"Quality Eats is a concept restaurant. Brought to you by the group responsible for the Midtown staples Quality Meats and Quality Italian, this West Village spot is a calculated venture into downtown dining, and it’s a successful one at that. The hype is real, and the food is excellent. So what’s the concept? It’s a steakhouse disguised in restaurant trends. The reality of the city we live in right now is that nobody really wants or needs another down-the-middle steak place. People are eating less meat these days, and even the business bros would rather take their clients somewhere cool like The Clocktower or Upland over Strip House or BLT Prime. So if you want to sell some steaks, how do you trick people into going to a steak restaurant? You wrap it up in every of-the-moment restaurant trend you can think of. And what you end up with is Quality Eats. The interesting thing is that, while this all might sound very contrived, Quality Eats is a concept executed perfectly. The restaurant feels like a perfect amalgamation of all the best parts of Employees Only, Jacks Wife Freda, and Raoul’s. It’s a dark, vibey restaurant with a huge bar and excellent cocktails, a playlist mix of current and classic like The Weeknd and David Bowie, and a huge list of craft beer and interesting wines. As for the menu, there are most definitely steaks – but there is also a myriad of other less meaty, more photogenic options, like roasted beet tabouleh and hamachi crudo. But the smartest thing coming out of the kitchen might also be the most absurd – a full dessert menu of “Dressed Up” ice cream scoops, including one topped with what can only be described as birthday cake croutons, and another called “This Sh*t Is Bananas.” It is bananas indeed. And it’s exactly the kind of thing that will get people walking in off the street from Instagram. To sum it up with one statement, the best thing we can think of to tell you is that Quality Eats is by CHLOE for people who don’t care what their body looks like. It’s fun, boozy, rich, and it’s not going to help you get to your spin class in the morning. But it will get you eating steak again, and maybe that was the whole point. You could probably use the protein anyway. Food Rundown Grilled Nueske’s Bacon A big, tasty piece of bacon sitting in some peanut butter and topped with jalapeno. This is both sick and delicious, and you did it wrong if you didn’t order it. Hamachi Crudo Clean, excellent pieces of hamachi. A nice way to pretend you aren’t eating a terribly unhealthy meal. Branzino See, hamachi crudo. Sausage And Pepper Toast Exactly what you think it would taste like, and that’s a great thing. The Don Ameche We like all of the steaks we’ve had at Quality Eats, and it’s worth noting that all of them ring up at under $30. This one is the most expensive at $29, and it is the showstopper. As you can see, sliced filet is served with balsamic-dressed arugula. But what lies beneath the greens and meat is a bed of chicken liver mousse and caramelized onions. Sleep tight. Scalloped Sunchokes The sides at Quality Eats are creative versions of the stuff you would see at a normal steakhouse, and our favorite of the bunch is this plate of sunchokes that take the place of scalloped potatoes. They look and taste like potatoes, but they’re… healthier? Who knows. They’re good. Birthday Cake Scoop Is it your birthday? Nope. Do you still deserve this? Yes, you do. The birthday cake croutons will make you feel extra special." - Chris Stang
