Clubhouse Cafe Review

Firstly... Jacob Da Jew has a recap with plenty of pictures from Kosherfest, where iPaytoomuchformyhair and yours truly ran into him a couple of days ago. He also has a picture of the two of us that his grandfather (a photographer for a major Jewish publication) took. After seeing his loot, I wish we could have stayed a couple hours more (actually, I wish I could have been there the whole time, but that's a different issue).

Today, iPay and myself took a couple of the new juniors from our firm to Clubhouse Cafe for lunch on the company tab (woo!), and talked to them about what to expect from the firm, what to look out for, what busy season will be like, how their performance is reviewed, etc. Clubhouse Cafe is the restaurant La Marais opened up on 46th Street under the hashgacha of the OU; it has a nice, small bar with rather reasonable prices when you first walk in, and then it opens up wider into a small restaurant. The service is very nice and polite, though they did get one fact wrong (the Clubhouse steak is not 10 oz., but either 6 or 8) and forgot the only specification anybody asked for (no tomato on the burger). Otherwise, they were fine, and while the food took a while to come, it wasn't outrageous by any means.

The food itself was excellent - but the portions were rather small, in my view, though others may think that that is what should be expected. We ordered plates of Duck Empanadas and Salmon Croquettes for the table at $8.50 each; they came with four and three pieces, respectively. They were both great - the duck was amazing, actually - but when each takes a bite, perhaps two, it can be slightly disappointing. For the main, three of us ordered Clubhouse steaks, which came with fries, at $18 each; iPay ordered a $13.50 hamburger with fries. All of us thought the steak was really good... but it was perhaps 1/4 inch think, and 5 in. x 4 in. That's really small for $18, no matter how good the fries that came with it are (and they were good). iPay got a piece of apple pie (with a scoop of parve ice cream) for dessert, and seemed rather pleased with it.

If you're looking for great food, don't mind spending a bit, and don't mind smaller portions, you'll probably really enjoy Clubhouse Cafe. If you're trying to fill up for cheap, this is not your place. To get a filling meal here you'd probably be shelling out $30-50 a head; certainly cheaper than the fanciest places, but still reasonably expensive.

Overall Grade: B [great food, tiny portions]