Talia's Steakhouse Inaugural Review Our Coverage Sponsored by Fresh Origins
Grilled Filet Mignon! Peachy always orders Filet first.
Our pals Effie and Adam Nagar, Father and Son, Owner and Manager
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You cannot find a steak this delicious and juicy and exactly as ordered in every Manhattan neighborhood, particularly residential areas that always have a million casual spots that come and go to one classy elegant spot with steak like this ratio. No, that's not a run-on sentence, we want to make sure you are awake and not in a heat lull! This is Talia's first review, drumroll please! Talia, we know you are reading up there.
It's not who you know, it's WHOM YOU KNOW, and if you really know Peachy, you know she is starting to think her name should have been Peachy Carnivore as too many un-detail-oriented people that answer the phone at restaurants (not the owners) new to us make the lethal mistake of thinking she says her last name is Vegan, not Deegan. Peachy Deegan is a meat and potatoes person, nice meat and potatoes that is! We love great steakhouses, and as time goes on we highly appreciate the difference between a big corporate place and a small boutique spot. You know we always prefer the small boutique gorgeous bastion of carnivorism where the owner has everything perfect the first time. Like Effie.
There are a lot of components to a successful restaurant, particularly in Manhattan. It is different here, as in more aesthetically demanding and pickier people that know all the differences from food to lighting to ambiance.
You know who could write a term paper on that, and thank goodness term papers are way behind us.
The most immediate requirements are fabulous cuisine, gorgeous atmosphere and most of all, the brains and personality behind it. Talia's has all of these based on our inaugural visit, because EFFIE IS IN CHARGE! Have no fear, dinner is here. During Law School in Israel, Effie worked at restaurants concurrently to support himself at the time.
Talia's Steakhouse was established in 2002 in its original location on the Upper West Side, and is named for Effie's daughter and Adam's older sister, Talia, who passed at age 9 from a brain tumor. Her favorite food was lox and non-dairy cream cheese on a bagel and she was Effie's oldest child; Effie has three sons.
We began with the Israeli Salad, which you will find perfectly cubed. Here it is shown above as it is usually served dressed with lemon tahini dressing. Finely chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, and parsley announce that less is more and you will revel in such simplicity, particularly in this wicked muggy heat. They listened and put the dressing on the side for Ms. Pretty Picky, who always wants the dressing on the side.
This salad indicated the commitment Talia's has to precision and quality.
We usually write in the order in which we tried the dishes, even if it is not the order you might eat it in. They were straight to the point and once you see how great their steak is, you would see how they would send it flying out. When we look for new places, we hope they all succeed but it is not always the case (and then, we do not publish on you. And we may not try everything or even stay very long if you do not come out with winners to start with.) The Filet Mignon is under "Steak and Chops" and there is one size offered: 10 oz. We requested medium/medium rare and were entirely happy with the execution. We had broccoli with it, and it was steamed.
The starter to-die-for and which you absolutely must have is the Tuna Tartare. Look at how gorgeous it is, dahling. It is another genius of cutting precision and the thinly sliced limes perfectly accentuate one of the freshest items we've had in recent memory: tuna with mango! It's beautifully dotted with black and white sesame seeds. You may not pass go and collect $200 without trying the Tuna Tartare which was just as fabulous as the steak.
Peachy loves strong red wine and Effie's selection was perfection.
You must order this wine.
A highly creative appetizer endeavor that we really liked was the Eggplant Baladi which was actually super delicious and even healthy packed with vitamin B1, fiber and copper among other nutritional hits. The eggplant is grilled is artfully constructed with tahini, chickpeas, paprika and olive oil. Be daring and try it even if you think you do not love eggplant.
Normally we do not get into the bread basket critically, especially on the first review. However, this is the best pita bread Peachy has ever had in her entire life. It is flown in from Israel twice a week semi-frozen but it tastes like Effie personally made it minutes before you walked in the door. Peachy prefers fluffy white Italian bread in general, and this is the fluffiest pita we've ever seen; look at that height! This is from the side!
In this ridiculous heat, fish is an excellent idea and we always order a fish entree as well as a meat entree to show you a couple of options. At Talia's, we suggest the Moroccan Salmon grilled medium. It is another bevy of nutrition and color as well with gorgeous tomato and pepper vegetable flavor resting on a wonderful bed of mashed potatoes.
The sides we tried that we'd suggest to you are the Homemade Mashed Potatoes and Steamed Broccoli. These are by far the best mashed potatoes we've had with no dairy involved; they have us fooled completely.
Talia's Steakhouse impressed us the first time and we look forward to seeing what they do next.
And, P.S. if you eat Kosher, you should know this happens to be Kosher. We don't look for any religious specification, we only look for excellence. Ever to Excel is Peachy's religion.
P.S. German Shepherds you should know Effie loves you especially!
We know that Trudy is telling you all to read us, so tell your owners to go to Talia's and bring you a week's worth of doggie pags of Filet Mignon
Trudy was half German Shepherd and half Wolf and she is our favorite dog.
Trudy's owner passed from brain cancer too.
