a dinner at Quality Meats

Greeted by a white plastic cow's head, the sultry deep caverns of Quality Meats surprised me. The venue is part of the Smith and Wollensky empire, a detail which comes as a surprise when you take in the massive cuts of meat. The decor of the three-story restaurant is from the hands of downtown design group AvrkoKO- and quite stunning with polished walnut planks, industrial steel meat hooks and a bar lined with bourbon jars of mash.

Our group settled to a table in in the corner of the top floor-- tucking into a crowd dominated by tragically good looking young professionals. A cast iron bowl of piping hot herbed bread and sweet cream butter, as well a wooden tray of figs brulee-style were placed before us. Our statuesque server approached with a contained enthusiasm, "Did I notice a wobble in your table? I have a trick." He pulled a wedge out of his pocket and crawled under our legs, "There!" (Come now, that's an aggressive icebreaker. We all determined it was his signature move. There was no wobble).

We ordered two bottles- Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc and Freemark Abbey Merlot from Napa. Stunning and excellent in pairs with our trail of starters: U7 shrimp cocktail (knife and fork needed, three sauces: wasabi, ginger and cocktail) and the QM colossal lump crab cake.

As well, we sampled the bone marrow, which came with buttery toast and a savory fruit compote with bacon.

Segue, to the mains. The fish special: Wild Striped Sea Bass with fork crushed Yukons and sauce veirge. Flecked with capers, the dish offered an aesthetic appeal.

The rest of us didn't stray: Porterhouse for three. Yes. Three. A heaping dish of thick and bloody steak that I'm arguing we somehow finished. If steak were velvet, this would be it.

To compliment this gorgeous shared plate, we ordered three sides: King Oyster mushrooms, Yorkshire creamed spinach (baked in a pastry) and minty edamame with sea salt. The mushrooms could have been meat- thick, massive and somewhere between tender and al dente.

My spread (yes, I couldn't resist seconds. Maybe thirds. Shhh...it's Winter. I need a little meat added to my bones:)

images: from my iPhone