Charlie Palmer Steak

Auteur chef turned hospitality entrepreneur Charlie Palmer is charging onto the New York sirloin scene in an attempt to redefine the steakhouse. At the first Gotham iteration of his meat-minded restaurant, the pioneer of New American cuisine pushes for change. “I want to be nontraditional—for a steakhouse,” he says. Shifts from the strip come in the form of sashimi on a salt block drizzled in lime-shallot dressing and sweet-corn-and-ricotta–stuffed agnolotti. “We don’t offer alternatives out of obligation,” Palmer says. “We put emphasis on them.” For flourishes, the toque taps his empire: desserts from Aureole’s Pierre Poulin (cheesecake pudding, caramel-chocolate cake) and brown spirit-forward cocktails (Man About Town, Doctor’s Note) from his intimate whiskey den, Crimson & Rye. But beefy mains dominate the docket nonetheless, from charcoal-grilled lamb to Kobe strips and even a whopping 40-ounce porterhouse for two.