The New Press Club Grill In New York Has A 1960s Swagger

New York has never lacked for first-rate restaurants within hotels—admirable new additions include Sweetbriar in the Park South Hotel, Duomo 51 in The Doubletree, Lindens in the Arlo, El Quijote in the Chelsea—and now it’s got another in the Herald Square area, within the Beaux Arts-style Martinique Hotel, opened in 1897 and recently completely refurbished.

The Press Club Grill takes its name from the neighborhood being an historic nexus for the Times, the Herald and the Tribune and its atmosphere hearkens back to the late ‘50s and ‘60s with a menu that lists what used to be called (not admirably) “continental cuisine.” In Chef Franklin Becker’s hands, it becomes a welcome return of once favorite dishes like Waldorf Salad, chicken Kiev and cherries jubilee.

Together with Stephen Loffredo (former owner of Zoë) of the Hospitality Dept., they have taken two floors of the Martinique and kept to the retro theme in the most modern way, largely dependent on excellent lighting. The downstairs dining room and bar do have the cast of restaurants of mid-century New York, with big roomy booths and a mural of famous New Yorkers. Would that they maintained the tradition of once ubiquitous white tablecloths that would tamp down the noise, added to by music that guests must talk over.

The upper dining area is a handsome space with walls hung with every important personage of the bygone era, while the private dining room is sophisticated with a slightly clandestine air about it.

I’ve followed Becker’s career for two decades now, and he shows himself to be one of those consummate, experienced chefs whose command of technique means he can create or re-create with engaging discernment. He also like to have some fun, so that a dish like jumbo shrimp cocktail ($29) is more than you assume: the shrimp poached in a court bouillon, split and filled with cocktail sauce and freshly grated horseradish.

“Buffalo carrots” ($16) is a twist on Buffalo chicken wings. Becker says he wanted to put a vegetarian option on the menu, so he uses roasted carrots and fried instead, with celeriac and hot sauce-Maytag Blue dressing.

“Springtime in New York” ($22) is a bright new idea, combining mushroom sable with a black truffle buttermilk dressing. “Mama’s Chicken Soup? ($16) has a charming back story: At one time Becker’s mother was ill and he became cook in the family, crafting a chicken and matzoh ball soup Mama would eat with gusto and gratitude. So will you. This is one of the most deeply flavorful versions of this Jewish-American staple I’ve ever had, with ethereally light floating matzoh balls, parsnips and a little dill.

But before you even get to the appetizers, enjoy the rye sourdough bread ($8), a bocce ball-size loaf with a perfect balance of crunchy crust and moist, airy inside, which you slather with the house-made butter with cultured salt cut like tete de moan cheese in flowery spirals.

Crab Rangoon is one of those old Trader Vic’s-style pu-pu platter stand-bys shaped like a wonton that Becker transforms with jumbo lump crabmeat, rich scallion cream cheese filled inside with a pastry dough shell that has been lightly fried and served with a gel version of sweet and sour sauce ($36). So, too, ravioli stroganoff, a riff on the 19^th century beef and sour cream dish named after a hugely rich aristocratic merchant family in Russia. Becker makes it into a pasta dish resembling pelmeni dumplings with a juicy short rib filling ($28).

There are, of course, various beef cuts available, and I ordered the hanger steak with terrific frites ($39), which was quite a bargain compared to the NY strip at $69. Sea scallops of pristine freshness were enhanced by woodsy morels, sweet peas and a spring onion consommé ($42).

I am not sure beef Wellington is a dish that needs redemption from the buffet lines of long-gone continental banquet rooms. Named after Britain’s famous Duke of Wellington but of uncertain source and not even mentioned until the 20^th century in any cookbook, it was a big show-off dish of beef filet layered with a duxelle of mushrooms or pâté, wrapped in brik puff pastry and served with a red wine or Madeira sauce. Becker’s is as good as any I’ve ever had, here with the addition of prosciutto, but as usual the beef was a bit steamy, the mushrooms added little and the pastry wrap, while buttery and crisp, seemed an unnecessary stretch.

I’m a pushover for old-fashioned gooey desserts, so I was very happy with the Bananas Foster crème brûlée with brown butter, rum and caramel ($16). I was skeptical, though, of cherries jubilee for two ($28), that pyrotechnic display of brandied cherries served over vanilla ice cream, a dish created by Auguste Escoffier for the 1897 Diamond Jubilee for Queen Victoria. Becker makes it even more fun by presenting a huge cherry confection shell that is melted, causing a softening flow of vanilla-miso ice cream with toasted almonds, a witty tour de force to end a sumptuous dinner with a grand flourish.

Last but not least in my book of nostalgic foods, is Becker’s creditable egg cream, that New York blend of u-bet chocolate syrup, cold milk and seltzer, a frothy confection I drank every year of my boyhood, and now, like my boyhood, vanished like the corner candy stores that made them.

The wine list, by wine director Luke Boland, is excellent in two respects: First, it is extensive and well selected; second, it has a remarkable number of bottles under $100, even below $70 at a modest mark-up; even a trophy wine like Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru 2020 on the list at $2,500 is actually less than you might pay at a wine store or on-line. The cocktails by beverage director Max Green all have punning names like “Page Turner” and “Hush Money” and a good dose of bitters.

Ironically, not even Becker and Loffredo, much less most of his clientele, was even around in the Mad Men era, so his menu seems fresh and novel against a backdrop that is swank in a sentimental way some of us still miss.

THE PRESS CLUB GRILL

1262 Broadway

646-838-9020

The Press Club Grill is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.