350100 Mon Dec 11 03:47:06 -0800 2006 0 18 Manhattan 0 2087980 Again---HUGE thanks for some great energy regarding a semi-greenhorn Los Angeleno's visit to New York, and desiring tips for chow and fun. Our final din-din tonight was Porter House. In a perfect world where we would not be picked up at 6:45 A.M. the next morning, we might have stuck with the "researched" restaurant we planned on going to. So RGR, it looks like our next trip will have us giving Keen's a try (thnx in advance for your tip on Keen's). Our dinner tonight was based solely on convenience---we're a five minute walk from Time Warner Center and this seemed to be an unusual (for us anyway) but important basis on picking our restaurant for this evening. We dined at Porter House based only on an afternoon walk through the shops and restaurants of this building. The room looked lovely and we thought to give it a spontaneous try. We had great fun and some parts of our dinner were really good. To be totally honest though, I won't return to Porter House without some changes. I realize that steak houses are having a rebound and lots of them are being born. I think that I would prefer seeking out old style and atmospheric destinations to put me into another era. Dug the sleek clubby ambiance tonight, but a couple of glitches during our dinner. At the get-go we were told that there were no T-bone steaks available and that they'd run out of vanilla ice cream for dessert! I'd actually been planning on a solo steak on the bone for my dinner, and I was a bit surprised that they could be out of the only bone in steak on the menu. We decided to go with the Porterhouse for 2. Caesar salads were quite acceptible. Parmesan curls added to the presentation. Two of our 3 sides were also fine---the onion rings and creamed spinach. Disappointed in an order of french fries that we'd wanted to arrive hot and extra crispy. The pre-mentioned adjectives were ignored. As for our steak, the "filet" half of our steak was absolutely great. The "New York" side of our Porterhouse was way less than medium rare and a little extra chewy. By the way, we'd ordered the steak "charred on the exterior with a medium rare interior". This was not a huge obstacle, and I admit that I would rather have a piece of meat underdone, versus overdone. We asked for a little more fire on the slices of extra rare meat and they arrived satisfactorily. I can't exactly put my finger on the reason, but my honest impression of Porter House is that they need a little more discipline in their kitchen. I believe their ingredients are quality, but they have a way to go regarding consistency before being a destination steak house. Off to bed and hopefully some sweet dreams of all of the amazing chow we enjoyed in the past 8 days. New York is the best! Cheers all, Jeff Mon Dec 11 03:47:06 -0800 2006 11598 JeffW