Gourmelle keeps having visitors from out of town. She’s had to start taking reservations and even turned a few hopefuls away. Is this a sign that the economy is on the mend and as a result people are on the move again and ready to spend their hard earned cash on a trip to New York? It certainly seems so in the Gourmelle household. So where to take these eager tourists for a really New York evening right here in the heart of Tribeca? Check the Taste of Tribeca list of restaurants first of course. Result: you’ll be spoilt for choice.

Our dear Japanese friend however, had a firm idea of what she wanted: “Meat!” she declared. So that was a no brainer as Gourmelle can practically smell the steaks cooking at City Hall from her house, which is a short block away. It’s also got that authentic New York patina with City officials huddled over dinner discussing whether they can put the tab on their expense accounts- just kidding. Not to mention the gentleman’s club vibe with leather and polished wood in abundance and atmospheric pictures of New York in days gone by. And of course the restaurant is the frequent star of that Sunday night pulp-TV indulgence “The Good Wife”. Julianna Margulies has trysts with the man she’s not supposed to be seeing there. They seem to drink a lot of hard liquor and not eat much steak – their loss.

We were not going to exercise such self-restraint. Our dear friend zoomed in with laser intensity on the steak section of the menu and a long discussion ensued about the various cuts and what a hanger steak might be in Japanese. We still don’t know but we do know that City Hall’s hanger steak is a succulent, juicy, meat lover’s idea of ecstasy. The New York strip is also a real classic and if you feel only half like having meat a great compromise is the Surf meets Turf plate – filet mignon and a delicate crab cake with gratin potato and two sauces, béarnaise and peppercorn.

We had started on a fishy theme – look our guest was Japanese. We had the combination light fry seafood and somewhere along the line there was some divine spinach. Despite all that we also indulged in dessert with the flourless chocolate pudding forming a fitting finale. Service was also old-world perfect and polished. So if in doubt about where to entertain the out of towner, City Hall is sure to charm and make them feel like they saw the real New York (and was that Julianna Margulies in the background?) City Hall will be serving ice cream at Taste of Tribeca – tickets on sale now for May 19th.