country.
Delmonico’s offered an unheard-of luxury – the availability of private dining rooms (located on the third floor) where discriminate entertaining was the order of the day. The basement held the restauranteur’s treasure, the largest private wine cellar in the city, holding an impressive 1,000 bottles of the world’s finest wines. It was during these early years that Chef Alessandro Fellippini began to develop the restaurant’s culinary identity with the house special, Delmonico Steak.
Ambiance & Service
The outside of this restaurant may look familiar if you have seen some of the John Wick movies and noticed the exterior of the Continental Hotel. When you go inside, it looks nothing like the lobby of the movie. It has very high ceilings, and you can feel that it’s been around for a while. My partner mentioned that they enjoy these types of restaurants where the venue is in a historic building, and it certainly feels that way too.
The service was great. The waiter’s timing was on point, and he always came at the right time and place. He also made some good recommendations and was able to suggest good cocktails and wines for us.
Food
The Cedro do Noval ($21) was a Portugal red wine and came from Touriga Nacional by Quinta do Noval, Duriense 2020 (Douro). This was a medium body red wine with spicy, peppery notes on the tip. It definitely had some black fruit notes along with oak. It has a slight earthy aftertaste to it. The longer I left it to aerate, the better and smoother it tasted with the food.
The Desperado ($21) came with Mezcal Campante, Bacardi Black Rum, L’Orgeat, Passion Fruit, and Pineapple. This cocktail was very good with a perfect combination of smokey and sweet. My partner thought it wasn’t smokey to them since they typically dislike mezcal. I do think it tasted good, and I’d order it again if I was into cocktails.
The complimentary bread came with butter on the side. This room temperature and pretty good.
The Maine Crab Cake came with potato strings and tarragon dill tartar. The outside crispy shell of this was the potato strings. When you cut into it, you get a nice dense layer of crab. I thought the crab tasted pretty good, though it still is not good as our favorite crab cake at The Grill.
The Caesar Salad came with little gem lettuce, aged parmesan, chives, anchovy, and myung ran dressing. If you’re into super anchovy tasting salad dressings, then you will like this. They actually had some small chunks of anchovy on top. It was good, though I wasn’t too into the flavors since it was slightly more funky for me.
The Signature Delmonico Ribeye (+$23) came 18 oz from Brandt Family Farms, CA. The ribeye was cooked a perfect medium rare. There were some fattening pieces of the steak, but in general, the steak was pretty tender. Generally, I am not as big of a fan as ribeyes compared to NY strips due to less flavor, and this is no different despite being very tender. The char helps it a little, and the ribeye has some aging to it. However still, I think I prefer the NY strip. If you do come here, this would be the steak to get though for your first time, so you can judge for yourself.
With the ribeye, it came with a choice of creamed spinach or pommes purée. I opted for the spinach. The spinach was decent, albeit, the cream really absorbed a lot of the spinach flavor and came out fluorescent green. It fairs average amongst all the creamed spinaches I’ve had.
The Chicken a la Keene came with English peas, cherry tomatoes, asparagus, piquillo, and creamy sherry sauce. This is one of the original items off the Delmonico menu from when it first opened. My partner really enjoyed this because the chicken was cooked perfectly with plenty of flavor from the sauce and the condiments on the side. There’s definitely some mushroom flavor to the sherry sauce as well. The pasta came out al dente, though it was slightly under for my partner.
The Yuzu Cheesecake came with black sesame, wild blueberry, and shiso. The yuzu cheesecake itself had plenty of citrus to it, and it was nicely counter balanced with the sweetness of the blueberries. I thought overall this was a pretty good, balanced dessert.
The Delmonico’s Original Baked Alaska (+$10) came with banana gelato, walnut cake, and apricot jam. It was mentioned they created this in Delmonico’s kitchens in 1867. The baked Alaska here was very delicious and just slightly different than all the other baked Alaskas I’ve had. This one had apricot in it along with bananas, so it didn’t have any hints of chocolate flavors in it. The banana gelato was delectable with little chunks of banana in it. The apricot jam wasn’t too sweet and added a nice taste. Compared to all the baked Alaskas, this is probably one of the good ones, though my favorite to this day is still the one I had at Carne Mare.
Final Verdict
Delmonico’s is a classic steakhouse that’s been around for over a century. If you’re around the Financial District and you are interested in checking out a variant of the Baked Alaska, definitely check out this restaurant. The food here is pretty good, and it’s an even better deal if you can catch one of their NYC Restaurant Week deals.
Yelp Jabs
Delmonico’s is still among the best of the top tiered steakhouses in NYC and most people would include Delmonico’s in their top three I suspect.
This Elitist from California unfortunately does not realize there’s much competition when it comes to steaks. It really depends what steak you’re looking for. I would advise that if you do come to Delmonico’s, definitely check out their Baked Alaska more so than their steaks.
gave them the brief summary of engaged, married and so on…. They both smirked and said how cute. I’m my opinion they girls are too young for such restaurant and don’t grasp the importance of this special occasion, or understanding the rich history and knowing how to deliver at that level… What is sad to us, is that Delmonico’s is no longer classy, it has been stripped of all the things that made it memorable and represented its history. It’s Heritage wiped away by young trust fund kids that come here with sloppy attire.
This Elitist from Connecticut is complaining about trust fund babies but also expecting a world class experience at a steak restaurant? I guess they haven’t checked recently in 2024 that with all the competition in the area, the restaurant business has been struggling to hire let alone sustain their business.
Revisions
- Aug 16, 2024 - Second visit for NYC Restaurant Week.
- Sep 16, 2018 - Initial revision.