out and about: manhattan of la jolla

Man has it been a crazy couple of weeks.

For those not playing along, we had a slab leak that flooded most of our downstairs, ruining our floors, doors, and quite a bit of our drywall. This had led to us living with water turned for days, finally being moved into a hotel - where we had three separate rooms, on three separate floors, completely apart from one another - to ultimately being placed in an airbnb.

And this Airbnb? It is to be our temporary home for the foreseeable future. 2 - 3 months at least.

And did I mention, that all this started the day before jamie’s birthday. By the time we got to his bday, we were in the middle of living at home, with jackhammers taking up flooring and concrete… and did i mention? The water was turned off?

Thankfully, we had made reservations at manhattan in advance, and were so happy to sneak out for a few hours and grab some dinner, listen to some music, and try to de-stress.

Manhattan has been a local staple as long as I can remember. In fact, when I used to babysit our neighbors’, it was their parents favorite date night spot… and this was a good 3+ decades ago.

We love it for the live music, and it’s often our after-dinner go too, embarrassingly all too often. And that’s only because if we ate there as much as we end up there, it would be even more embarassing.

In fact, when I threw a surprise party for jamie’s 40th, I told him that’s where we were going for dinner, so he wouldn’t be thrown off. Even though we didn’t end up going… but that’s a whole other story. There have, however, been plenty of his (and my) bdays spend in the dinning room, enjoying a great steak and some tableside caesar.

This time, when I made reservations, I asked for one of the tables close to the piano. We knew Tad would be playing (Tad Sisler plays the piano and sings along to all your favorites most nights), and it’s about jamie’s most favorite thing that he’s known as the “steely dan guy.”

We timed dinner with the music, and it really was the perfect escape.

And I should have posted this much sooner, but ya know, unexpected house reno.

Quick apology for the photo quality. Manhattan is one hundred percent and old school italian steakhouse, down to the lighting. There are no windows, amazing brick walls, and lots of ambiance. Some of my photos worked… other’s not so much… which just means that we have to go back and take more. What a hardship. Not.

bread and butter
gin gimlet
lagunitas ipa

If you’ve been around here for a while, you know how I feel about bread and butter. I’m not a huge bread fan (as avy likes to point out all.the.time.) but there is something about starting the meal with bread and butter in a nice restaurant, before a nice steak that just does it for me. And I wish more restaurants would go back to that being the standard, than bread being just another item on the menu that you have to pay for. But I digress. Manhattan has bread, and butter, and it’s delish.

Jamie was a little bummed they didn’t have his regular sculpin ipa on the menu, but that’s just because he’s a total ipa snob, and lagunitas is lowest on his totem pole.

I adore a good gin gimlet, made with botanist gin if possible, and fresh lime. I love that gretchen, the regular bartender/manager, always asks if you want real or rose’s, because so many places don’t even give you the option.

insalata della casa: fresh romaine lettuce, spinach, hearts of palm, artichokes and tomato in our homemade vinaigrette.

You know me… always wanting more salad. And I love a steakhouse salad that has hearts of palm and artichokes. It’s the hearts of palm that always get me… so much so, I’ve even developed my own steakhouse salad recipe because it just hits different.

While the table caesar at manhattan is a must; jamie wasn’t feeling salad this night — and since it was his birthday — I was able to indulge in my personal fav. This salad is not to be missed. Love that it was not overwhelmed by lettuce, with limited toppings like so many places do. This was perfectly balanced in every bite.

carpaccio di bue: hinly sliced filet of beef with extra virgin olive oil, capers and fresh parmigiano

Yeah, this was good. Jamie ate most of it, which was not so good. But again, birthday boy.

You know we always order the tartare or carpaccio if it’s offered, and at manhattan it’s no different. It’s just so yummy.

filet mignon delmonico: filet mignon charbroiled with natural juices

You can usually guess that jamie’s gonna order the filet. This time it was just a question of preparation. And he went with the delmonico, as he was feeling just the meat.

The thing about delmonico, is there is no hiding behind sauces, or flavors. The steak speaks for itself. And it speaks for the chef. And this steak spoke very highly of both. A perfect medium, which most places can’t get exactly right. They get it right here.

Okay, the next two shots are to be filed under horrible photo alert! Seriously, need to retake them, asap. Which, darn, hold me back. But I really hate the fact that I couldn’t capture them at all, because I want you to see what you are getting when you go to a restaurant and order something we’ve had.

veal chop fiorentina: “zagat award” best of the best veal chop charbroiled chop topped with lemon, extra virgin olive oil and garlic.

I’m sorry (not really) but i have such a soft spot for veal. It was one of my grandmother’s favorite things to make, and we ate it often growing up. So if we are at a reputable restaurant, and there’s veal on the menu, I typically order it. And often get shamed for it. We were at antoine’s in new orleans on a work trip for jamie pre-kiddos, and I ordered it, and his boss-at-the-time never let me live it down. And he was from iowa as well… which i never understood. So again, I will apologize, but it was a family staple for my grandparents in iowa, and they shared it with us.

Apologies aside, I almost always get veal in some iteration when I’m at manhattan. While it was slightly more rare than I like this time, it is always melt-in-your mouth delicious. There’s a reason why I order it again and again.

Who doesn’t like steak and potatoes together? It’s kinda a given. And, it was kinda a given that we would be ordering some type of potato off the sides menu. We just had decide between the mashed, baked, or scallop varieties.

This time we went for the scalloped potatoes. Jamie’s obsessed because they are very pepper forward, and he loves pepper. I’m not quite the pepper enthusiast that he is (again, bday boy), but I am a sucker for the amount of melty cheese mixed in with the potatoes. Sue me.

It was really the perfect quick dinner getaway, to remind jamie that it was indeed his birthday, even in the midst of chaos. And I’m look forward to returning when things around here are more settled.