Rare - A Weatherman guest review (Guest Blogger)

Midtown Manhattan, N.Y. -- Rare, located on the corner of 37th street and Lexington Ave. in New York, specializes in meat, burgers or cut -- as you could probably guess from its name. I went here on a legit date with a jaun and it was pretty good. It’s actually part of a larger hotel but you don’t notice that at all. The place is kind of small with dark lighting. It has a single-door entrance that reminded me of the All-American Rathskeller, because it’s set back off Lexington Ave. a little bit. But that’s the only thing that reminded me of the Rathskeller. Repeat: The only thing.

Before I speak about the food, which was very good, here’s a diddy about the service. It was a weekday night, and before I picked the jaun up, I stopped by the restaurant, which was on the way, to check out to see if this place would be crowded. I heard good things before and thought it would be good to try out. I walked by and it was crowded so I went in and asked how long the wait would be. 20 or 30 mins, I was told. I said I was just going around the block and would be back in 20 mins or so, which was true, so they put my name down on the list and said it will be here when you come back. Service a plus.

When we returned it took about five minutes to get a table and when were quickly asked for drink orders. There was a nice variety of bottled beers. I had a Stella. She had a Hoegaarden, a pleasant surprise.

For dinner I had what was called an M&M Burger – a burger flambéed in whiskey, topped with caramelized shallots, cheddar cheese and bacon. Oh yeah, bacon. It tasted as good as it sounds, cooked medium rare. And came with fries. If there was any complaint it was that the burger was a little too greasy overall.

The lady had a turkey sandwich of some kind, devoured it, and said it was quite good. I, of course, didn’t finish the burger being my normal slow-eating self. “I’m making you look like a girl,” she said. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that the food was darn good.

It was kind of late so we didn’t get dessert, but it was offered. All around, a pretty good place. Kind of an unexpected small spot right in the middle of Manhattan kind of close to Times Square, but far away enough from the tourists, giant plasma screens and what not.

Total price: $58 for the two dinners and two beers each. Outstanding.

Overall grade: A

Sorry, I didn’t take pictures. I wasn’t thinking about this.