Tbar Steak and Lounge in NYC......Come for the bar scene but stay for the bite.

I had a great opportunity last week to meet up with three old friends from Long Island where I grew up.  New York City provided a good central location for us since we all lived about an hour from there.  One of us works in New York City and was told that Tbar is a good bar and lounge to go with a group of people.

We met on a Friday night and our reservation was for 7:00 pm.  Early Prime time for NYC.  When we walked in, the tables were all full so that is always a good sign.

We were seated and had a great time catching up since it was April when we all saw each other last.

The menu had a great selection to choose from.   We decided to get a few apps to start off.  The Spring roll came out first which was a little heavier than your usual Chinese spring roll.  It came with a nice Chili sauce on the side.

Our second appetizer came which was buffalo Mozzarella the a tomato basil salad.  In reality this dish was their version of your traditional ensalada caprese.  It was done excellently.   Slivers of basil swam through cut grape tomatoes piled high next to an equally high pile of fresh Mozzarella that was in a pool of Balsamic Vinegar.  The vinegar really brought the plate together.  It was rich and full and had the slight consistency of syrup.

Tuna tartar was next.  This is a popular dish as well as our other two and Tbar did a great job with it as well.  The Tuna was real fresh and the portion was fairly generous.  It was seasoned with Sesame oil and ginger and packed full of flavor.  A frisee salad accompanied the Tuna as well as sliced baguettes.  It was really delicious.

We also got a Caesar salad which was served like a chopped salad.  The dressing was creamier than I would have liked but it had lots of Parmesan which you can never go wrong with that.  There were no anchovies and really only one large crouton on top.  It was tasty but everyone has their own favorite place for Caesar salad.

For the main dishes one of us got the Penne with the shrimp and it looked good.  Light cream sauce covered the noodles and as you can see from the picture below, they were generous with the Shrimp.

The three others including me got burgers.  We got the Amish Turkey Burger and the Lamb Burger.  Personally I got the Lamb Burger and it was delicious.  It was topped with a cucumber mint yogurt sauce which as you can imagine goes well with lamb.  All three burgers were served with French fries placed in a chinese take-out box.  very clever plating and if you didn't finish them, you have your to go box.

Tbar can be found in New York city on 3rd Ave. between 73rd and 74th.  You an also get there by going here: http://www.tbarnyc.com/