The Butcher’s Block

Sometimes, a special occasion calls for a pricey Angus steak at a clubby restaurant, and if you don’t want to trek to the Meatpacking District, head to The Butcher’s Block: a farm-to-table heavy hitter in Long Branch. With a family history of four decades in the restaurant industry, owner Tom D’Ambrisi and team source their ethically farmed meat locally from New Jersey and New York and take it direct from farm to their family-owned slaughterhouse.  Master butchers Andrew Rozanswski and Jack Osborn carve up huge chops and steaks to make your meal special.

When you arrive, the host makes your visit special by giving you a full tour of the dark, brick restaurant, showing you all the rooms in this dark rathskeller of a steakhouse. You’ll even make a trip past the huge grill section to the glassed-in cube where the steaks hang out and dry age. The meat guys will tell you all about them, so that you can pick what you like. Remember what looked good and how much it costs, so you won’t have any reason to beef about your beef later, when the seasonal menu comes, and everything is just marked Market Price (MP).

Start things off like my wife likes to, with roasted marrow bones cut in half. Mop them up with their delicious crusty bread, as it comes with no butter. Prime the meat pump with a few thick-cut slices of bacon. Or get your very own tiny truncheon of French Onion soup, with a crusty, cheesy crostini floating on top. If you wanted to, you could even get oysters. The Block is literally walking distance to the beach.

The menu changes quarterly, with a new selection of cold plates, hot appetizers, and pasta, including their famed Block Bolo, with beef, sausage, fennel, and parm. There are a couple of seafood offerings at any given time, plus lots of side dishes like savory roasted mushrooms. Many like their creamy mac and cheese, studded with breadcrumbs. Although to us, it was a little too Velveeta and shells for the liking. Opt for a side of cloudlike mashed potatoes, topped with crème fraiche and bacon bits.

But this place is a temple of beef. So pick your steak from the wide selection on offer, or choose one of their pasture-raised lamb chops. If you go for lunch, you can get a burger, speared through by a steak knife and served on a tiny silver sheet pan, with a cardboard tub of fries. Whatever you get, order it more done than you like it, because folks’ chief complaint is that the beef always arrives undercooked.

The Butcher’s Block team doesn’t do well-done, but they do good with their Reclaimed Foundation, giving support and the help of a certified recovery coach to those dealing with addiction, depression, anxiety, and mental health issues.

We don’t care for our pricey beef to be excessively cooked, so our steak arrived red, but to our liking. The sides we got were wholly forgettable. Other than the mac and cheese, I literally cannot even remember what we ordered. But we ended our visit with a decent cheesecake, with a crumble cornflake crust and a big cherry dollop in the middle. I’ve also heard the Tres Leches Cake and Key-Lime Pie are winners. The bill came, and it was large enough for my wife, a Wall Street type, to slightly balk. So, you do the math (Please, do it. I’m very poorly at math).

It turns out lots of folks do have beef about The Butcher’s Block high prices. With apps starting at $24, and all the steaks with that intimidating MP next to them, this isn’t the spot for anyone trying to stay on a budget. And some folks have complained about a bait and switch when steaks available for a fixed lower price were not applicable on the dinner menu.

With the exception of steaks, nothing is really superbly done here. The sides are all just too buttery and cheesy, the appetizers basic, and the desserts only mid. But that’s beside the point. Butcher’s Block is about the show of it—from the restaurant tour to the dramatic presentation in the meat cave to the steak knives reimagined as tiny cleavers, complete with the hole in the corner. It’s all about the gimmick. And the pasture-raised beef. But mostly the gimmick.

And it’s a solid show, long as you have the cash for it. Dinner for two will see you part with more than a few Benjamins. You’ll need a hard-to-secure reservation… and still might have to wait an hour or more for your table. Which could somehow inexplicably be outside, overlooking the filthy train yard? Or inside, next to a too-loud DJ? These are the assorted unsavory bits that folks are hating on, on the interwebs.

Sadly, there’s just too many one-star reviews of the service, cost, and the volatile temper of the manager (which at this price point is just a big WTF), just for the thrill of being seen dining there, as part of the ‘it crowd.’ We had a decent time during our visit at The Butcher’s Block—but we’re already part of the ‘it crowd.’ For us, it’s gotta be all about the food.  

The Butcher’s Block
235 West Ave.
Long Branch, NJ 07740
732-795-3903
Thebutchersblocknj.com
Reservations required at sevenrooms.com

Wednesday-Saturday 12-3 p.m./5-11 p.m.
Sunday 4-8 p.m.

Save a Few Clams

Be your own grill master! The Butcher’s Block also has a butcher shop called The Block Shop, where you can pick out your own ribeye or tomahawk cut by master butchers, take it home, and grill it for a fraction of the price. They have dry-aged Wagyu blend burgers, hot house sausage, Bolo sauce, butter, and finishing salts. You can even splash out for the holidays with a natural Angus File Roast for $135 or a NY Strip Roast for $165. Order at theblockshopnj.com