We Heart S Prime Steakhouse

A few weeks ago, Meg and I had the pleasure of visiting a fairly new steakhouse in LIC, S. Prime, owned by the same folks as Studio Square.  Conveniently situated just a few doors down from this beer garden, S. Prime has a totally different kind of feel, but it’s interesting to see that the “S” brand still comes across through its excellent service, impressive food and drinks offering, and a posh vibe.

Visiting S. Prime during the weekday was nice because it provided for a relaxed atmosphere.  While the place wasn’t crowded, it was comfortably filled with patrons enjoying a mid-week indulgence.  Meg and I couldn’t wait for our experience to begin and were delighted to be seated at a cozy yet elegant banquette towards the end of the restaurant, right behind S. Prime’s impressive glass wine cellar.

Perusing the menu, we spotted many dishes we liked including your classic Steakhouse fare, but also various culinary surprises and delights such as roasted bone marrow, foie gras, Lap Choeng fried rice and more.  Lucky for us, we got to try a little bit of everything, but I’m a meat puritan at heart and loved the steak most.

But aside from that, here’s the scoop on the type of food you can expect – so whether you’re a traditionalist or a culinary risk taker, S. Prime can certainly meet your needs, and then some.

The salads made for some of our favorite bites.   I just loved the elegant arrangement of the beet salad, featuring different colored beets, crispy apples and pungent Roquefort cheese.  The other veggie arrangement you see above, which is the chopped salad with romaine, iceberg, bacon lardons, haricot verts, kalamata olives and more, tossed in a tangy ranch dressing, was absolutely spectacular – the lardons being the piece-de-resistance, as they were the perfect cross between smoky, sweet and chewy.

Something else I found surprising were the different tartares, including steak, tuna and salmon.  Lucky to try all of these, the salmon was my favorite, boasting a really luxurious bite with each forkful of fresh salmon cubes, enveloped in a delicate yogurt sauce that made your tastebuds sing.

The steak was absolutely my favorite part – a 35 day aged sirloin cooked to a perfect medium rare, just the way I asked for it.  Its taste was rich and buttery with a tender and succulent inside but a nicely charred outside crust, which I adore.  Something that was particularly innovative about the steak presentation is that S. Prime will allow you to share your steak portion and cook it to each diner’s specifications – so actually Meg got hers done medium.  Pretty neat, as I’ve never seen a steakhouse split up meat in this way and provide such personalized service.

The sides were also delicious, and we went for simple things such as grilled asparagus, which was clean tasting and still a little crunchy and the Lap Choeng fried rice.  The latter was quite a nice complement to the steak, with flavors of pork, scallions, and some egg to bind it all together.

Dessert was a necessary evil and included the above pictured chocolate bourbon pecan pie, which sent us straight to heaven.  The best part was its flaky, buttery crust, housing all the crunchy pecan goodness – the mixture further topped with pure, rich vanilla ice cream and sticky-sweet caramel sauce.  With Thanksgiving coming up and all, this reminded me of all that comforting goodness.  I couldn’t help but think of a big family-style dinner while eating this dessert.

Along with all the delicious food I just described, it was really the service at S. Prime that impressed us most.  Not only did we get to speak with Chef Joel Reiss and really learned about his philosophy when it comes to his customers and each morsel of food he puts in front of them, we also really enjoyed speaking with our waitress and other bus staff who were cordial, friendly and very professional.  None of that pompousness that you sometimes get at other NYC high-end steakhouses – here it’s just pure, old fashioned hospitality.

While costs are pretty expensive, you are visiting a top-notch steakhouse and your experience will be divine.  In that way, I think the steep prices are justified, and just know that if you want to go the sharing route, especially on something like steak, you won’t be turned down or snubbed.

S. Prime Steakhouse – 35-15 36th Street, Long Island City.  718.707.0660

Images courtesy of Meg Cotner