Delmonico's (in its mid-19th century incarnation) was the first a la carte restaurant in New York City, and insanely fashionable (it has its own steak cut named after it, for example). It's the kind of place that Dickens and Mark Twain had dinners with other famous people of their age.
It seems like the restaurant had a reputation for the best quality food, and it certainly invented a lot of dishes, like Baked Alaska, Eggs Benedict, Chicken a la Keene and Lobster Newburg. But a lot of those dishes seem incredibly heavy to us today, and a lot of it involves dowsing food in cream/lard/salt/sugar. And my understanding is that these meals would be washed down with large amounts of alcohol.
So - if someone were to make a period-correct Delmonico's dinner, just what would it taste like? Would it actually be appetizing to a modern palate? Would the supposedly fresh and high quality ingredients really be all that fresh and high quality in a modern understanding, or was the allure more eating incredibly rich, labor intensive foods? Or was it mostly the display/act of eating in a restaurant (with tablecloths!) with numerous waiters, bottles of wine, and elaborate table decorations like pièces montées?
I have a special occasion coming up and my parents want to take me out for dinner. I think I’d like a good steak. I know people like to hate on Food Fight restaurants, but I’ve almost always had good steaks and a good experience at Johnny Delmonico’s.
The other place I’m thinking of is Rare. I’ve never been there. It seems really expensive (but I’m not paying and my parents can afford it). But I don’t know how good it is. I don’t want to pick a restaurant that expensive if it’s the same quality or not as good as Johnny Delmonico’s.
Has anybody been to both of these restaurants relatively recently? If so, how do they compare?
Thanks!
P.S. I haven’t been to Tempest either and am interested in going there sometime. Or if anybody else has suggestions of a higher end place to eat for a special occasion, I’d be interested in suggestions.
My SO and I went in with a buddy on half a cow earlier this year, and one of the cuts we got were Delmonicos.
I’d like to make them for dinner, but I don’t know anything about them. Can I just treat them like a regular steak, or are they kinda tough? Are they more tender? Do they tend to go best with a sauce or is just a traditional salt and pepper prep ok (I’ll finish with butter too here, btw)?
Today I started my search for good riggies outside of my hometown in the finger lakes with Delmonico’s Italian Steakhouse in Albany. To start out with, the service was fast and friendly and the restaurant had a nice atmosphere, it was lively but not overly loud and filled with plenty of patrons even on a Monday night. The room was casual enough I didn’t feel out of place in a t-shirt and jeans but also nice enough to bring a date to and the dining room itself was gorgeous. But more importantly, how were the riggies? Delmonico’s describes their riggies as being served in a “special light sauce”, light is an understatement. The sauce had almost none of the structure I normally look for in a riggie sauce, it wasn’t quite watery but it was in the neighborhood. The sauce is certainly the weakest part of these riggies. The heat was maybe a 1/10 if that, and while I’m not one that prefers my riggies to be atomically spicy, I could have used a little bit more kick especially considering how the sauce doesn’t bring much to the table anyway. Furthermore, everything was cut very large which made the dish look good but I had to break out the knife and cut each of the pieces of chicken into two or three in order to get them down in a polite manner. Because of this the sauce didn’t penetrate much into the chicken and it left the chicken feeling a touch bland, although it was very tender and moist. The peppers were perfectly done as well, picking up some good flavor but still maintaining enough structure to give a good crunch and provide some textural variety. The rigatoni themselves were perfectly al dente although a little small for my taste. All in all, it was an excellent dish and well worth the $20 I paid for it but as a chicken riggie it strayed a little too far from my expectations and left me still craving a more traditional plate of riggies.
https://imgur.com/a/WzRy22c
Darling, There aren’t many things I’d rather do. Thoughts of you consume me, the way you pull things out of my brain - it both infuriates and makes me breathless.
The sound of your wheels on the gravel, the engine in the driveway cutting off…my soul sighs, at peace when you’re near. Your stories, the way you boldly are who you are with zero f*cks to give - occasionally looks like arrogance, but mostly self-awareness.
I enjoy whatever this is. I wonder how much of it is in our heads. Those lovely moments, when so much in my heart is unsaid. The way we sit, I yearn to move closer, brushing my skin against yours. I long for you to pull me in the way you have before, surprising me in moments of panic with bliss.
Until next time, XoXo.
