After success with Chinese cuisine at Sunnys Chinese and Mimi Chinese, David Schwartz turns his attention to a fine-dining recreation of the classic Jewish American steakhouse. Linny’s is named for his mother, Linda, and her framed recipes for Rocky Road Fudgies and other treats hang in the bar. The 80-seat dining room offers nostalgia of a different kind — mid-century-modern elegance with genuinely comfortable banquettes and white linen tablecloths, all softly lit to a golden glow. Meat is central to the menu with steaks of various cuts and sizes sourced from top Ontario and P.E.I. farms, impeccably seared under an overfired broiler, then brushed with pastrami tallow butter. That pastrami is made from the succulent navel cut while neck of lamb is roasted whole, decadently fatty meat falling from the bone. Starters range from a full caviar service with crisp chicken skin and smoked whitefish to a version of homespun “kasha and bows,” bowtie pasta with buckwheat, brunoise of delicata squash and chicken schmaltz emulsified into butter. Chicken liver is also on the menu, of course, as a creamy mousse spread on thick dark rye toast and topped with chopped egg, fried onions and feathery gratings of salt-cured egg yolk. Cutting the richness, pickles of every kind are ubiquitous. Dishes are intelligently conceived and executed with perfect precision — a professionalism that extends to the well-schooled service. Burgundy looms large on the wine list along with steak-friendly stars from Piedmont, Spain and the Rhône. The eight-seat bar has its own merry vibe, with many cocktails cleverly incorporating deli ingredients.
David Schwartz always does it in a classy, detailed and fun way.” Scott Usheroff
The bar.
Tomatoes with buttermilk, dill and Cantabrian anchovies.
Fluke, fennel, watercress.
The bar.
Tomatoes with buttermilk, dill and Cantabrian anchovies.
Fluke, fennel, watercress.
