Tomato-Basil Steak

New Year's Eve. The last New Year's Eve before Rivera's opens. The last New Year where the restaurant exists as a dream and not as a business with operating hours and health department inspections and a staff payroll that Jessica calculates with the gravity of a surgeon. After March 15th, every New Year will be different — the restaurant will have a year of history, a year of briskets served, a year of tables filled, a year of Roberto sitting at the counter. But tonight, the restaurant is still becoming. And becoming is its own kind of beautiful.

We celebrated at home — the four of us, plus Roberto and Elena. Small. Quiet. The altar outside, dark and cold by Phoenix standards (fifty-two degrees, which I realize is a warm spring day in Duluth, but in the desert, fifty-two degrees is winter). I made the black-eyed peas — the New Year tradition for luck, the Southern contribution to the Rivera table that I adopted from a firefighter named Thompson at Station 19 who swore that black-eyed peas on New Year's guaranteed a good year. Thompson has been eating black-eyed peas for forty years and has been divorced three times, so the evidence is mixed, but the tradition is sound and the peas are delicious.

At midnight, Jessica and I stood on the patio and looked at the desert and the sky and the smoker sitting silent on the altar and I said, "This is the year." She said, "This is the year." We have been saying this for seven years — this is the year we save enough, this is the year we find the location, this is the year we sign the lease. But this time, "this is the year" means March 15th. This is the year the doors open. This is the year the sign glows for customers instead of construction workers. This is the year Roberto sits at the counter. This is the year the fire goes public.

Eleven weeks. Seventy-seven days. I have a countdown on my phone. Jessica has a countdown on her spreadsheet. Tomás has a countdown on the kitchen whiteboard. Roberto does not have a countdown because Roberto does not count down to things — Roberto shows up when it is time and the showing up is the countdown.

Goals for the final push: complete all six catering events (three done, three remaining), run two more full simulations, finalize the soft opening guest lists, finish the restaurant website (the designer is behind schedule and Jessica has sent four increasingly firm emails), order the opening-day supplies, and — the goal that lives at the top of every list — be ready. Not almost ready. Ready. The distance between almost and completely is small on paper and enormous in practice. Eleven weeks to cross it.

The black-eyed peas went on the table for Thompson’s sake, and for luck, and because the tradition is sound even when the evidence is mixed — but the steak is what the night actually called for. Seventy-seven days from opening, with the smoker sitting cold on the altar and a countdown on every screen in the house, I needed something with heat and intention on the plate. Tomato-basil steak is the Rivera version of a promise: bright acid, fresh herb, fire underneath. It felt right for a New Year that finally had a date on it.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 30 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

4 strip steaks (about 6 oz each), trimmed
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup dry red wine
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

Instructions

Season the steaks. Pat steaks dry with paper towels and season both sides evenly with salt and black pepper. Let rest at room temperature for 10 minutes.
Sear. Heat olive oil in a large cast-iron skillet over high heat until just smoking. Add steaks and sear without moving them for 3–4 minutes per side for medium-rare, or until desired doneness. Transfer steaks to a plate and tent loosely with foil.
Build the sauce. Reduce heat to medium. In the same skillet, add garlic and cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add cherry tomatoes and crushed red pepper flakes; cook 2–3 minutes until tomatoes begin to burst and soften.
Deglaze. Pour in the red wine, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Simmer 2 minutes until slightly reduced.
Finish. Remove from heat. Stir in butter and balsamic vinegar until the butter is melted and the sauce is glossy. Fold in torn basil.
Serve. Spoon tomato-basil sauce over steaks and serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Tomato-Basil Steak — The New Year’s Table That Started with Luck and Ended with Fire