Carmela’s Food Blog: The Sear House in Closter, NJ

The Sear House

We've obviously recovered after the red meat scare back in the 90's. I think it went out when we learned that carbs are much worse for you and everyone jumped on protein diets. Since then Steak Houses have been making a comeback and becoming very popular. Really, how can anyone live without a good steak? My father dry-aged his steaks back in the 70's, he was before his time. He had no idea what the method was at that time. He purchased shells of beef, hung them and aged them in a walk-in that was just above freezing. To this day my brother and I argue over my dad’s method. When it was time for us to eat, we usually got the meat left on the ends, which was aged the longest, and had a very unique flavor. That’s when I learned to appreciate a good, aged steak. Due to the aging method, a lot of meat is lost during the process and these steaks end up being more costly. Most of the time these steaks are dry aged elsewhere.  But I'm learning a lot of restaurants are now aging them on the premises. Recently I have heard a lot about The Sear House in Closter, NJ. which is aging their own steaks. So I paid them a visit and wrote up my experience.

The Sear House
411 Piermont Road
Closter, New Jersey
201-292-4612

First of all a little history about the two owners, Gino and Kenny, who are no strangers to the restaurant business. Gino's past experience includes owning The  Dolphin in NYC, The Giraffe and then Dimora's of NJ. He teamed up with Kenny, who worked at Coco Pazzo of NYC and Grisson's in Englewood, NJ. They have united to give us The Sear House. The decor and overall atmosphere shows there was big money splurged on this restaurant. The bar is made of onyx and is lit with lights that change color. The dining room is  ultra-modern with a crisp clean feel. There is a water spring in the dining room that gives off a Zen feeling.

The Bar

The Bar lit up

The waiter was knowledgeable of all the menu items and offered to help us in the decision making process. He kept a cool professional style. He was experienced, but did not hang around to shoot the breeze.

We ordered the house cabernet, which was his suggestion. It was William Hill priced at $11.00 a glass. It came in a beautiful tall stem glass and the pour was a good one. I enjoyed the wine so much so that I looked for it the next time I was selecting one in a store. The bread came warm and sliced, served with butter on the side. There were three of us dining and we opted to order the Dry-Aged Porterhouse for Two, a 48 ounce steak priced at $84.95. The steak came out on an extremely hot plate and was sliced. It was cooked a bit too rare and they brought it back to the kitchen. After its second visit to the table it was done perfectly.  I must say it was one of the better dry aged steaks I've tasted. It was grilled and generously brushed with butter. Very generously. We ordered  two sides with the steak. One was the sautéed onions priced at $5.95, small but enough for two. The other side dish was the asparagus. This was priced at $8.95. A petite size order would be best to describe it.

The Dining Room

We ordered  tea, which was from the Stash collection. I think they could use a better tea provider and maybe invest in a fancier teapot. If you want to recover the costs put in you need to up your ante in the small things. Presentation really counts. They served complimentary mini biscotti with the tea. We ordered a raspberry sorbet, which was good. Overall, I had a good dining experience and suggest if you are in the NJ area, and a fan of aged steaks, give The Sear House a try. But remember to bring your wallet because all the extras add up very quickly.

Overall I found The Sear House to be a fine restaurant and I give it 8 stars. If you go, please let me know what you think!

Written By: Carmela Corleone

Picture Credit: Carmela Corleone

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