Restaurant Week Lunch at Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse

With Restaurant Week extended until Labor Day, a few of my friends and I decided to check out Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse for lunch on Sunday.  As I’ve said before, I think a steakhouse is an incredible value for Restaurant Week, especially for lunch, simply because steak can be at least $30 or more, and during Restaurant Week, you can get a three-course meal, including steak, for $24.07 at lunch.

Michael Jordan’s was one of the few steakhouses offering a Restaurant Week lunch menu on a Sunday and I thought the atmosphere was pretty cool.  We sat overlooking the main part of Grand Central on the Vanderbilt Ave side, so it was perfect for people watching.  There were tons of tourists checking out Grand Central and taking photos, and this definitely kept us entertained.

To kick off the meal, we could choose between a romaine salad, a tomato and mozzarella salad or a chilled cucumber soup with shrimp.  Naturally, I went with the tomato and mozz salad, and found it to be very good. I honestly expected there to be stacks of tomato and mozz, but it was more of a salad, with arugala and bits of basil tossed in.  Even better, there was chunks of roasted red pepper, and a big slice of tomato at the bottom.  The mozzarella was soaked in a balsamic vinaigrette, and all in all, this was a fabulous dish.  We also asked for the waiter to bring out some bread with the salad (I doubt we would have been given this otherwise)  but there was a great assortment of crackers and breads in the basket.  If you go, definitely request some bread.

On to the steak.  Most of us at the table ordered our steaks medium rare, and a few of ours were overcooked.  Mine wasn’t too bad – on the ends it was a little overdone, but the middle was perfectly cooked.  There was really no distinction between my friend Amy’s medium steak, and our medium rare steaks, so if you want to make sure your steak isn’t overcooked, I suggest ordering a steak that is a little more rare that you normally like it.  The steak was also smothered in a spicy sauce which was good.  If you like just tasting the meat though and want to control the amount of sauce on your steak, I’d ask for the sauce on the side.  The sauce though was great on the handcut potatoes that accompanied the steak.  These potatoes were seasoned very well.  We all commented that we thought we wouldn’t be full from steaks and frites, but to be honest, I could have thrown in the towel after the second course.

For dessert, the waiter suggested the cheesecake.  I was intrigued by the cotton candy on the menu, but he said it was just ok, so cheesecake it was.  There were two strawberries and a blackberry on the plate which tasted great with the cheesecake.  The cheesecake was perfectly creamy and the graham cracker crust was delicious.

I’ll be honest – I preferred my Restaurant Week experience at Ruth’s Chris to Michael Jordan’s.  Unfortunately, Ruth’s Chris does not offer its menu on Sunday afternoons.  If you are looking to check out Restaurant Week for lunch on a Sunday, I’d recommend heading to Michael Jordan’s if you want a solid meal.  Get the mozzarella salad and the cheesecake, and when it comes to the steak, make sure you order it a tad rarer than you normally would and get your sauce on side.