- (whispering) Hey guys.
We're at the most secret restaurant in New York City.
- Bohemian.
- Where they specialize in a rare breed of beef.
- Washugyu.
- Let's go check it out.
(fun, upbeat music)
- A secret restaurant sounds esoteric,
but it's actually the opposite of that.
It's actually more welcoming.
- Some people find it really negative
that you have to know someone when you come here,
but for us, it's not a marketing ploy.
It's more of, we wanted to create a space
where we can bring our friends, and their friends bring
their friends and so on and so forth.
And it's a community that we just build.
There's these two owners, one of them is the dreamer,
and the other guy is the operations.
They just get drunk together and come up
with these crazy ideas.
We use a word 'ajito.'
Which, it's based in Russian,
but it's literally a hideout so having a secret base
in all these different places around the world.
They wanna have at least one place on every continent.
They are making a place on Isla.
They wanna find like the perfect hut
to create the best environment to have Scotch in.
Ideally, we want to two years from now
make a treehouse community somewhere along the Amazon
in the jungle, and they have a guy who trained
to be a camel caretaker, and he can take you
through the Sahara desert.
- Do they need more friends?
(laughing)
Yes, everyone is a friend of the restaurant.
- We hear really, really amazing things about
a specific breed that you guys work with called washugyu.
- It's a very specific brand, it's made in Oregon.
You get the crossbreed of the Wagyu cow
and domestic Black Angus.
So Wagyu is Tajima cattle,
so you get the really nice marbleization,
the sweet fat from it, and then you have leanness
and the nice protein from the domestic Black Angus,
so it's like the best of both worlds.
- This is the washugyu short rib.
- [Brent] Which is insane looking.
- We using for the sashimi cut.
First of all, I need to prepare it thin.
- You don't need to cook something that has that much fat,
sliced that thin, and then cut against the grain like that.
Pretty much all the tenderness you need is already there.
(fun, playful music)
- So then, gonna put a little bit of salt.
(fun, playful music)
Heat it a little bit.
That makes the fat come up a little bit.
We have daikon radish here.
Cherry on top.
Garlic cured with organic soy sauce.
Wasabi, placed nice on the cooler with ice.
- Because there's so much fat in this
and just the preciseness with the way you were slicing it
against the grain, you can already tell
it's just gonna melt in your mouth.
- So we're going to do the tartare?
- Top round.
- [Brent] I feel you like you normally don't see
meat quite that red unless you have like an older animal,
which with the washugyu, you're letting those animals get
about eight to ten months older, which is what we do
with American grass-fed beef, as well.
Which helps you not only get more time to put fat
onto the animal, but also helps
those muscles really, really develop and deepen in flavor.
And when you get the more depth of flavor,
you also can see it in the color in the steak.
- [Ben] What's with the white bread?
- The cheese inside, we use a mozzarella,
Parmesan Reggiano, also Barden blue cheese.
- So that's a grilled cheese?
- Yeah, that's grilled cheese.
Yeah, grilled cheese sandwich.
- Okay, we used to have a sandwich shop.
- Oh, really?
- Couple years ago, and I am (bleep) furious
at how good and simple this sandwich is.
We were like racking our brains,
trying to come up with great sandwiches, and this is...
- This is just simple sandwich.
- It's so incredible looking.
- [Ben] So just a couple capers
and little bit of finishing salt.
- Salt and pepper, shallot, olive oil
(funky, fun music)
- Flatiron? - Yeah, this is Flatiron.
(laughing)
See, I'm gonna cut a little bit.
This a fine salt, using kosher salt.
- [Ben] Double salt?
- [Chef] Yeah, double salt.
That makes much more crunchy.
This makes it taste the best taste.
- I would say normally if you would go
to an outback steakhouse and see a steak that big
on the menu, but with the amount of fat
that's in that steak, that's probably enough
for three or four people almost in one steak.
- So I noticed you keep putting the steak
back to the salamander, back to the salamander.
How are you cooking it?
- Most steak have a crispy outside,
medium rare part in the middle, inside with the rare.
I want to all the way, that's gonna be more juicier.
- I've never seen this technique before.
It's really interesting to see
it's just cook it little by little, be patient,
and you get a perfect medium rare all the way through.
- So you always finish with a little burnt rosemary?
- That makes more flavorful, and it gets (you) more hungry.
- Yeah, it makes you hungry, gets your stomach ready?
- Yeah. - Okay.
(smooth, jazzy music)
Pro-tip: always do what the chef does.
(smooth, jazzy music)
Holy hell, come on!
- Wow, it tastes like a cooked steak,
but doesn't have any of the cooked elements
of actually searing it on the outside.
It just tastes like the perfectly cooked center,
but it's raw.
- That fat is just unbelievable too.
It almost tastes like smokey or like,
I don't know how to describe it.
And that flame was not gonna get any smoke on it.
I just don't know how to describe this.
I've never had a piece of meat that tastes like that.
There's a lot of difference in diet, so with this,
you're getting the sweetness, you're getting this richness
from the fat, and grass-fed beef,
you can actually taste grass.
It's really, really interesting.
- That is delicious. - Yeah.
- Thank you, yeah, thank you for enjoying.
- [Brent] That is a really, really nice tartare.
(smooth, jazzy music)
- Mhm.
(laughing)
Amazing texture on the tartare.
It's hearty yet super tender.
A little blue cheese on the end.
- Yeah, I didn't taste the blue cheese at all
until the very end, beef that just melts apart, then bread,
then gooey cheese, then more bread.
That shallot just kicks it up, wow.
(smooth, jazzy music)
Wow, you can still see the fat just hanging out.
(smooth, jazzy music)
Come on Aki!
- Good lord, it's really fatty, but very clean.
I think wagyu fat is higher quality.
It's not just regular, fatty, grain-fed Angus beef.
What's weird for me is that
because it's seared on the outside
and eats like a regular steak, it's very familiar,
but this is totally different than regular wagyu.
We think we know beef, and we work with it every single day.
And this is so recognizable yet so completely different
than everything else we deal with.
I just feel like I had my mind blown.
- After being in the meat business for like 14 years now,
I'm watching you, and I'm still learning new stuff.
It's incredible to watch. - Ah, thank you.
- Thank you so much for inviting us
and to try these very special cuts.
It's always nice to learn something new,
especially from someone who's mastered it, thank you.
- No, thank you.
- Thank you so much. - Thank you.