Rebelle Visited 3/30/2016 4.5 Forks

Rebelle  218 Bowery, New York, NY 10012

I have 2 words for you here: Veal Porterhouse.  Yes, it pains me beyond belief to think of what I am actually eating but it's fucking out of this world.  It's a nightly verbal special - so if they don't mention it, please ask them about it.  It's 23 ounces of rare deliciousness that has been basted with thyme, garlic, and butter (lots of it) and is served sitting in its own veal jus. But before I get to it, I should back up a bit. 

Vince and I were there was part of our usual "business" get togethers and we always pick a baller place to conduct business.  Vince had heard about Rebelle's veal porterhouse situation and he didn't have to convince me twice to check it out.  The space is sparse and has this very Scandinavian feel to it.  It's kind of cold and modern but the service was still warm and friendly.  The menu is very composed and sophisticated - I wouldn't say that this place is really for everyone since there aren't any "traditional" dishes on the menu.  We started the meal with the fluke ($16) appetizer and the scallop ($18) and then had the veal porterhouse for 2 as our main entree ($90).  Honestly, you can get away with just ordering the veal and you'll still walk out super full but the appetizers were equally fantastic. 

The fluke was incredible, such a simple and clean dish. Beautifully thick cut pieces of raw fish topped with brown butter, caper and lemon - perfection. Next we had the scallop - there were 2 of them topped with uni and turnip and sitting in squid ink.  I only got this dish because of the uni and the combination of it with the squid ink and scallop was great.  

As for the main attraction, they roll the dish out in a hot sizzling pan and the veal has already been sliced for you and is served with a TON of potatoes that have been roasting the veal jus as well. Luckily, they also serve a side salad with the dish, which at first seems weird but it was 100% necessary to cut through all the fat you are eating.  The veal is super tender and is roasted to perfection.  My only complaint is that there was actually too much food - it was really hard to finish all of it and I didn't even touch the potatoes because the thought of eating starch soaking in veal jus was just too much for me to handle. I was actually uncomfortably full afterwards - so much so that I couldn't even consider dessert. 

While I really enjoyed every aspect of my meal and it was super creative yet balanced at the same time, this is definitely not an every day kind of restaurant.  It was very close to a 5 fork meal yet - it was just lacking in the coziness or warmth that I really makes me gaga over a place.  But that should definitely not dissuade any of you from putting it on your list - especially if the veal is available that night.

Photo Credit:  Eater.com