Frankly, the only reason Dan and I cam here was because he got a $50 gift card from American Express (hello, where was mine??!). Even with the gift card, the meal was still a bit expensive but it definitely alleviated the pain of payment at the end of dinner.
The original Palm is in Midtown East not far from the UN...so essentially one of the boring-est areas of NYC (in my opinion). There's no real character to this area of NYC and the only thing there is tall grey corporate buildings. But when you walk into the Palm it's like walking back in time. It's old school and it doesn't really look like they've done many changes since the 1950's. In typical Palm fashion they have all these drawings of famous people on the wall (although here, I didn't really recognize any of them). We ended up sitting on the 2nd floor in the middle where there were no windows and it was pretty dark and intimate. The clientele is what you would expect: a mix of tourists and older East-siders. I think we were the youngest people there by 15 years.
But in any case, I move on to the food. While the menu is pretty much the same as the one in Tribeca, this was the first time I have been here for dinner. I opted for the prime rib ($45), Dan got the 14 oz filet mignon ($45) and we split a small Caesar salad ($8) and a side of creamed spinach ($10). It would be better if you came here with more people so that you could try more appetizers or sides because there were a lot of good sounding sides and salads. I would say if you don't want to make yourself too full, avoid the bread basket because you can easily get sucked into it's delicious soft whipped butter and be full in seconds. The Caesar salad came out 1st and was the perfect size. However, it was way overdressed. It felt like I was eating dressing with a side of lettuce. Soon there after our steaks came out and Oh my god. My prime rib literally looked like it was fit for 3 people. I can't even explain how ginormous it was, it was shocking. Dan's fillet was also pretty big but at least looked manageable. I immediately dug into the meat to see if it was cooked correct - I had asked for medium rare. And medium rare is was. The outside section for the rib was slightly overcooked but the middle was perfectly pink and delicious. I wish I hadn't eaten brunch that day because I wanted to eat more but after 10-15 minutes, I was just maxed out. The rib had a great au jus sauce which was just a smidge too salty and sweet but nothing that totally ruins the meal. The creamed spinach was good but had a very distinct nutmug or cinnamon spice taste to it, which was a bit weird. Dan's fillet was cooked just right - he had asked it for rare and while it wasn't bloody or anything, they did a good job keeping it as rare as possible but still having seared it and keeping it brown on the outside. Funny enough I had originally told Dan to get the 9 oz instead of the 14 oz and in the end the amount that Dan had left on his plate was almost 3 oz. These were definitely decent steaks but not mind blowing like Peter Lugers or even the Old Homestead where the meat tastes like butter. We had really wanted to save room for the dessert but we just couldn't find any room for it and when we looked at the calorie count, it was a bit frightening.
The service was what you would expect from an old school restaurant - very professional and attentive. I enjoyed my meal and it's worth splurging there every once in a while, but it's definitely an expensive outing. Total bill with 2 drinks (including a $20 glass of red wine and $12 cocktail) was $150. Luckily the $50 gift card made it only $100 which isn't too bad for drinks, steaks and sides.
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