Sunday, February 22, 2009

Restaurant Week - David Burke's Primehouse

I've been waiting forever. Restaurant Week is finally here! We only booked at two restaurants this week since that's all my wallet or my waistline can handle. But I would love to pick a new restaurant for every night. Dinners are $32/person for 3 courses and lunches are $22/person for 3 courses.

David Burke's is one of our favorite restaurants. Both The Husband and I are huge fans of steak. So when we have a special event we're celebrating and we're shelling out a lot of cash for dinner we frequently choose a steakhouse. We've been to David Burke's before - once to celebrate our birthdays and once for NYE last year.

David Burke's Primehouse is in the James Hotel. I checked hotel rates and they were only $129 for that night. What a deal. They can be up to $400/night during prime time. Thought it would be a nice treat for us but we decided not to book. Really no reason to stay in a hotel that's close enough that we could walk there.

We started with drinks at the bar. I had a bellini ($8) and The Husband had a vodka tonic ($12). A little disappointing. My bellini was just champagne and peach schnapps instead of a peach puree and they didn't have the Effen vodka that The Husband wanted for his V&T. I'd expect a little more at such an upscale bar. Plus The Husband's V&T was way too strong. He said at least he got his money's worth.

We were seated shortly. Since it was Restaurant Week we had a set menu to choose from. The choices were very extensive though unlike some Restaurant Week menus I've seen. Instead of bread they bring out individual gruyere puffs. By now we also ordered a bottle of pinot grigio.

For an appetizer I had a pretzel encrusted crab cake with poppy seed honey and mango mayonnaise. This isn't your traditional crab cake. I love the texture from the pretzels and the flavor of the mango mayonnaise.

The Husband had the lobster bisque which came with a little lobster spring roll. The lobster bisque was excellent, maybe even better than the crab cake, but I found the presentation a bit lacking.

For dinner we both had the 6 ounce filet mignon. I got mine with a blue cheese add-on for $4. The filets were excellent as always. I loved having the smaller portion. I didn't feel like I had to finish the whole thing and stuff myself.

The entrees were accompanied by 4 sides: mushrooms, creamed spinach, asparagus and shallots, and basil whipped potatoes. I tried all of them but I really dislike mushrooms and don't really care for spinach or asparagus. The basil whipped potatoes were good though. Very creamy and had a nice hint of basil.

The Husband also got a side of Cavatelli "mac n' cheese" ($5). He enjoyed it. I thought it was good but nothing special.

The Husband's dessert was called "Slice of Prime" and had layers of rich chocolate mousse, cake, and fudge s'mores ice cream. The dessert was more mousse-y than cake-y and very rich but The Husband really enjoyed it.

I got the apple cheddar pie which had granny smith apples, aged cheddar, and salted caramel ice cream. I know this sounds like a weird combination but it was very good. When the cheddar was covered by all the sweetness and ice cream it didn't taste like typical cheese at all. I don't know that I'd order it again since I'm not a dessert person at all, but it was nice to try.

Service was decent but was very rushed by our waiter. Probably a result of it being restaurant week. I loved the meal because it provided just the right amount of food. If we'd ordered everything a la carte there would have been larger portions of everything and we would have had to be rolled out of the restaurant. It was nice to have a meal out where I cleaned my plate but didn't feel the need to unbutton my pants afterwards. Total cost for the meal, one bottle of wine, 2 drinks, and tip was $170.

gruyere puff

The Husband

pretzel encrusted crab cake that I'd already taken a bite out of before I remembered to take a picture

lobster bisque with lobster spring roll

filet mignon

entree sides - mushrooms, basil whipped potatoes, creamed spinach, and asparagus with shallots

mac n' cheese and my side of blue cheese

apple cheddar pie with my bite out of it

slice of prime chocolate goodness

1 comment:

Liz said...

The crab cake and apple cheddar pie sound amazing!