Cattle Call

Maybe in the heart of every right-minded diner there lurks an insatiable carnivore. Few things, after all, are more satisfying than ripping into a luscious hunk of meat. Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette have done everything in their power to make the meat luscious at the new KO Prime, where Oringer is owner and consulting chef, and Bissonnette is chef de cuisine. Specifically, they are basting most of it with fat—in many cases, melted bone marrow, about the fattiest fat there is. Steeping the meat in its own fat, a quick version of duck confit—an idea that first seduced and startled me as practiced by Pino Maffeo at Restaurant L—is often unnecessary, and shouldn’t be as good as it almost always is. (By the way, Restaurant L is now a steakhouse, too! Everyone’s getting in on the act. See our story “Year of the Cow.")

The news that Oringer, master of raw fish and tapas, would open up a fancy hotel steakhouse in a part of downtown where beefy cuts are muscling in everywhere sounded like cashing in on a craze. And particularly unwelcome news, given what it replaced: Spire, an original and welcome addition to the Boston dining scene in the well-located boutique hotel Nine Zero. That restaurant also gave full rein to an important new talent, Gabriel Frasca, who has since moved with the similarly stellar Amanda Lydon to take over Nantucket’s Straight Wharf.

But all is not lost. Spire was limping along after Frasca departed, serving his menu with wan heart; it needed fresh life. And Oringer, who at least hasn’t left town to follow in the footsteps of other ambitious culinary stars, has picked a chef with a local track record and a real feel for meat. At Eastern Standard, where Bissonnette was opening chef, everything besides the meat dishes felt like an afterthought. Overseeing a steakhouse seems a natural step for him.

Though the space is the same—a boxy room with a somewhat low ceiling—the décor at KO Prime is less pretty and stylish than its predecessor’s. The chairs are covered in leather in colors that evoke cigars; carpets of sewn-together peltlike squares look alarmingly animalistic. Service continues to be a strong suit here: There are many people at the check stand, and when you get holdover waiters from Spire you are in expert hands. The general idea seems to be, We’re charging a lot more now, so we have to look serious.

The prices are uniformly high, the meat uniformly tender and great to look at, and the portions big to huge. Through it all, Bissonnette’s pleasure in working with meat is obvious. It comes into perhaps its sharpest focus in his appetizer plate of charcuterie ($12). The day I ordered it there was duck prosciutto, duck offal sausage, and head cheese; all of it was on the sweet side (“Like pancakes!” a guest said in delight at a slice of the sausage, sweet from Sauternes) but demonstrated integrity and expertise.

The other standout was the 10-ounce skirt steak—at $24, the lowest-priced entrée. Like its neighbor cut, flank steak (or London broil), skirt steak is usually tough, and requires a tenderizing marinade. For his, Bissonnette combines North African spices with some hot pepper and soy sauce. The marinade is subtle, with the only identifiable flavors being garlic and sweet hot pepper, but does its job nicely.

Go on to the next page to read about KO Prime\'s culinary mistakes...