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By Barbara Penny Angelakis
 PORTER HOUSE
10 Colombus Circle
Fourth Floor
New York, NY 10019
Phone: (212) 823-9500
www.porterhousenewyork.com
Just a hop, skip and jump from the entrance to Central Park to the east, the Lincoln Center complex for performing arts to the north, and the theatre district  to the south, is the newly revitalized Columbus Circle area of Manhattan. In the Time Warner Center, in the hub of the wheel of diversion, entertainment and culture, is an upscale multi-level mall of fine shops and restaurants. There, on the Fourth Floor, stands Michael Lomonaco’s Porter House New York. We recently spent a lovely summer Sunday afternoon enjoying a live jazz brunch at the restaurant.
Porter House New York is a traditional American steak house that has a welcoming demeanor and a family friendly ambience. The dimly lit large handsome bar opens into the bright main dining room which is spacious and comfortable with generous sized tables and armchair seating. Room between tables allows for private conversations as well as space for children to roam, as was the case on our visit. Wrap around windows maximize views north and east into Central Park and add an expansive feeling to the simple but elegant décor. Sunday brunch has been added this summer and offers New Yorkers and visitors to the neighborhood alike, quality American cuisine in a non-rushed gracious environment.
 Our brunch began with a conversation with James Nemite, Porter House’s creative bartender. We first met James several weeks ago at the Rhum Clement’s 2nd Annual Cocktail Challenge and after tasting some dozen offerings, determined that his was the best. I asked James if he had included his Rumm Plumm (sic) cocktail on the Porter House menu and while he had not yet managed to stock the ingredients in sufficient quantity to do that, he graciously offered to make the drink for our table of two. Soon this yummy award winning concoction will be available to everyone.
The wine list, though interesting, was heavy on California and Oregon selections. Nice wines, but considering that the restaurant is a steakhouse, I would have expected more of a variety, especially South American selections that are meat-eater’s wines at logical prices.
 As we sipped our drinks and listened to the live jazz performance by the John Miller Trio we perused the brunch menu. Again, faced with breakfast or lunch choices, as usual we split our selections down the middle and began with Jumbo Lump Crab Cake served over a delicious Creole mustard sauce. One of our all time favorite dishes, this crab cake was moist with large chunks of meat and baked to perfection. Baby Beet Salad with Goat cheese and field greens dressed in a champagne vinaigrette, was the other appetizer or small plate first course. The beets were a tad too well cooked for my taste but the generous  serving of blue veined goat cheese was an unusual and delicious accompaniment. Other small plate offerings were Yogurt with granola and berries and Irish Oatmeal with Brown Sugar and Cream as well as Bluepoint Oysters on the half Shell and Caesar Salad.
There was a selection of Burgers, with beef, salmon, or Portobello mushroom, all with the usual accompaniments, and classics like Banana-Walnut Buttermilk Waffle, Broche French Toast or Wild Maine Blueberry Pancakes. Porter House offers three distinct Eggs Benedict classics; the usual Canadian bacon with hollandaise sauce for $15, the sophisticated Smoked Salmon with béarnaise sauce for $17 and the unique Filet mignon  with hollandaise sauce for $21. Since we were at a steak house, the filet mignon it was. The beef was perfectly cooked, tender and nicely accented by the poached eggs and hollandaise. My selection of Vegetable-Cheese Frittata with tomatoes, asparagus, assorted mushrooms and goat cheese was somewhat bland and needed that little sip from a side of hot sauce. A treat for desert was a Vanilla Ice Cream Sundae heaped with whipped cream and accompanied by sides of whipped marshmallow topping, assorted nuts in honey, whole cherries in syrup and a pot of hot chocolate.
We finished the afternoon with a walk up-town and still had time to pay a visit to the Museum of Natural History.
© August 2007 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.
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