Leatherneck Steakhouse Is Hidden 12 Stories Above You

By Jonathan Kauffman Wed., Oct. 19 2011 at 10:00 AM

Categories: 'Eat'

Lara Hata

Leatherneck Steakhouse's New York strip and house-made Tater Tots.

Luckily, I called Leatherneck Steakhouse -- the restaurant on the 12th floor of the Marines Memorial Club & Hotel, and the subject of this week's full-length restaurant review in print -- a few hours before setting out. Because if I hadn't, I wouldn't have known the restaurant has a dress code -- a collared shirt for men, with no jeans or sandals. (Back into the closet went the tracksuit I've been wearing on reviews.)

The club is private, but its restaurant is open to the public and guests at the hotel. I'd been tipped off to the place by an old friend, who was shocked to find such good food in a hotel restaurant she'd never even heard of before. "It's the perfect place to take your parents," she said.

Leatherneck Steakhouse looks a little trapped in the 1960s, and the tourists can sometimes outnumber the retired soldiers who belong to the club. But the view of Union Square and the Financial District is spectacular. Better still, whoever is running the kitchen has the training and the care to make almost every dish work -- and the steaks cost half the price their competitors charge.

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