Since the Mrs and I both had the full 3 day weekend, we met Ms K for dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House. It was actually my first visit here since they opened years ago and the long lapse was intentional. You see, when we first dined here when they first opened, I had my usual starting glass of wine and the Mrs ordered her usual salad. I didn't order any starters as I prefer to finish my meal at a steakhouse mainly because 2nd day leftovers loses something in translation, mainly the translation is when you reheat leftover steak, it invariably goes from medium rare to medium or even worse, medium well. Anyway our server asked if we would like a 2nd plate for the Mrs', "Sure". When we received the bill at the end of the evening, I found we were charged an extra $3 for the 2nd plate. It was confirmed in small type at the bottom of the menu that a $3 fee was added for split plates. At the very least, since our server offered the extra plate, he could have at least informed us of the extra charge - I would have said no thank you and simply reached across the table for the Mrs' leftover salad. In any case, I paid the fee but decided I would never return.
But since Buddhism stresses foregiveness, I decided I would give it another try this past weekend... And as usual we started with a round of cocktails including a traditional Cosmo ($12)...
An Elderflower Fizz ($13) for the Mrs with St Germain, Yulupa Champagne (whatever that is) and club soda - it was very refreshing...
And a New Fashioned ($12) for moi with Bulleit Rye instead of their usual bourbon plus Luxuardo Cherry Sangue Morlacco garnished with "real" Luxardo maraschino cherries (our server told the barkeep to garnish my drink with two instead of one cherry)...
We then moved on to the appetizers including the flaming Oysters Rockefeller ($18)... very fresh oysters with a little "show"...
The Carpaccio ($21) - a very good rendition of the classic thinly sliced raw beef appetizer...
And the Shrimp Cocktail ($18) - large and sweet perfectly poached shrimp...
I brought a bottle of 2005 Amon Ra ($25 corkage) - Barossa Valley Syrah from over 100 year old vines producing only 0.25 to 1 ton of fruit per acre. It had a very complex nose with licorice, gravel, fleshy red fruit with a touch of currant and raspberry and a hint of new leather with a seamless palate flow and long finish.
Our salads included the House Caesar...
And the Chop Salad which Ms K and the Mrs split...
We also ordered a 2011 Whitehall Lane Cabernet Sauvignon which had loads of green and black pepper - I would have pegged it as a Cabernet Franc if i didn't know any better...
The Pork Chops ($47) for the Mrs which included to full chops with roasted grape tomatoes...
While I sampled the Petit Filet ($47) done Oscar Style ($18) topped with a crab cake with asparagus and Hollandaise Sauce...
We also sampled a side of French Fries ($11)...
And Roasted Brussels Sprouts ($13) with loads of bacon...
The girls ended the meal with the Warm Apple Crumb Tart ($12)...
While I simply savored a Sazerac ($12)...
Okay, first for the negatives... the French Fries could have been crispier. That's it for the negatives. Our service was spot on! I'm not sure if our server recognized Ms K but the service was as good as it gets and he even gave us the early dining prices (only between 5 to 6pm) since our reservation was for 6pm so we paid less than the ala carte prices I have in brackets. The cocktails - Great! Salads - Great! Appetizers - Great! Steaks and Chops - Excellent! Since our server was so good, I told him to take the leftover Amon Ra (about 1/3 bottle) with him - he thanked us since his wife had a dinner of roast chicken waiting at home. So though we had a not-so-ideal first experience, we'll probably be back for subsequent meals at Ruth's Chris Steak House...
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