Corner Bar

Review: Corner Bar Is New York’s Next Great Steakhouse | Eater NY

"Set inside the Nine Orchard hotel on the Lower East Side, this voguish corner bar from Ignacio Mattos offers a single, singular steak vision: an ultra-marbled wagyu skirt au poivre grilled over smoky coals, presliced so it soaks up a Worcestershire-laced, calf’s-foot–enriched demi‑glace that’s almost comically sticky; a waiter will tell you with a wink that medium-rare is the only temperature here. The food leans steak-and-shellfish bistro but with Mattos’s subversive twists—mornay-slicked spinach, fat neon-green-and-yellow heirloom tomato slices doused in Thai chile vinegar and lemon, and a scallop gilded in caper-butter with a wobble of its own red roe—while executive sous chef Ethan Bensal builds the au poivre sauce using gelatin for an intensely glossy texture and seven peppercorns to jolt the palate. Nearly everything is aggressively a la carte and eye-poppingly priced (the steak itself is $48, a three-course steak‑frites runs about $185, the shrimp cocktail is $35, a shellfish platter $85, a burger with fries can feel like paying for a steak, and even sorbet is $14), and the room—long marble counter, plaid curtains, aromas of shucked oysters—feels more like a staged, fashionable hangout than a neighborhood watering hole, full of cool kids in shoulderless tops and layered jerseys; I find the place intoxicatingly theatrical, equal parts culinary rigor and satirical uptown affectation." - Ryan Sutton