My Mutton

Holidays are always a good time for friends to get together for some holiday cheer. I decided this year it would be fun to round up the guys and have a nice steak dinner. Keens, which is the oldest steakhouse in New York City and famous for their "mutton chop" sounded like the clear choice. Made a reservation a few weeks ago and started dissecting the shit out of the menu ever since. All the reviews and blogs pointed to the "mutton chop" as the obvious go-to item to order. Just to clarify, the "mutton chop" they serve at Keens isn't actual mutton. Mutton is the meat of a sheep over one year in age. Back in the day Keens served mutton but changed to lamb, ten month in age, because it's tastier. Of course Keens kept its famous name. I was nervous to order the $48 "mutton chop" as I thought it might be to gamey and fatty. This is why I'm not a chef, because I was dead wrong.

I will come back to the mutton in a second but I want to discuss the corkage policy at New York City restaurants first. I just found this out recently, but many restaurants have a corkage policy which enables you to bring in your own wine for a minimal fee. The fee is usually anywhere from $20-$40 per bottle. Makes perfect sense if you have a nice bottles of wine, which Phil does, and you don't want to pay the premium markup of restaurant prices. There are a few caveats. Some restaurant only allow you to bring wine not served on their wine list and some places only allow a maximum of three bottles. Many restaurants don't advertise this option so please call to get their exact rules.

We had a 8:30pm reservation for Tuesday night. Phil and I got there around 730 to grab a beer at the bar area. This restaurant is huge. Three floors with private dining on the second and third floors. (I'm thinking reserved for Knicks and Rangers players after games, as the restaurant is a mere two blocks from the Garden.) The bar was packed for a Tuesday night as was the main dining room. After picking the bartenders brain regarding the mutton, I decided I'm going to forgo the Porterhouse and get me some mutton. We sat down promptly at 8:30 and were served awesome crudite and dip to begin the meal. I started with the bacon and ordered the "mutton chop" medium per the chefs request. Maybe the server knew I was a little nervous, but she smiled when I ordered and said you'll enjoy it. After sharing one magnum bottle of vino with the table (they charge double for magnum bottles of wine), our mutton arrives. With the chop measuring at three inches high and the wing-like sides (hence the name mutton chop) glistening with fat, I knew I made the right order decision. The meat was the tastiest I've ever eaten with the gamey hint of the lamb meat on the bone chop, plus the fat of the wing. I felt like a cheetah on the prey in the African wildlife, gnawing and face planting into the last bits on meat on the bone.

The sides of mushrooms, creamed spinach and hash browns were delicious but I couldn't stop eating the mutton. I wanted to take the chop home, cleaned of all the meat, to show my dad how I destroyed that prey. Just like they do in the Kenyan jungles, right???