Sagamore Steak House

And the place is so jammed you'd think they're serving prime porterhouse at burger prices. The stylized spot not only sizzles it also pops.

Sagamore takes over the site of Boulder Creek. Redesigned and refocused, it immediately joins the high-end competition, in quality and in cost. And Sagamore can be more ambitious than most.

This upscale production is brought to you by Boulder Creek Ventures, where the pricey part of the portfolio includes Chas. Rothmann's in East Norwichand Burton & Doyle in Great Neck.

The investment in art direction and set decoration bespeaks an establishment where a whiff of black truffle announces the macaroni and cheese and the dry-aged beef keeps company with splashy seafood.

Sagamore is a multi-level affair, dressed mainly in vanilla hues, sporting photos of sailing vessels, adding artful lighting, and polishing the dark wood. A busy bar area is a bit more casual, its TVs tuned to the game of the moment.

You pay for all this from the first phone call seeking a reservation. Service can be uneven early on, especially from the telephone crew. At times, they find the exact midpoint between insufferable and overbearing. The dining-room staff is attentive.

Once you're in, the high-decibel noise level, with voices engaging in a form of verbal racquetball, creates more than a buzz. Unintentionally, you may make some acquaintances along the way.

Chef Ron Gelish intercedes with a little fondue pot of molten Gruyere for dipping bread sticks. Gelish, a veteran of Coolfish in Syosset and the departed Lemongrass in Roslyn, presents an extensive, entertaining, enticing menu.

His meaty pan-seared crab cake is surrounded by crisp vegetable slaw and a drizzle of chipotle pepper aioli. Tender "barbeque braised" short ribs rest on a savory potato pancake. The chile-glazed baby back ribs have a more familiar sweet-hot bite.

The modernist shrimp cocktail entwines two on ice on either end of a rectangular glass plate, with a red square of sauce in the middle. Kumamoto oysters also are iced, a quartet each with its own tangy topping.

A salad of rock shrimp entangled with frisee is a lukewarm opener. French onion soup disappoints: salty and sharp. But panko-crusted tuna, in a citrus-soy glaze, marks a tasty Asian turn.

Slices of beef-red, pepper-crusted tuna receive a soy-lime drizzle and provide a jolt of spiciness. You could veer Mediterranean with pan-seared snapper festooned with onions, olives, capers and peppers. But the seafood entree to remember is a perfectly steamed and split, unadorned lobster, weighing in at two or three pounds.

Sagamore excels with the full-flavored porterhouse for two, charred black outside and medium-rare or rare within. Of course, the kitchen proposes filet mignon, a New York strip steak, marinated skirt steak, and a grilled rib eye. There's also a double-cut rib steak for two.

The steaks are offered with one of a half-dozen sauces, including an acceptable Bearnaise. But try the rib eye crusted with Gorgonzola cheese and portobello mushrooms for a very savory alternative. The thick, grilled veal chop and the moist pork chop with sweet-potato bread pudding also are recommended.

Sagamore swerves playfully with a good, three-burger "flight" made with Wagyu, Kobe-style beef, one crowned with pickled ginger, another with bacon and Asiago cheese, and a third with a mushroom demi-glace. The soft taco platter, a do-it-yourself dish with skirt steak and duck confit among the ingredients, has considerably less appeal.

That black truffle macaroni and cheese suggests well-oiled richness, but you're better off with the scalloped potatoes, hash browns, creamed spinach or the combo of peas, leeks and bacon. Skip the acidic grilled artichoke hearts and sourish onion rings.

A special peanut butter-chocolate cake reigns at dessert, as do the apple torte and the house's cookie platter. Don't bother with the dry, Italianate tricolor cookie cake.

Instead, uphold the past with a wedge of creamy cheesecake.

Reviewed by Peter M. Gianotti, 2/13/05.