Ever since I visited STK Orlando (you can read about it here: http://www.foodlovergirl.com/stk-orlando/), I have been a fan of their food. And, my husband has been jealous of all the great dishes that I had. So, when we saw that they are a participating in the Restaurant Week, we made a reservation right away. They have two locations in Manhattan, one in midtown and one in downtown. We went to the one in midtown. They had a nice outdoor seating, even though it is not in use during the Winter months. Since it is not a set up on a sidewalk where you have to sit so close to cars going by, it has more space and less noise & pollution. I can see would be a really nice spot during warmer months.
They have double sided fireplace at the entrance, which you can enjoy from the inside as well. I always liked fireplaces, with warm fire burning. It gives such cozy, warm atmosphere that is so welcoming. I thought it was a really nice and creative touch to have the fireplace at the particular spot.
The inside was massive and modern, simple and elegant. The ceiling design made me think of some sort of spaceship. Clean white soft lines extending from the floor to the entire ceiling across, and then strong, solid lines on the window covering the whole wall. The large windows allowed great amount of natural lights in, making the place nice and bright. The front half of the restaurant had table seating surrounded by booth chairs.
In the middle was huge fully stacked bar, made of gorgeous white marble. Across from the bar was a lounge space for people who wants just the drinks and small snacks. Really nice, open space. Less lights in this area, creating more relaxing and also romantic atmosphere.
The area behind the bar/lounge area was another dining area. This space was raised from the rest of the restaurants, just a few steps. It was mainly round booth seating, kind of like your own, private pod. We got to seat at one of these round tables, even thought it was just the two of us. It was so spacious and nice, perfect for a romantic date.
We added few drinks on top of our Restaurant Week menu. I liked the sweet cocktails I got at STK Orlando, so I wanted to get another one of their sweet creation. We ordered Strawberry Cobbler ($17) and STK Mule ($17). If you are a fan of regular Moscow Mule, they can make that for you as well.
The Strawberry Cobbler is made with belvedere, fresh muddled strawberry, and graham cracker crust on the rim. The graham cracker rim reminded me of the Key Lime Pie Martini I had at the STK Orlando. This one was really good too, sweet and fruity just the way I like it. It had real strawberry bits in it, which was great. I liked the freshness from the muddled strawberry.
STK Mule is made with vodka, lime, and ginger beer. We like ginger beer itself, and of course Moscow Mule, so we were excited to try this out. It was really refreshing, great lime flavor without being too overpowering. A bit of sweetness but not too much, a nice drink to start off the dinner.
I was looking forward to getting their complimentary garlic bread, and my husband (who have heard so many times how good it was from me) was also very excited. It is a sourdough bread, made into pull-apart inside a deep cast iron pan. It is topped with bleu butter, and served with chimichurri oil. And it was as good as I remembered… It was actually so good that we asked for another one about mid-way through our dinner, and our lovely waitress made it happen without a fuss. Thank you!
From the Restaurant Week menu ($42/dinner), we chose Roasted Pumpkin Soup and Tuna Tartar as our appetizers. I was thinking “pumpkin soup in February?” but my goodness, this soup was soooo delicious! It is topped with truffle cream and pepitas (a.k.a. pumpkin seeds). It was so extremely creamy, velvety, thick without being heavy, and super delicious! And the truffle cream brought the soup to the next level. It might be my favorite pumpkin soup I’ve had thus far… It was so airy and fluffy, almost like a mousse, without losing its creamy-ness.
Tuna Tartar comes with avocado, soy honey emulsion, and taro chips. The chips were interesting, very crispy, not strong flavor so that it does not overwhelm the tuna. I put some tuna and avocado on the chip and ate them altogether, which was really nice. The sauce was good too, but since the tuna and avocado had its own great, super fresh flavors, it didn’t really need the sauce. But adding the little bit of the sauce did enhance the tuna flavor.
STK Midtown – 1114 6th Ave, New York, NY 10036