VIBE

Neutral tones dominate, with the same dark and glossy tables, comfy suede booths, and meat-loving clientele as his original steakhouse venture (BLT Steak, opened just one year before this restaurant). But Laurent Tourondel knows how to please the New York crowd, so why deviate from the proven formula? BLT Prime specializes in the predictable—beef, veal, and lamb–although it does serve some poultry and fine fish (including a mean Dover sole and branzino). A large, black letter board displays the day’s menu, and the room where they keep their meats as they dry age is encased in glass, so you can walk by and look in at the different cuts.

CROWD

Steak lovers, hungry Gramercians, and the occasional tourist.

WHAT WE WOULD WEAR

Business attire is appropriate; a classic shirt paired with a pencil skirt works well.

GO HERE WITH

Groups; coworkers

WHY WE LIKE IT

BLT Prime delivers on Tourondel’s reputation, keeping its dishes, service, and overall atmosphere sophisticated, consistent, and dependable. This kitchen guarantees mouthwatering meat and impeccable fish, as evidenced by the classy crowds of regulars who pack in.

WHAT WE WOULD CHANGE

Not much. We don’t find the steak to be quite the caliber of other famous steakhouses in the city (take Peter Luger, for example), but the food and experience are solid nonetheless.

GOOD TO KNOW

Placemats are a diagram of a cow with all the different cuts of meats labeled–very helpful! And be warned: while the signature popovers served at the beginning of each meal are delicious, it’s easy to fill up on them and not have room for the steak you originally came for. Laurent Tourondel operates a food empire, with restaurants such as BLT Steak, BLT Fish, BLT Burger, and BLT Market among others, located in New York and throughout the world.

CLOSEST COMPS

BLT Steak (New York); Wolfgang’s Steakhouse (New York)

Click here for our full-form mobile travel guide, The Purple Passport to New York City.