Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Butcher and Singer Review

This is for a series of posts for Stephen Starr restaurants including:


For my second Restaurant Week outing, I decided to head to Butcher and Singer, another Stephen Starr classic. We had previously been here for dinner and had a wonderful evening. This time around, we invited one of our friends for lunch.


The interior certainly has an old Hollywood vibe. With its vaulted ceilings, it is a gorgeous location to dine and people watch.


But what was I most excited about? Getting to finally try the Butcher Burger, an oft-acclaimed burger that is only found on the lunch menu, Monday through Friday. But perhaps I'm being a bit hasty ... so let's start with the apps! For those of you who don't know, Restaurant Week lunch, typically 3 courses, goes for $20 per person.

Just a FYI - perhaps because it was lunch and/or Restaurant Week, bread service was not offered, though it is offered during dinner.

Caesar Salad


I went for the Caesar salad, interested to try Stephen Starr's take on this classic steakhouse dish. This was fairly standard, with lots of shaved parmigiano regianno on top.

Winter Squash Soup


The GF and our friend opted to try the winter squash soup. This was smooth and lightly creamy, with an undercurrent of sweetness from the squash. The herbs were a bit jarring - there were several small branch-like stems that seemed to get in the way of the appreciating the dish.

Organic Scottish Salmon Salad 
Arugula, Roasted Red Pepper


The twins went for the salmon salad for their entrees. The greens were well-dressed and mixed with sweet roasted red peppers with a vinegary tang, gorgeous cherry tomatoes, and what was deemed to be out-of-place roasted potatoes. The salmon itself was glazed, but dry. It was telling when most of the ladies' salmon was left uneaten.

Butcher Burger 
English Cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, Russian dressing


I went for the healthier tastier option. Ordered medium-rare, this came out perfectly juicy and succulent.


The hefty portion of cheddar and the caramelized onions added additional richness to the dish. The Russian dressing was not as noticeable as I would have liked but regardless, this was a great burger. The accompanying fries were thin, crisp, and well seasoned.

Chocolate Salted Caramel Tart


The tart was ordered by the GF as she is a huge fan of Chef Marcie Turney's salted caramel budino at Barbuzzo. The play on salty and sweet was prevalent here and appreciated. Chocolate rice balls (think Crunch bars) were nice additions on top of the whipped cream.

Apple Streusel 
Crème anglaise


The apple streusel was crumbly and delicious. The powdered sugar and the creme anglaise added sugary decadence. Mascerated raisins helped to bring tart notes to the dish.

Blood Orange Sorbet


I opted for the sorbet, which reminded the GF and our friend of Flintstone push-pops (in a good way!). I appreciated that this creamy dish was restrained as I typically find blood orange desserts to be a bit too tangy and sweet for my taste.


Overall, I'd love to return to Butcher and Singer and have their burger again. But be sure to stop by for dinner to have one of their delicious Delmonico rib-eyes, hockey puck sized stuffed hashed browns, and baked Alaska. Pure decadence and how a steakhouse should be run.


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