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Wednesday, November 14, 2007

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]

8 comments:

  1. I should note that it's probably a rather decent place to take a date or for a smaller business lunch/dinner.

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  2. Did you bring Tobago?
    Also - Trinidad - did they have sushi?
    (Ezzie doesn't remember)

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  3. Negative on the sushi. Not a sushi kind of place.
    Tobago was not present. I don't think my firm would have enjoyed paying for a non-employee :)

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  4. Hey, you didn't say that she was Ipay!

    Now, for the issue regarding the loot...I doubt that if I went alone, I would have turned up so much stuff.

    Zeidy used his connections to hook us up, although Rubashkin refused to part with their meat :(

    I was there the whole time and I would have rather just came at 1 or so and stayed till the end.

    Heh, you were witness for me plotzing out in the corner...too much good wine. Ah, its all good.

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  5. So then what is the raw bar rumor?
    And anything kosher can turn into a sushi kind of place...

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  6. On the company tab? Niiiiice...
    Sounds like it is worth checking out. Thanks for the review.

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  7. I like food... Especially food I don't have to pay for. I'll let all my dates know about this place. ;-)

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  8. JdJ - You didn't ask! :) And that was funny. You should have had more, grabbed a paper bag... ;)

    SaraK - :D My pleasure.

    B4S - Hehe. Just remember, the portions are REALLY small! :)

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