Flank steak ($22) is expertly flavored with chimichurri sauce.
With its horse-racing murals and a Saratoga Springs namesake, Siro’s should be ready to put diners through their paces, but crowds at the East Side eatery have been inconsistent. (
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It takes guts to launch a mammoth new American restaurant at an East Midtown site that chewed up two previous steakhouses — local favorite Blair Perrone (from downtown) and national chain Ruth’s Chris.
But the team behind Siro’s (852 Second Ave., 212-486-6400) brings thoroughbred grit and grace to this elegant eatery inspired by namesake Siro’s of Saratoga Springs — a boldface-packed affair that’s open only for the six-week summer racing season.
Of course, trucks, not horses, ply Second Avenue between 47th and 48th streets. Siro’s power-celebrity backers — including Mariano Rivera, “Entourage” actors Kevin Dillon and Kevin Connolly — knew they had their work cut out.
On visits with friends when I went unrecognized, I’ve had filet mignon and rib-eye as good as any for their mid-$40s prices, well marbled and accurately turned out medium-rare.
Last Friday, I had impossibly deep-flavored, marinated flank steak with pitch-perfect chimichurri for just $22. That afternoon, my friend and I were the only ones in the house on a miserable snowy day.
“We opened with a big bang last summer, but we’ve been struggling,” acknowledged owner Keith Kantrowitz, who put together the investor team.
“We were booked full for the holidays. Then, one Monday night we had 30 customers, the next night we had 170,” he said — echoing many owners who say they’re baffled by this year’s day-to-day roller coaster.
Siro’s has enough good dishes to make it worth fighting for. Wide and tall windows at the base of a 49-story building are no help: Where diners at Midtown’s Del Frisco’s, for example, enjoy views of soaring Rockefeller Center limestone, Siro’s customers see Second Avenue blah.
But Siro’s has the right bones inside. Its 10,000 square feet encompass four distinct, plush-carpeted sections framed in warm cherry and mahogany, including a sexy lounge backed by a towering bar. The main dining room evokes Saratoga with eye-candy murals — horses and jockeys in black and white, elegantly attired spectators in color.
Siro’s also enjoys a blessedly subdued noise level thanks to acres of upholstery and linen and ample space between tables — a rare luxury.
It has the right floor spirit, too, flowing from mirthfully moustached manager Michael Stone, a man with a savant’s memory for names and faces.
What Siro’s needs more of is consistency from executive chef Nicholas Armstrong’s kitchen. The same day I had that fine flank steak, I also had cocktail shrimp that tasted as if they’d washed up with the Sandy sea surge. Another day, “sashimi-grade” sesame-crusted yellowfin tuna did recall sashimi at a cheap Japanese place where it might cost half of $38.
The seafood appetizer not to miss is Chesapeake Bay jumbo lump crab cake — an all-crab affair for just $22 as good and as substantial as $36 entrees I’ve had elsewhere.
Siro’s, not to be confused with Sirio at the Pierre Hotel, has some solid pasta. Orecchiette with sweet sausage and broccoli rabe would hold its own in most any trattoria — but flavorless cherry tomatoes don’t belong.
There’s also a new “Joy Bauer Healthy menu” including squash bruschetta using whole-grain baguettes and part-skim ricotta.
Although the Web site lists a dozen desserts, no printed list was available one night; the waiter recited only a handful, including pedestrian panna cotta. It was disappointing, too, when the striped bass I craved “unfortunately didn’t come in today.”
And I can do without a warbly singer on a Friday night, when I crave peace and quiet. A good meal needs no background music to make its case. It’s about the kitchen, guys, not the keyboard.