Since opening just over a year ago, Hoexters has been a hot spot – a rare thing to say about a UES restaurant. Lucky for me, Amanda kept her eagle eye on Resy and snagged us a table last fall so we could finally see what the fuss was about. I’ve since learned this is a revival of sorts. Three decades ago, Hoexters existed as a chophouse next to a sister meat market. As that lifestyle changed, Hoexters exited and the owners went on to open Flex Mussels. As a longtime Flex fan, I knew they had the credentials to bring in a new era of Hoexters and to do it right.
We started with the tuna crudo and steamed artichoke. Both fabulous. For our mains, we split the burger and Caesar salad. The salad did breadcrumbs instead of croutons – always my preference – and was just all around well executed. It’s common knowledge that the best fast food fries are McDonald’s and these tasted JUST like that. So convinced were we that they were sending some poor busboy out to Mickey D’s for a constant supply that we asked the waiter.
We all know the perfect girl dinner is a Caesar salad, fries, split burger, and martini. If you agree (why wouldn’t you), this is THE place to do it. The rest of the brasserie menu looked good – steak frites, French onion soup – but it would be hard to beat our order. And the deep tones, low lighting, and rich hunting lodge decor lends itself to a great yap session.
Peaches to Apples 