Moving forward this blog will be more about all things carnivorous as opposed to being only dedicated to steak. I am still going to keep the count going for incredible steak experiences, but moving forward my dedicated followers should anticipate a full compliment of other tasty animals joining the fray. Also the posts will be a little less structured and hopefully much more entertaining.
Looking forward to bringing the full food chain into the blog.
Once again this post is arriving way later then intended….if I remember correctly this meal occurred the first week of December, 2011.
Steak #29 – Morton’s Steakhouse – Chicago (the original Gold Coast)
The Cut: Bone In Ribeye
The Aging: Dry Aged – length unknown
The Temperature: Medium
The Drink: Pinot Noir – that I’m pretty sure was tasty.
The Sides: Potatoes Lyonaise & Grilled Asparagus – I think?
The Company: The two most important ladies in my life (wife & mom).
This was not my first rodeo at Morton’s in the gold coast. My wife and I spent close to a year living in Chicago and for 6 months we would walk by the restaurant every night on our way home from work…needless to say we stopped by once or twice.
There is a reason that the most famous of all steakhouse chains launched from this site. The food is unreal, the service is great, and you’re in the basement of a building (no windows – like a casino they want you to lose track of time). It pretty much embraces all of the things that makes a steakhouse great.
Sorry for the grainy photos…the droid was doin so hot in the dark.
Cow in a window outside of the entrance...very classy.
The steak - before...
....after
Our waiter that happened to be from Detroit city - very cool guy.
In an effort to continue to combat my blog laziness here is another steak from the not too distant past…Dec. 10th, 2011 (I think).
Steak #28- The Capital Grille
The Cut – Porterhouse
The Aging – Dry Aged (28 days)
The Temperature – Medium
The Wine – I can’t really remember, but it was good.
The Appetizer – Shrimp Cocktail (with requisite side of fresh horseradish)
The Sides – Lobster macaroni & cheese, and sauteed button mushrooms.
The Company – My beautiful wife and my great friend (and fellow carnivore) Brian and his wife Kasey.
Since eating the shrimp cocktail at St. Elmo's in Indianapolis it has become a bit of habit to have shrimp before steak. However, St. Elmo's is the only cocktail with sauce so strong that I literally started crying at the table. With a fresh side of horseradish I was able to modify this one pretty well.
This was a huge porterhouse! I could not bring myself to take an after photo because so much steak was left behind...i was ashamed. Still had room for dessert though!
This shows the remaining bites of what was two dishes of lobster mac & cheese. This stuff is probably the best side dish I have ever eaten.
Brian - friend, carnivore, steak connoisseur.
Well this post is coming way later then I had originally intended, the actual meal was Oct. 9th…no excuses other than I got a little lazy.
Steak #27 – Dylan Prime – NYC
The Cut: 11oz filet with Gorgonzola crust
The Aging: Dry Aged – length unknown
The Temperature: Medium
The Drink: Some sort of Brooklyn Micro brew followed by another local brew (details are fuzzy but they were both good)
The Sides: 1.) Truffle, Corn & Potato Cakes; 2.) Grilled Asparagus; 3.) Truffle Lobster Mac & Cheese
The Company: My beautiful carnivorous wife & Aunt Sharon
To be honest I had heard of Dylan Prime and came across it several times during my continual steak research, but it never really ranked high on my to do list (I figured I would get to it eventually). However, it quickly made it to the top of my list when my wife’s Aunt Sharon came across a Living Social deal for the restaurant that couldn’t be passed up, and I’m glad we didn’t. In fact, this turned out to be one of my favorite nights I’ve ever spent in NYC, because prior to eating we had the opportunity to visit the 9/11 memorial. It was an extremely humbling site to visit and although so much craziness took place at the site the memorial was incredibly peaceful.
Now on to the meal! Dylan Prime is located in Tribeca, which is an area of the city that I haven’t spent much time in, but it seemed like a very cool neighborhood. The restaurant itself had a nice modern steakhouse feel and other then the obnoxiously loud talker at the table next to us it made the perfect setting for a great steak.
Most of the time I don’t usually go for filet, opting for “meatier” tasting cuts like rib-eye, but I was in the mood for some reason….plus it was 11 oz (not a bad cut at all). To take it to the next level I decided to go with the Gorgonzola blue cheese crust, which was a great call. I’ve gone with a blue cheese crust on several past steak meals, always with generally good results, but this time around it was very tasty and they didn’t skimp on the portion (see below).
Gotta love the straight forward presentation....nothing fancy just steak on a plate!
As far as the sides go they were all good but my favorite was the corn cakes….they had a nice crusty outside and went great with my steak. I don’t have a lot of clever things to add to this post, as I’m just not feeling that creative.
However, as a bonus visual treat I’m adding the photo of the steak I had the following night at Mesa Grill (Bobby Flay’s place). Due to the fact that restaurant doesn’t qualify as an actual “steakhouse” the steak doesn’t get its own post, but it was a damn good ancho chilli crusted rib-eye and the presentation was awesome. And the margaritas weren’t so bad either.
Before....
.
...after
Next up on the agenda will probably be a steak in the Detroit area sometime this holiday season…not sure the destination yet, but I will keep this up to date.
Steak #26 – Primehouse Chicago
The Cut: Bone In Ribeye
The Aging: Dry Aged – 75 days
The Temperature: Medium Rare (Chef’s Recommendation)
The Wine: ZD Pinot Noir (2008 – I think?)
The Sides: 1.) Roasted Parsnips and Apples, 2.) “Traditional” Loaded Baked Potato
The Company: My beautiful wife.
If you were to take a look back at my last post “The List” you would see that I have already eaten at Primehouse – New York City, but Primehouse – Chicago is a bit unique due to their extreme dry aging techniques. For those of you not familiar with “steak aging” there are two techniques: 1.) wet aging – where the meat is packaged in its own juices, and 2.) dry aging – where the meat rests on racks in a temperature and humidity controlled environment. What a lot of people don’t realize is that fresh meat isn’t actually the best meat; aging (usually done for 7-14 days) allows enzymes to essentially break down the meat’s fibers so that it becomes more tender and flavorful. Yes – its kind of gross but as the meat rots (in a controlled fashion of course) it becomes really tasty!
What makes Primehouse -Chicago so unique is that they have their own aging room (more on this latter) on site and they serve what they claim is the oldest dry-aged steak in America at 75 days aged.
When I ate in New York I tried the 55 day aged bone in rib-eye and I remembered it being very good….but of course this time around I had to go for the 75 day…how often do you get a shot at this opportunity?
Upon ordering I was told by the waiter that I should be prepared for steak that would extremely hard to compare any other steak I’ve ever tried. Words like: blue cheese (which is good) and earthy (which I’m not sure is good) were thrown around. He was definitely right on….
The beef in all its glory!
…what was really unique about the steak was that it was sort of dry…but not in a bad way…just way different than what you would normally expect. Also the flavors were extremely complex, it was almost like each bite had a different flavor. The middle section of the cut had the most traditional steak flavor, but the edges (where the aging occurs most) had incredibly different tastes, including blue cheese and earth….I think. The first bite was extremely delicious, but I have to admit that by the end of the meal ( I still finished it all of course) the taste and even the smell were not overly appetizing. I can’t quite explain it, because it was still a great meal, but it was just to….something??? For those who are really into trying different types of steak this is obviously one you must have on your “to eat” list but I have to admit that if I go back I will probably opt for the more traditional 55 day steak.
Kristin's filet - ovbviously she was a bit to hungry to wait for me to take a picture before the first bite.
The cheesy thing in the photo is the "Traditional" Baked Potato - which was actually gnochi in a cheese cream sauce with bacon and a dash of bbq sauce on top. I would eat this with every meal if I could - it was that good.
During the meal I asked my wife if she thought they ever give tours of the dry aging room? She mentioned that she had read a few reviews in which people mentioned they got a chance to go on a tour. So after eating two pieces of our delicious giant read velvet cake (actually serves 6-8 people but we had to go with it), and a couple of warm donuts with three different dipping sauces (which we got complementary because they forgot to put my wife’s dressing on the side of her salad)….we asked our waiter for a tour and after speaking with the GM they happily took us (and another couple) down to see where it all happens.
The two most beautiful things on Earth!
All in all it was a good meal and a fantastic experience…I will definitely be back again.
Next up a 5 day trip to NYC in October….so much steak so little time!
I will be posting about my selection process pre-trip….its not as easy as you might think.
To kick things off I’ve decided to make a list of all of the restaurants I’ve eaten at by location, in alphabetical order, including the number of times I’ve eaten there. This list is from December 2004 through August 12, 2011…not sure, but I think I might have been able to buy my own cattle ranch if I were to actually tally this bill up.
Anaheim, CA: Morton’s (1x)
Atlanta: Morton’s (1x)
Charleston, SC: Oak Steakhouse (1x), Halls Chophouse (1x), Grill 225 (1x)
Chicago: Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse (1x), Capital Grill (2x), Morton’s (2x), Gibsons (1x), Keefer’s (1x), The Palm (1x)
Cincinnati: Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse (1x)
Indianapolis: St. Elmo Steak House (1x)
Michigan: Capital Grill – Troy (1x), Morton’s – Southfield (1x), The Chop House – Ann Arbor (1x)
New York City: Peter Luger Steakhouse (1x), Capital Grill (1x), Primehouse (1x), Keens Steakhouse (1x), BLT Steak (1x)
San Francisco: Boboquivari’s The Steak (1x), Morton’s (1x)
Grand Total: 25 steaks and growing (outward).
Just writing this list has brought back some truly amazing memories that range from my honeymoon, to some great birthdays, to random meals, and has made me very, very hungry!
Moving forward each meal I eat will get it’s own post with photos and details of the meal – from appetizers to desserts – of course I’ll always give the steak the most detailed attention. I have also decided that there are certain specifics about a steak meal that should always be accounted for: 1: the cut, 2.) the aging, 3.) the temperature, 4.) the wine, 5.) the sides, 6.) the company. I will always make sure that these items are accounted for first and foremost….I will also keep a running tally of total steaks eaten at the bottom of each post. I’m freaking starving.
My beautiful wife and I patiently waiting for our beef at Grill 225 in Charleston, SC.
I’ve started this blog to essentially help me keep track of all of the steak I’ve eaten, as well as the steaks I want to eat. Hopefully a few other people will find it interesting as well. My wife and I have made a hobby of eating at premium steak houses when we have the opportunity. Our first adventure in this wonderful food arena occurred in Dec. 2004 when, after I proposed to her, we had dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Chicago. We had a great time, but we didn’t really have great food…we didn’t quite understand that any steak cooked more than medium is pretty much crap regardless of how much money you pay for it. Needless to say we soon figured that out and we have been eating wonderful meals ever since. However, I now have difficulty remembering all of these great steaks (it could be cholesterol induced amnesia…not sure), which is why this blog will serve as a record of my carnivorous escapades.
