Best Durn Thursday

On Monday I had my final argument for the Moot Court Competition. While educational, fulfilling, and at times exhilarating, the entire ordeal left me feeling . . . well, I suppose most people would say that it left them feeling “like a good, stiff drink.” Me, if left me feeling like a “good, juicy steak.” Unfortunately, sometimes you don’t have the time to grab a steak right when you want one, and I had to put off my steak-grabbing until Thursday night.

But what a night for steak-grabbing it proved to be!

While dear old New York features several steakhouses I’m aching to visit (Peter Luger and the Strip House, in particular) I decided to go out to Dumont in Williamsburg. I first heard of Dumont months ago and had long longed to visit it. Noticing two different steaks on their menu, I figured Thursday the perfect chance to try the place out.

Situated on Union Ave between Metropolitan and whatever (it’s not like I walked to the other end of the block when I didn’t have to) Dumont isn’t much to look at from the outside, especially with its shuttered windows, you wouldn’t even notice it if it weren’t for its, uhm, great big green neon side. Inside, Dumont isn’t too much to look at either. Dim, smallish, almost dingy, really, it’d probably be a little discouraging to walk into if all the tables weren’t packed with people enjoying delicious looking food. By dumb luck we got our table right away, but I was surprised to find it so busy on a Thursday night at 7 . . . I guess Thursday nights are as reasonable a time as any for a restaurant to busy, but I now know better than to expect to be able to show up and sit there at 8pm on a Friday.

Enough of the set-up, let me talk about food:

Appetizer: Had the crab cake. It was the type of delicious that you notice the second it touches your lips, and an exciting indicator of what was to come for the rest of the evening. An appetite-zer, indeed, or whatever. The cake itself was an “A” on its own, but it was served on a really piquant green salsa (yes, I feel I need to use the word “piquant” here) perfectly offset by creamy avocado on top—the entire result? One of them “party in my mouth” sort of experiences. I could’ve eaten like five of them or something.

Dinner: Yeah, so, I got their NY strip with fries and peppercorn sauce. Just perfect. Exactly what I wanted. The fries were insanely crisp and tasty. Just so perfect. If I remember right, I ordered it straight-up medium and that’s what I got, an absolutely medium steak (usually I go medium-well, but Thursday night I just I felt a little pinker than usual)

Dessert: Split their “evening special” pumpkin cheesecake and “normal” (yet equally special) fallen chocolate cake. The cheesecake was really delicious, I had been a little worried about how pumpkiny it’d be, as I’m really just nuts about normal old cheesecake, but the flavor situation was under control, and, as stated above, really delicious. The fallen chocolate cake was also magnificent, one of those little pieces of gooey-hot chocolate cake served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream like you can get at lots of restaurants these days, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

It was one of those meals where you just talk about how good the food is the whole time and start making plans to come back before you’re even done with the appetizer. I’m looking forward to returning as soon as possible (as it’s right off the Lorimar stop on the L, it’s no trick getting there). I’d really like to try something a little more flavorful than steak for my dinner next time, not that there was anything at all wrong with my steak.

In summation: Dumont. So much the best meal I’ve had at a restaurant in a long time. I think I need to mention that both of the place’s chefs cooked at Gramercy Tavern. I haven’t been to Gramercy Tavern (yet), but I know it’s important to mention when a restaurant has something to do with the Gramercy Tavern. Oh, and the waitstaff? Chill, cool, and capable. My favorite kind.

Completely Unrelated Do you know what song is just the joint? "Fire" by Joe Buddens. Most repeat-worthy track I've heard since "Toxic." I wouldn't even know this song existed if it weren't for the party scene in Mean Girls.