For Great Steaks, Flames In Elmsford, New York, Is Worth A Trip From The Tri-State Area

As any reader of this column knows, I am always delighted to write about a great old or new steakhouse in Manhattan—Gallaghers, Empire, Benjamin Prime and several others—and to ignore those whose beef just doesn’t come up to the standards New York steakhouses set decades ago, when the original Palm, Christ Cella and Peter Luger’s battled to get the very best USDA Prime available. Simple arithmetic would tell you that every one of the New York and national steakhouse chains can’t possibly obtain enough first-rate product every night.

An individual owner’s longstanding relationships with the meat vendors (especially now since the Meat District has been turned into a street of boutiques) is critical in guaranteeing a consistent supply of great beef. Nick Vulaj has maintained those relationships for more than 30 years, so that his Wall Street area restaurant Flames is the best one down there, and he serves exactly the same quality at his suburban branch of Flames in Elmsford, New York, opened in 2016. If a Texan will drive four hours to a barbecue stand and a Californian can cross the border for Mexican food, anyone in the tristate area should consider an hour’s drive or train ride from Grand Central Terminal to dine at Flames.

It’s a fine-looking restaurant with a popular white-and-gray polished marble bar, walls of wine from a 250-label list, neatly covered tables with handsome sturdy chairs, wainscoting and a rear dining room put to use for parties.

You may start off with a lavish seafood tower for two or more (priced accordingly) or just indulge in a copious cocktail of true jumbo lump crabmeat ($27)—which, if you can find it at the store is going for $50 a pound—or perhaps a platter of blue point oysters ($19.95). I usually order the eggplant rollatini with prosciutto and melted fontina ($17.50), and the spaghetti alla carbonara “made the right way”($39) is right on the mark and makes a great appetizer. Burgundy-flesh tuna comes with a moderate wasabi sauce. French onion soup, new to the menu ($13.95), was a classic rendering, as is carpaccio of beef with a light dressing ($44.95).

Before I get to the steak, I highly recommend the four well-cut American lamb chops ($64), of which at least one is likely to leave with you in a doggie bag. The veal chop with mushrooms ($65) weighs in at about 16 ounces. You can also get some massive lobsters (MP), and there’s grilled branzino ($48.95) for those who eschew meat. .

Vulaj took wagyu beef off the menu a while back for good reason: except for its unctuous fattiness, wagyu, Japanese or otherwise, is simply not as flavorful as his mineral-rich USDA Prime steaks, either a bone-in ribeye ($69), shell steak ($65) or porterhouse for two or more ($145 ). A tomahawk steak ($95) is a lot of meat and a whole lot of bone, for show really. I am not usually a fan of filet mignon for the opposite reason from wagyu, that it hasn’t enough fat, but somehow, Flames’s massive hunk of filet with the bone (which makes a difference) with mushrooms ($79) could change my mind. It had fine texture, juiciness and flavor throughout.

From onion rings ($16.95) to French fries ($16.95) and garlic-mashed potatoes ($16.95), the sides are all worthwhile, and if you really need dessert, Flames has the usual cheesecake ($12.95), though I can’t resist its old-fashioned carrot cake ($17.95).

You pay a high price for this quality, but I’ve come to realize that only a trencherman would polish off every morsel of such gargantuan portions, so you get a second meal out of the deal. In any case, Flames is worth the money and worth the effort to get there.

Flames Steakhouse

121 E Main St, Elmsford, NY

914 592-3500

Open daily for lunch and dinner.