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Editorial Review

Reviewed in May/June '05 issue of WHERE

When you think of a traditional steak dinner, there are several places to go in the city. But if you want an opulent, New York-style experience, there is only Hy’s Steakhouse. The newly opened multi-million dollar location in the Richardson Building is money well spent.

A local favourite for business dinners and special occasions, the original Winnipeg Hy’s opened on Kennedy Street in 1958. This was the second location for the nascent Canadian chain, started by Alberta businessman Hy Aisenstat with the pledge to offer the best tasting Alberta beef in Western Canada.

The opulent interior of the new location provides seating for several hundred on three levels. Since its opening in January, most of these seats have been full. On the main floor, high vaulted ceilings in dark woods, velvet banquettes, and oversized, masculine chandeliers give the room a sophisticated Gotham City feel. The main floor also features a large lounge with richly upholstered club chairs flanking bar tables. On the lower level a large subterranean private space won’t disappoint those who remember the private dining rooms of the former location.

The service is excellent, not overly friendly but very professional nonetheless. On occasion up to five different servers will wait on your table. Drinks, plates and accoutrements seem to arrive from nowhere.

When it comes to the food, a note to the wise: arrive hungry in anticipation of the large portions and heavy food to come. Lunch offers diners dejeuner-sized portions of many items featured on the dinner menu, including a juicy, half Cornish game hen stuffed with herbs and root vegetables in a rich brandy sauce, and new choices like marinated steak salad with peppery strips of steak weaving through a salad of iceberg lettuce and onion.

Dinner starts with a foil-wrapped package of buttery garlic toast that is surprisingly light in texture.

Appetizers include traditional and nouveau options. Caesar salad is tangy and crisp with wispy strands of salty parmesan and a lemony finish. Contrary to menu claims though, there is no evidence that it is prepared in the dining room. Escargots baked in a trace of garlic butter show a deft touch by the kitchen. A bold beefsteak tomato salad combines ripe tomatoes with crisp slices of red onion and a mound of crumbled blue cheese. Though tasty, the delicate flavour of the tomatoes is somewhat overwhelmed by the extra-large helping of pungent cheese.

Entrées are accompanied by a choice of potatoes or rice. Side dishes are à la carte, and portions are large; meant to share. Asparagus is crisp and slightly buttered. Creamed spinach comes in a light béchamel sauce. Roasted prime rib of beef is served perfectly rare with an extremely flavourful au jus and Yorkshire pudding. On first glance, the golf ball-sized puff looks hard and almost burnt, but once broken open, the popover is deliciously moist on the inside with a crunchy, coarse-salted crust. The meat itself is nearly fork-tender and wonderfully flavourful with the occasional hit of cracked black peppercorn.

The gorgonzola filet mignon is a great option for smaller appetites. The mound of creamy gorgonzola is a perfect match for the buttery filet. The peppercorn New York steak bathed in Hy’s green peppercorn sauce is also tender and perfectly cooked. The move to new digs has sparked a great debate in the city over the quality of steaks at Hy’s compared to other steak houses and even to its old location. Probably no food item is more a matter of personal preference, but suffice it to say that at Hy’s they know their beef. The steaks at the new location proudly carry on a half century tradition.

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