Prime Bites at The Palm

Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, stuck in NY with nothing to do. Lucky for me, my brother lives a block away and is never one to turn down going out to dinner. We decided we'd try The Palm Tribeca, a member of the chain steakhouse whose downtown location has been open for almost a year.

We sat at the bar and were pleased when the bartender suggested we try the New Prime Bites Menu, a select bar menu costing a mere $3.50 per dish after 9:00 pm. At first we couldn't believe it, anything costing less than $20 at The Palm?!, and I mean, who really eats before nine o'clock in New York anyway, but sure enough... every appetizer was only $3.50. Our choices were as follows : Filet Mignon Capri Sandwiches, "Ultimate" Chicken Strips, Mini Broiled Crab Cakes, Veal Parmigiana Sliders, "Point Judith" Calimari Fritti and Prime Cheese Steak. Additionally, oysters were $1 and jumbo shrimp $2. We chose half a dozen oysters, which came with a dipping vinagrette, the calamri and the cheese steaks, both which came with a pile of cross-cut potato chips. The cheese steak sandwiches (3 per order) came on a delicious bun that definitely made this the favorite of the meal. Unfortunately, the calamri was fairly bland and the cocktail sauce that accompanied it did nothing to help. The potato chips, which looked delicious, were disappointing lacking flavor almost entirely. Hopefully in the future they will add something as simple as a Lawry's Seasoned Salt to the chips to spice them up.

The discount menu, which is also available from 4:30-6:30 pm, does not include drink specials, although the palm belgian wheat ale is a tasty compliment to their wine selection.

While the food did not blow me away, the price was unbeatable and I will likely be back in the near future (at least for a beer and oysters).