Long Island Restaurants

Kobe Beach Club

(THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED; REPLACED BY PHILIPPE EAST HAMPTON AT THIS LOCATION.)

Samurai swords hang overhead, as if ready to plunge into your wallet. And steaks with more marbling than the Taj Mahal pinpoint your arteries. You assume the risk at Kobe Beach Club, a subway-tiled, bladed-chandelier link in restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow's glitzy chainlet, which three nights a week shares a much-used summer address with the Lily Pond nightspot. Fewer swords, fewer choices than in Manhattan. The leather chairs are worn -- and so's the concept.

THE ORDER

Kobe Beach Club contributes to the local economy with $375 and $255 sampler entrees for two. Each "flight" may feature Japanese Wagyu, its Australian and American hybrid partners, combinations thereof. You also can mix-and-match mains, the priciest solo selection being an 8-ounce Kobe filet or striploin for $208. Sauces, butters, toppings: extra. Each steaklet sports a toothpick flag to announce its nationality. If you're making the investment anyway, bite the recklessly tender real thing from Japan, seared and very rare. You must love the taste of fat. Precede with the indeed "XL Shrimp," the lavish chopped salad, tomato-and-onion salad ("with 50-year-old balsamico") or the cardiac-special of roasted, thickly sliced, applewood-smoked bacon with black truffles. Good, local flounder meunière with lump crabmeat stuffing is an alternative, along with grilled lobster, king crab legs and those XLs. The crisp fries don't need to be "Parmesan truffled." The crème brûlée crackles.

THE REST

Kobe beef-cheek ravioli, filled with short-rib meat, blandly continues the theme. Skippables: dreary pasta tossed with wild mushrooms; routine crab cakes; dull creamed spinach. Do whipped potatoes require lobster and black truffle? The free amuse from the chef one night was a slice of Kobe hot dog with mustard. The whole frank is on the late-night menu. So are sliders, chili, a Wagyu Reuben. You'll stay awake.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The porterhouse for four at Peter Luger in Great Neck is $170.

Where's the beef? 2 spots on LI to try

Reviewed by Peter M. Gianotti, 7/8/08.

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