It was a total last-minute decision. Do we head downtown in the cold rain to try out Halfsteak at Craftsteak, the latest recession-friendly stroke of genius from the Colicchio empire, and perhaps get to see some Top Chef judges and contestants in the process, or do we just go home, order in some food, pop open a bottle of wine and watch Top Chef from the comfort of our living room? We decided what the heck, let’s do it…and never have we made a better call. Turns out we got to mingle and chat with just about the entire cast of this season’s Top Chef for close to 3 hours, as well as ‘wine and dine’ extensively on Halfsteak’s amazing menu. Most all of the contestants were in NYC for the taping of the reunion show earlier in the day. Notably absent was Jeff. The highlights had to be hanging out at length with Stefan, who’s hilarious, chilling with a slightly bummed-out Fabio, and getting to meet just about every single person involved in the production of Top Chef, including judges Colicchio, Padma and Toby Young. We arrived at Halfsteak at about 6:45pm thinking the place was going to be a madhouse given the publicity of the Top Chef screening on sites like Eater and Grub Street. Much to our surprise, Halfsteak, the name for the massive bar area in the front of the restaurant, was not a mob scene yet. The hostess told us that if we were ordering dinner that we could have one of the open tables and stay through the screening. She said we were going to be “quite pleased” with our table in the back left section of the bar area. Turns out we were at the table closest to the long table set up for the Top Chef crew. What ensued was perhaps the most memorable, entertaining and indulgent 5-hours we’ve ever spent in a restaurant.

We were first struck by just how extensive the selections at Halfsteak are. Colicchio and chef Shane McBride did not mess around when brainstorming and creating this massive double-sided menu (see last night’s full menu at the end). There are sections of small plates, salads, sandwiches, “small pots” and even a half order of a steak w/ fries, all for under $15, and many for under $10. The menu also includes half pints of beer for $3.50, specialty cocktails for $7.50, an array of wines by the glass for around $10 and several reasonably priced bottles of wine. We knew we needed to devise an ordering strategy. There were so many things we wanted to try and so much time we needed to kill. But first we needed a drink. We each went with the “Half Naked,” a libation of tequila, cointreau, jalapeno and fresh lime juice. Served in a mini mason jar, this was a perfect cocktail with a kick. For Round 1, we went with the Fried Oysters, Sliders and a Romaine Salad w/ shredded truffled pecorino cheese. All three were delicious, but the sliders were my favorite. The fried oysters were up there as one of Jill’s faves. Jill then ordered a glass of white wine while for some reason I decided to make it my mission to drink all 5 of the half-pints on tap…and so I started with the Smuttynose IPA.

Apparently, a team from CNN had heard all the buzz about Halfsteak and the Top Chef screening and they were on-hand to interview people for a story on dining during the recession and the toll it’s taking on restaurants. They came over and interviewed Jill and I for the story, and we got in some good plugs for W&D. We’ll have to wait and see if we make the cut. The interview killed some time and we decided to embark on Round 2. We went with the Chicken Fried Cod and Sausgage w/ Feta, Romaine and Grapefruit. Both of these were insanely good. Jill’s favorite of the night was the Cod with the capers and great tartar sauce. I loved the spiciness of the sausage link, especially in combination with the grapefruit. By now it was 8:30pm and the Top Chef crew would be arriving in the next half hour or so. Jill decided to order a bottle of wine, a 2005 Gigondas, while I proceeded with Beer #2, a Pork Slap.

For Round 3, we slowed down a bit and went with the Chicken & Lobster Pot Pie. Unfortunately, it arrived just as all the Top Chef contestants were arriving, so I was a bit distracted as Fabio and Stefan took seats at the long table less than a foot away from us. Jill loved it and said it was her second favorite dish next to the fried cod. It was pretty surreal watching everyone show up one-by-one and take seats literally right next to us. Stefan was in good spirits and started chatting with us. It was pretty obvious he wasn’t going home this week. His drink was taking a while to arrive so we poured him some of our wine. We chatted a bit with Fabio, who was so nice and outgoing despite the bad news that was about to become public. I have to say he didn’t seem his normal self and even seemed to get a bit frustrated with Stefan, who was bouncing around the room taking pics with fans and seemingly on top of the world. If it wasn’t apparent then, we started to figure out during the show that Fabio was the one going home. Also in the house was Ken Friedman, a principal owner of The Spotted Pig, The John Dory and The Rusty Knot. Apparently, the contestants all were at The Spotted Pig for dinner the night before. Padma arrived with Ted Forstmann. Newlywed Gail Simmons was there with husband Jeremy.

Despite all the fanfare and mingling, we still had some eating to do. So we ordered the signature halfsteak w/ fries and fried mac & cheese for Round 4. The steak, a generous 6 oz. NY Strip, was cooked perfectly and delicious. It may be that we were caught up in the moment, but we were not blown away by the fried mac & cheese. We’ll have to give it another try soon.

Unfortunately, the volume wasn’t turned up enough for any of us to really hear what was going on in the show. Who needs volume, though, when you have Stefan adding commentary? Unfortunately, Stefan soon left the table due to the lack of volume and went to watch the show at the bar where it could be heard. Towards the end of the show, Padma, Tom and Toby all came to the back of the table near us to mingle with some of the other contestants. One of the highlights had to be getting to hang out back there and overhear all of the interesting conversations and witness the dynamic between everyone. Fabio was talking with Padma just as he was about to get the boot and I overheard him ask her, “Did you really tell me to pack my knives and go home or did you just say my name?” We also had a nice conversation with contestant Ariane, who was there with her husband and daughters. In fact, we’re going to head out to Montclair, NJ one of these days to check out her restaurant, CulinAriane. After the show, we ordered our last drinks, and got to chat some more with Stefan by the bar. We found out about some pretty cool things he has in the works. We couldn’t have possibly had a better night! We’ll definitely be back again soon to take advantage of Halfsteak and try out some of the things we missed.

Here’s the full Halfsteak menu:

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