HY’S STEAKHOUSE

As per tradition, for his birthday I took The Hubby out for steak. This year I picked Hy’s Steakhouse for their downtown location and aged steaks. The exquisite dining room and attentive service helped make dinner feel special and worth the splurge.

Atmosphere: To start, I was awed by the size of Hy’s in Toronto and loved the vaulted ceilings. All of the booths had been booked already but tables were placed at an angle from each other and provide an air of intimacy while dining next to strangers. The decor was masculine with dark, warm colours and walls filled with wine. All of the servers wore crisp white chef coats and moved quietly through the restaurant. The majority of diners I noticed leaned towards an older demographic and most of the men had suit jackets. I wouldn’t deem a jacket 100% necessary, but a shirt and tie probably.

Service: From the moment we walked into the lobby where complimentary coat check was offered, to when we collected our jackets, service was lovely. I requested a well-lit table (photos and what not) and we were shown to one next to large windows with natural light streaming in. We ordered the Caesar salad, which was prepared tableside and I was again amazed by how many ingredients go into the dressing. Our server checked in on us subtlely without hovering and I felt like he was always close by if needed. With my reservation, I had submitted a special request for dessert to have a birthday message written on it. However, after our meal, both The Hubby and I were Full. I fretted about what to do. Should I order something just so the kitchen could fulfill my request or try to discreetly cancel it. We decided against dessert and Hy’s still managed to wow me with a simple plate decorated with whipped cream, strawberries and a chocolate birthday message.

Food: Our meal started with an order of cheese toast instead of the complimentary garlic bread, Caesar salad, split between the two of us and escargot. The cheese toast was warm, cheesy and crunchy. My plate of salad had a heavy sprinkle of parmesan and each leaf was coated in dressing. I would’ve loved a few more croutons and some bacon. The plump, tender escargot arrived under a thick blanket of butter and garlic with two toasted chunks of baguette, perfect for soaking up any leftover butter.

My entree was the Steak Neptune, a 10 oz New York stip, cooked medium rare topped with Dungeness crabmeat, asparagus and hollandaise sauce. For my side I chose mashed potatoes, which turned out to be the best mashed potatoes ever. Fluffy clouds of potato heaven. This was why we didn’t have room for dessert, we polished off 26 oz of steak (in total) and 5 potatoes worth of mash. I’m not sure how this was seasoned but the potatoes were savoury, rich and buttery smooth. Just perfect.

Onto the steak. The vegetables served with mine were fresh and crunchy. I didn’t find the crabmeat added much to the dish and the hollandaise sauce was thicker than what I prefer. I would skip the “Neptune” and order just the New York Strip alone. My steak was lean, pink and juicy on the inside. There was lots of beefy flavour but I would’ve liked a bit more char on the outside. The Hubby’s ribeye was delicious and the tastier steak.

Cooked medium, the 16oz ribeye fell apart under the knife and was well-marbled, which meant loads of flavour. The fat cap was rendered well and the outside of the steak had a heavy char marks sealing in all the fatty flavour.

Looking back, my dream order would’ve been the ribeye with a side of mashed potatoes (double serving of potatoes if possible).