Text 24296, 105 rader
Skriven 2015-02-22 11:18:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: a tale of 5 steaks 258
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A tale of several steaks, generally running 25-30 bucks for
12-18 ouncers. It had been a while since I'd had a nice big
piece of bloody meat, what with the running around Asia and
all, plus the subsequent days spent stranded in practically
a wasteland. In the last few days I've made up for it in
spades, having visited one high-end joint (don't bother), a
couple medium to medium-fancy places, and a couple allegedly
popular-priced hangouts. In order of preference.

Sam & Harry's (DCA airport) - odd that the airport location
of a defunct restaurant has become one of my main go-to
steak places. It's really run by a company called Arias,
which licenses the name and the look: as with most of these
outposts there is probably little or no connection between
the big name and what you get. And even if there is a
relationship, well, how often do you think Wolfgang Puck
visits his outlet at O'Hare? This place gets a fairly harsh
rap on the Internet, partially because it replaced an
undeservedly loved Legal Seafoods. This time, I was surprised
to see a slick new menu with pictures. I asked for a peek (I
usually don't bother with the menu, but these caught my eye),
and luckily the prices aren't slick new compared to the old
dumpy laser printed ones (sadly, the beer list has been
shortened). I ordered my usual - ribeye rare, creamed
spinach and onion strings. This time, to avoid the problem
of too much food all at once, with the sides getting cold,
I asked for the onion strings to be sent out at the end of
the meal. I have had excellent steaks here, and the relative
fair price of a steak ($2/oz, expensive in real life, cheap
compared to real steakhouses or airport restaurants in general)
makes me a repeater. This time the meat, though decent, was
nowhere so fine as before; still my favorite of the group. One
problem was that in the past I've gotten thick cuts from the
small end; this time the offering was a thinner cut from the
big end - the issue being that it's harder to get a good sear
on the outside of a thin steak if you want the middle to stay
jiggly red or close to it. Also, there's more surface area, and
that means more steak seasoning, which means more salt and more
distraction. So - not enough outside color, too much outside
saltiness. Still the best of the lot. A Sam Adams went well (a
large came by default).

Creamed spinach must have come from a different supplier than
before. It was like crabgrass in milk with a bunch of pregrated
Argentine grana mounded on top to hide its dubiousness. I ate
it anyhow.

As I got down to the last few bites of meat, the bartendress
asked if she could put in the order for onion strings, and I
of course said yes. They came out in their own little frying
basket, piping hot but unsalted. After I found the salt shaker
they were very good. She got a decent but not indecent tip.

By the way, Legal has reopened down by the center pier, but as
far as I can tell nobody goes there - they come back here
instead, and the place is kind of hopping.

I got a glimpse of the manager, who seems jolly and to have a
rapport with the staff.
--
Texas Roadhouse - another mainstay among the big chains, with
generally excellent price/performance and pretty reliable food.
There isn't one within public trans accessibility of the house,
so I rely - as with Tower Oaks below - on my brother to get me
there. There is one at Chantilly, pretty near Dulles Airport,
and as he loves to drive, that's the one we decided to go to.
This outlet has a different feel, somehow, from the others I've
been to. More subdued, which is good, but more, I don't know,
real country, with the darknesses that implies, as opposed to
good-natured fake country as you'd expect from a chain that
started in Indiana. I ordered a pound ribeye for $19, as they
didn't seem to have any large strips in the case; sides as
usual chili and chili, one served as an appetizer, the other
with the meal. This time I remembered to tell them to hold
the cheese. The chili at this location has no beans! so it is
closer to my ideal, though it too is light on the heat. Also
the chili meat is less gristly, which many would welcome (not
myself, of course). The steak was quite decent - rare rare as
ordered, with strange big dark grill marks that seemed real,
but what do I know, not too much seasoning on the outside, a
fair amount of fat. Good flavor. Not nearly as tender as at
other TRs, which I have accused (here?) of mechanically
tenderizing their meat. Jonathan asked for an appie of loaded
fries hold the sour cream and cheese: the incredulous waiter
looked him and said, that's just fries with bacon bits. After
being assured that that was fine, he brought a plate of big
wedge fries with bacon bits. The fries were halfway between
baked and fried. The bacon was halfway between Smithfield
and rancid - some say they're the same thing. After which he
ordered country-fried steak with brown gravy - this was a
big serving of mystery meat (the menu says sirloin, but it
has been processed to unrecognizability) made bigger by more
than ample breading. The gravy is probably out of a big can.
And fries, which he was surprised to see were almost identical
to the appetizer ones, less the bacon bits. Sweet rolls are
part of the freebies schtick here, along with the peanuts,
whose shells you are encouraged to strew all over the place.
Jonathan gobbled up the rolls and after the meal asked the
waiter, who turned out to be quite accommodating, for a
to go box with another batch of rolls; this was provided
at no extra charge.

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