NEW YORK CORNER
By John Mariani

STRIP HOUSE
13 East 12th Street (near Fifth Avenue)
212-328-0000 

    “You gotta get a gimmick,” sang the strippers in “Gypsy,” and it’s a good philosophy in a business as traditional as that of steakhouse chains, whose scruffy décor largely follows clichés set long ago by NYC totems like Palm, Peter Luger and Smith & Wollensky. 
    The original owners of Strip House, Peter and Penny Glazier, (now  with four locations, three in NYC, owned by BR Guest Hospitality) took the “Gypsy” ladies’ advice by having architect David Rockwell fashion a room riotously red and festooned with hundreds of original Studio Manasse 1930s prints of burlesque stars.  It’s all meant in naughty fun, even though, after two decades, it has taken on a patina of nostalgic innocence, and no woman I have ever dined with here has ever taken offense to the décor.
    There are cushy, tufted banquettes, big tables with flip-up extenders, and thick white double tablecloths; the sound level is remarkably good in a room filled largely with shirtsleeve guys whose normal tone of voice is loud.  The waiters are very friendly and informative, rather than mere menu reciters, and, since the menu, under Corporate Executive Chef Michael Vignola, doesn’t change very much, you can be assured that most of the items have been brought to a consistent level of excellence in the cooking process.  Ask for your meat with a good char outside and medium-rare inside, and that’s what you’ll get.  Pity the bartender doesn’t even possess a fruit press to make fresh juice for the cocktails (you can buy a squeezer for about ten bucks), despite their costing $16-$24.
    Aside from a couple of signature items, like the highly recommended bocce ball-sized goose fat-fried potatoes ($13) that will easily feed two people, dishes don’t differ in name from most steakhouses around town.  But I do think Strip House’s roasted bacon ($18), with egg, crispy capers and a frisée salad, the very best I’ve enjoyed anywhere, and the lump crab cake, with potato salad, green beans, corn salsa and remoulade ($19), was as fine as any. 
    I’ve become spoiled down South by fresh shrimp, but if I can’t get them I’ll happily order the jumbo shrimp cocktail at Strip House ($20), as I would the jumbo crabmeat cocktail ($20). The spicy tuna tartare ($19) comes with generous chopped avocado, cucumber, wasabi roe and radish sprouts.
    At a time when USDA Prime beef has become tougher and tougher to come by (just as enormous herds of supposed wagyu and kobe beef seem to be inundating steakhouses), the virtue of being a long time in the NYC market and having three locations there gives Strip House clout. So the beef has the intense flavor and juiciness you expect from the top of the breed, especially the New York strip ($49 for 16 ounces, $58 for a bone-in cut), but the dry-aged strip at 14 ounces ($48) is even better. The porterhouse for two runs $60 per person (you’ll take some home), but the best dish on this section of the menu is a terrific Colorado lamb duo ($42), which comes as a roasted double chop and smoked shoulder. And, since all the steaks come naked on a plate, the inclusion of roasted squash, market bean fricassee and marjoram jus to this lamb dish makes it all the more appealing.
    You really don’t need the optional sauces ($3 each) for these meats, but you should indulge in the creamed spinach with black truffles ($13), the creamed corn with pancetta ($12), or the dry aged herbed onions with a citrus glaze ($14)—all of these to be shared.
    Of course you don’t need dessert, though they gussy the usual ones up a bit here, including pouring and flaming cheap Sambuca on top of an already blah baked Alaska ($14) that might otherwise be served at a child’s birthday party.  There’s nothing at all wrong with the cheesecake ($12), or the warm chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream and rich hot fudge sauce ($12), but the signature dessert here is a dense 24-layer chocolate ganache cake ($16) that is more a tour-de-force than a convincing argument that more is more.
    The wine list offers dozens of wines by the glass among a formidable screed that includes a “Library List” of bottlings like La Tâche 2010 for $2,650 and Échezeaux Grand Cru DRC 2009 at $3,000, as well as a selection of large format bottles.  Sadly, there aren’t a heck of a lot of labels on the list under $100, and mark-ups are very high: $170 for Far Niente 2014, which sells for under $50 in a store?  $140 for Gaja Ca’ Marcanda Promis 2013 that costs $35-$40 retail? Whew!
    For food alone, Strip House is as good as any in town and much better than most, but in ambiance and service it has achieved its own special status among gourmands, who will never be disappointed and always well treated.   It’s as much fun to dine there as it is to eat there.

Open nightly for dinner 

NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR

 

                        “Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine.”-- Saint Thomas Aquinas

 

 

AZELIA BAROLO BRICCO FIASCO 2011 ($58)—From the Castiglione Falletto hills estate of Luigi Scavino, this is an appealingly priced major Barolo, vinified from 100% Nebbiolo separately from the winery’s other Barolos.  Made from old vines, 65 years on average, it has a multiple personality with richness of fruit and tannins throughout.  I’d hang on to it for another couple of years for maximum pleasure, longer if you have the time.

 

PAUL HOBBS PINOT NOIR CATHERINE LINDSAY ESTATE 2012  ($95)—Made in a prime Laguna Ridge section of the Russian River Valley, this admirably complex Pinot Noir comes from a vineyard named after Paul Hobbs’s great grandmother, so you know he’s going to put a lot of respect into the bottle.  It is not cheap, though.

 

CROFT RESERVE TAWNY PORTO  ($18)—Croft is one of the oldest Port producers in the Douro Valley, and it aims at a modern style for its Tawny Ports that depends not on brawn but on finesse, earned by time in oak casks.  Its aging as a Reserve tames the tannins of Port stocks that are an average of seven years old, made from Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Roriz, Tinto Cão  and Tinta Amarela.  All Ports are relatively good buys, but the Tawnies are almost always a bargain, and this one comes in an attractive new bottle. .

 

LAPROAIG ISLAY SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY LORE ($122)—The word “lore” on the bottle means “the passing of a skill or tradition through word of mouth,” which is fair enough. The producers have learned a lot  since establishing the distillery in 1815. There are many Scotch lovers who are not overly fond of the salty, smoky Islay style, but this finely rendered example hits a middle ground through which you can appreciate the distinction of the smoke but also enjoy it for its hearty flavors from the tip of the tongue to the finish on the palate.   You can smell it from across the room, and it’s the smell of peat and Scottish heath. I believe it’s out of stock in the UK but still available here.

 

MARYHILL MOURVÈDRE 2012 ($34)—Tasting this blind, I’d never spot it outright as a mourvèdre, but I will recommend it as a good, medium-bodied red wine made in the Sugarloaf Vineyard in Rattlesnake Hills appellation of Goldendale, CA,  with 14.6% alcohol—a hike from the 2011 vintage of 13.1-- it shows promise as a varietal for the future.

 

CHÂTEAU ROSLANE PREMIER CRU LES COTEAUX DE L’ATLAS 2011 ($21)—I’ve been accused of being one of those East Coasters who prefer Bordeaux when I wish to drink Cabernet blends, and I plead guilty.  What a surprise, then, that this little beauty is from Morocco, in the Atlas Mountains, a blend of Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon.  Roslane is a huge winery for Morocco and it shows what goodness can come out of a desert terroir.

 

CHÂTEAU DU TAILLAN HAUT-MÉDOC CRU BOURGEOIS 2012 ($15)—How unfortunate to carry the connotations of being a “Cru Bourgeois,” for it’s a perfectly acceptable thing for a Haut-Médoc wine to be, as this assemblage of 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Cabernet Franc proves.  The lovely chateau dates back centuries but this wine has been made since the 1930s, so it has a consistent record of good taste. This is one of those bottles you idly pick off the shelf for an autumn meal of lamb stew and find you finish the bottle with remarkable ease and satisfaction.

 

FRANCISCAN ESTATE RESERVE MERLOT 2013 ($45)—Aging for 20 months makes this one of the most lustrous California Merlots you’re likely to find, so the 14.5% alcohol is tamed down, too. You get a dose of spice from 6% Syrah and a little backbone from 1% Cabernet Sauvignon, all picked from a very fine vintage in Carneros. Franciscan has been at this Merlot-making for longer than most and it shows on the first sip.