Peachy Picks Del Frisco's
Many national chains do not have the charm or savoir faire that many unique restaurants in Manhattan possess. How could they? Del Frisco's is not one of these, and if they were, you should know they would not be getting a review by Whom You Know. When we dine, we obviously are looking for superior outstanding cuisine, but also we are looking for a great experience where we are not treated like a number. If you read the last review, you know the owner was greeting them with prosecco before they even had their coats off, and we know we are lucky, and we are grateful. By now, you know we only write positive reviews; if Peachy doesn't have something nice to say, she doesn't say anything at all. Manhattan is its own subsection of the city, and of course the state, nevermind the country, and what works in America does not necessarily work here because Manhattan is kind of like a principality like Monaco, even though not officially. Del Frisco's, originated in Dallas, KNOWS Manhattan. And you should know Del Frisco's.
Del Frisco's was first featured in Tasty Tidbits:
And of course, it has graduated to Peachy's Picks. At Whom You Know we have been fortunate to dine and review at what we believe are the greatest restaurants on earth, including Swifty's, San Pietro and Kings' Carriage House - we love them all, and many return the favor...where do you think The Peachy Deegan came from?- we are treated like family members and are kissed on both cheeks. It does not hurt that Peachy's kissed the Blarney Stone. We truly love and are interested in the founders, CEO's and intricacies involved with the workings of each and every thing we review that we are unbelievably impressed with. This is not often apparent with chains that cater to the masses, and we know our audience is not necessarily the masses. Del Frisco's is one of the only chains and probably the only national restaurant we have ever reviewed, and we could not speak more highly of our experience. We think they stand apart from national chains, or they do in New York anyway; we have not visited their other locations.
Right down to the chocolate souffle, which you know who dreams about morning, noon and night for dessert, was right. Every detail was attended to and Scott Gould, General Manager, even called in and spoke directly to Peachy to see how her experience was going. This is the difference between a good and a great place. With several thousand restaurants in Manhattan, you should only be eating at great places featured in Peachy's Picks; life is short. To date we've reviewed over 50 that we've disclosed to be excellent.
You know we test crabcakes everywhere, with the gold standard being at Swifty's of course (and we go there regularly just to make sure!) and what we liked best about this crabcake was the crab component. It was fresh, succulent and in attractive chunks that were the proper ratio of crab to cake. The texture was gracious and if you know Peachy, she is one proper crab at times and orders anything crab as often as possible.
We tasted the fresh shrimp as well and you can be confident that this steakhouse is equally strong in seafood. The sauces that accompanied it were the classic cocktail sauce which Peachy preferred, the remoulade and the marinated shrimp.
The side dishes are commendable and we suggest you get a good variety of green vegetables to balance your meal! A special of the night was broccoli and if they have it on the menu you should absolutely get it. Actually we suggest they add it as a regular. It was outstandingly crisp. Peachy's second favorite vegetable that we tried were the Chateau Potatoes, hand-mashed with cayenne pepper. Actually she is still dreaming about them. Of course we are Irish and love the potato. The sauteed mushrooms and spinach supreme were quite nice too. The crown jewel of the night for Peachy was the 12 oz Filet Mignon, pictured at the top. It was fabulously juicy and appropriately cooked medium, as asked for. Chef Ben Cardenas did an outstanding job all night and even came out to chat with us briefly. A number of the staff were outgoing and friendly including General Manager Scott Gould, who even rang in to personally chat with Peachy. Meghan Moran was a lovely sommelier and Bambi Noltimier was a superior attentive waitress and we know she is going to be a big star. Manager Shawn Spolski was delightful to speak to, but Peachy's favorite person at Del Frisco's was Chris Farber by a mile because he took the time to sit down and chat with us not once, but twice. And he had interesting points to make and was a fabulous conversationalist. People like Chris make national chain experiences competitive with the outstanding independent restaurants of Manhattan. We hope he has a great week with his VIP visitor about to move here! But don't just listen to Peachy. She brought a veteran panelist with her, and he raves:
We recently dined at Del Frisco in midtown New York (48th Street 6th Avenue U.S.
The restaurant is quite spacious with seating upstairs and downstairs, 2 bar areas and private dining rooms for group parties. Upon entering, we were greeted and seated by Meghan Moran, one of the few Sommeliers who expertly discussed the drink menu and the wine list with us. We were then attended to by our main server, Bambi who explained the main menu in detail. For starters, we sampled a shrimp cocktail with 3 different savory sauces (remoulade, cocktail and a garlic vinaigrette). The shrimp was very fresh and we enjoyed the creative and flavorful diversity of sauces. We also tried the crab cake in a delicious Cajun, mayonnaise based sauce. The crab cake was light and not filled with any breading, thus was fairly healthy. We enjoyed the dinner salad with bacon and croutons atop an avocado ranch dressing. For wine, we drank a robust Sangoviese and a California Zinfandel, aptly recommended by Meghan.
The main course of seared ahi tuna steak with sesame crusting perfectly satiated us with its mouthwatering ginger glaze and spicy wasabi cream sauce. The sides of broccoli with garlic, butter sauce, sauted mushrooms and mashed potatoes with cumin were all outstanding and extremely well seasoned. During dinner, we spoke with the upstairs sectional manager Chris Farber, an affable/personable Louisianan with a flare for accommodating service and interesting stories. Chris explained to us the repeat customers and referrals who will come to dine at Del Frisco’s from all over the U.S. and abroad given the quality, ambiance and service levels which we found unparalleled in our numerous dining experiences at other top quality, well-known restaurants. Chris certainly has immense pride and passion for his work and undoubtedly has been instrumental in growing Del Frisco’s business in NYC.
The famous lemon cake!
Peachy Picks Del Frisco's!
Note to all of our Boston College readers: April 23 Del Frisco's opens in Beantown!
Also, you should know that Del Frisco's has a rewards program that they will be happy to tell you about when you dine there.
