Delightful Discoveries at Hawksmoor | The New Yorker

"Housed in the former assembly hall of the United Charities Building in Gramercy Park, I found Hawksmoor’s stained-glass windows, vaulted ornate ceilings and Victorian-library, palatial feel immediately striking — it’s the ninth outlet of an upscale U.K. steak-house group and the room feels like a long-closed secret. The kitchen leans into coal cooking: the dressed oysters with a Scotch-bonnet mignonette were a superior alternative to my usual lemon-and-Tabasco routine, and ash-baked beets, finished with pickled fennel and horseradish, brought out a deep, smoky earthiness. The meat is the main event — sourced exclusively from family-run farms with cattle raised on hay and pasture — and charcoal gives steaks a crisp, black exterior that contrasts with a red, yielding interior; the kitchen seasons cuts with nothing but salt (no butter) to highlight the beef’s richness. My rare T-bone was surprisingly lean, elastic and nutty, and the anchovy hollandaise was a welcome accompaniment (I would skip the bland peppercorn sauce and bone-marrow gravy). Of the sides, creamed spinach’s nutmeg-and-cayenne seasoning struck me as an odd, distracting funk, whereas the Caesar or lettuce-and-herb salad are safer bets, and the beef-fat fries are decadently umami. Cocktails surprised me too: the Hawksmoor Calling and the Shaky Pete’s Ginger Brew were so smooth I suspected they were virgin before tasting them. I finished with the sticky-toffee pudding — “the most English dessert on the menu” — and was astonished at how good it was. (Entrées $22–$65.)" - Jiayang Fan