Hot, Moist, Pink Meat

Maybe not pink. I guess I prefer medium rare. Anyway, I bring it up because I am halfway done with my Summer Of Steaks Tour™ and so it's time to discuss my thoughts thus far. From best steak to least bestiest steak, here we go:

Keens - My favorite place in the world to eat. The NY Sirloin (all reviews are based on the NY Sirloin) is without peer, always cooked just as you want it, and there's even sea salt at the table. Even better than Keens' steaks - which are the best - is Keens' Mutton. It's a Flintstones sized mountain of otherworldly lamb that requires neither salt nor sauce. It is the best meal in the city.

Ben And Jacks (5th Avenue location)- Let me tell you that I generally do not like getting my steak pre-cut. Bugs the crap out of me and usually lets all the bloody goodness of the meat run out onto your plate instead of going into your stomach where it belongs. But whatever it is they do while pre-slicing the steak at Ben And Jacks - owned and operated by ex-Lugers staff - works. Really well. It comes drenched in a sizzling bath of grease and butter and is incredible. I know, you're wondering "but what about their sauteed spinach?" Rest easy, fair reader, for their sauteed spinach is equally incredible. Ben And Jacks also has the best - the best, Jerry, the best - lunch special in town. $25ish for a good sized steak, veggies, and potatoes.

The Old Homestead - Had been my second favorite for years until Ben And Jacks came along. Still home to legendary steaks and unbeatable onion soup. I sat there like a pig in poop loving my steak until I noticed that Mrs. Bloggity Blog Blog was almost crying into her uneaten steak sandwich. Or should I say her steak tartar sandwich. I like a the rare meat, but this was too rare even for me. And it was strangely presented on a smallish hamburger bun with a mountain of crinkly looking onions. You can't really send this back for further cooking. It's already cut up and messy and then they're disassembling and reassembling. . . Gross, and likely dried out by recooking. So I gave Mrs. Bloggity Blog Blog my steak and ate all of the various sides. I love the place but the Mrs. will not be going back.

Benjamin - Solid. Can't go wrong there. And the dining area is pretty cool - it's a converted club, so it's got the wood-lined walls, giant fireplace, etc..

The Palm - Not one of the crappy chain locations, the Second Avenue mothership. It's certainly one of the niftiest looking places you'll ever eat in, with hand-drawn cartoons dating from as far back as the 20's covering the walls. My steak was a bit on the underwhelming side, a bit too tough for my liking. I guess I was expecting to have my socks knocked off but it didn't happen. It wasn't bad but it wasn't the best either. Not how I remembered it. But of course as the laws of marriage and irony dictate, it turns out that Mrs. Bloggity Blog Blog found their steak sandwich to be the best that she's ever had by a mile. She thought the same about their french fries, and I would have to agree with her on that. Our carrot cake dessert was good and impossibly gigantic.

Morton's - Reader, beware of Morton's. They offer a disgraceful combination of high prices and average (I'm being kind) steaks. I don't expect anything amazing from the chain steakhouses but come on. Lifeless atmosphere, meh steaks, titanic bills. Few if any redeeming qualities other than that when I went it was raining out and at least by being inside I was not getting soaked. Unless you count the bill . . .