Text 15382, 92 rader
Skriven 2014-08-02 16:54:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: beefy meals 732
=======================
So here I am in Utrecht with Ms. beefeater supreme,
so I planned a few meaty meals, one of which had to
be cancelled for thunderstorms (sitting in the Park
Plaza instead with a glass of red wine - she likes
red wine).

I checked all the sources, and the most appropriate
places seemed to be Los Argentinos, Meneer Smakers,
and American Steakhouse Broadway.

As we are heading to Buenos Aires later this month,
I decided we'd practice by going to Los Argentinos
first. Argentine beef, prices similar to what one
would pay for Uruguayan beef in the US.

The coolest thing is the place is in an old warehouse
down by the canal, and you can eat by the water, which
we and about a hundred others chose to do.

Mosquitoes - but it was windy enough, or the critters
were stupid enough, that they couldn't land, so I was
pretty safe - only one bite all evening, and I'm not
sure it was here.

Service is polite, accommodating, and slow in the
European style - they expect to turn the tables maybe
once, and you are expected to sit a couple hours, fine
by me, as I like to savor my food given the chance.

For drinks: Lilli had an Argentine Malbec, otherwise
unidentified; pretty decent, a little on the spicy side,
so I initially thought they might have misunderstood and
got her something else, maybe Merlot, but it turns out
that as with many other places in town they had only
one red wine. My pilsner came in a Hoegaarden glass and
tasted sort of like weak Heineken; fine, you get 11 oz
for E2.50, so I'm not complaining.

She had the Argentine ribeye, 250 g, and a baked potato
(gepofte aardappel). For about the same amount I got
the set menu 2, carpaccio, a 300 g sirloin, fries, and
tiramisu.

The ribeye came rare as ordered, the next higher size,
350 g; it was very good. I don't know about the potato,
which came sided with beautiful Dutch sour cream.

This was a fancy carpaccio. They describe it as "thin
sliced Argentinean fillet mignon, with olive oil, gherkins,
truffle sauce and Parmesan cheese." Inaccuracies: it's
actually raw round steak; it contains the usual capers but
also a big mound of mizuna greens and a scattering of
toasted pine nuts (not Chinese!). Dubiousnesses: the sauce
was mayonnaise beaten with truffle oil; the gherkins were
sweet-and-sour. The dish was generous (as it should be at
an a la carte price of E8.95) and quite good. The Parmesan
was aged longer than what you can generally get in stateside
for any price - the Dutch respect their cheese.

My sirloin came one shade rarer than rare, perfect for me;
the only problem was that the ample fat and gristle layer
on the edge wasn't cooked at all, making for a chewy though
delicious experience. The meat was a touch on the tough
side (free-range grass-fed meat) but very flavorful. The
steak knife offered, though okay with the ribeye, was
powerless against the sirloin and particularly the gristle,
and I ended up tearing the meat rather more than cutting it.

The beef is a bit gamier and a little less tender than
prime US beef. I enjoy both.

Both of these came with a "chimichurri" that tasted more
like ratatouille than what it should have.

Fries were excellent, and surprisingly I ate most of them.

I ended up having three E2.50 beers.

Dessert came with my prix fixe, so I asked for one "housemade
tiramisu" with two forks. Two full servings came by mistake.
On querying the waiter, he shrugged and said, the kitchen made
a mistake, but we can't undo it. All right, another 500 Calories
for free. The tiramisus were sort of low on the coffee but had
plenty of chocolate and plenty of mascarpone filling. They came
with large roses, not rosettes, of excellent Dutch whipped
cream.

The damage: $90 for two, including a tip (which the waiter
pointedly reminded us was optional). I'd go back.
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