Longhorn Steakhouse Steak Master Series

This is the second year Longhorn has put together the Steak Master Series contest, challenging all of their chefs from the kitchen with a series of test to pass in order to advance to the next round. I was lucky enough to attend the semi-final round for our region and boy let me tell you. These guys know their stuff!

I really loved all of the details of this event. What was even more awesome was seeing these guys in their element in action at the grill. Each of them had a special spark, humble and you could tell they do what they love!

One thing Longhorn Steakhouse has perfected is consistency! Every time I have visited and different locations, they really do perfect what they do and make sure you have the same flavor at each location. I fell in love with the fried okra today and their steakhouse mac and cheese has a nice creaminess to it along with bacon that makes everything better.

After we sampled the steak and sides it was time to get to business and learn who would be moving on to National Finals later in June. (Michael Coates, Mauricio Salazar, Darius Jones)

3^rd Place: Mauricio Salazar, Houston, TX

2^nd Place: Darius Jones, Fort Smith, AR

Champion: Michael Coates, Denver, CO

I’m sad our local boy didn’t win, but I’m proud to have Michael represent us in the West! Congrats to all the entries this year! Be sure to swing by your local Longhorn Steakhouse and taste their amazing steaks grilled to perfection!

Also, be sure to sign up on their website and enjoy a free appetizer sent to your inbox!

Smith & Wollensky

We decided to head out to dinner New Year’s Day with friends that had never been to Smith & Wollensky. Honestly it’s been years since we had been to this location, mostly because we don’t live in town anymore, but never the less we really need to make more of an effort to come since the food is amazingly good!

Get your comfy pants on because I’m about to make you hungry looking at all the food pics from dinner!

We started out with an Old Fashion $15 and Manhattan $16. Personally I’m more of a Manhattan fan, but both drinks where well made.

While we looked over the menu, the waiter brought out some rosemary rolls which are hot out of the oven melt in your mouth good.

For appetizers we settled on Beef Bacon $15 (house cured and smoked, bleu cheese dip), Soup of the day $7 (French Onion Soup) and Angry Shrimp $19 (crispy battered shrimp, spicy lobster butter sauce). The bacon was wonderful, I mean it’s bacon how can you go wrong with that? I really liked that it was paired with some creamy blue cheese dip. I may steal this idea for my next cocktail party. The onion soup I literally almost licked the bowl. it was thick and caramelized and so full of flavor, I couldn’t get enough! The angry shrimp, while tasty, I would recommend ordering something else. I do not think this was worth the $19 they charged.

We all ordered some type of steak. The guys each got a Signature USDA Prime Dry-Aged Bone-In 24oz. Rib Eye (simply charbroiled) $65. Both cooked perfectly to order and melt in our mouth good with the added flavor from the bone.

Black Angus Bone-In 16oz Filet $63.00 plus I got the Oscar Style enhancement for $10. Wow was this worth it. The bone adds so much flavor and I just loved the large lump crab in the their Oscar sauce. The sauce itself is so silky smooth you won’t be disappointed.

Our friend got the 10oz. Black Angus Filet Mignon $48. Also cooked perfectly.

We ended up getting 3 sides to share. A Truffled Mac and Cheese $12, Szechuan Green Beans $11 and a :Loaded Baked Potato $10. All sides are a wonderful option and easily enough to share with the 4 of us. We did have a complaint that the bacon on the baked potato was a little on the fatty side which made it more chewy.

As if we where not full enough we had to get 2 desserts to share and take home. They come out with largest slices of cake. Totally worth the $10 a slice! The gigantic chocolate cake is rich without being suck your mouth dry and the coconut cake is just heaven! Highly recommend both!!

We told them we where celebrating an anniversary and they gave us $10 off our meal, which I thought was a really nice touch. The service is top notch as well as the food being spot on. It holds a place in my heart for being one of those memorable steak places we would love to revisit.

Bonchon

For our Friday playdates I’m happy to have a friend that loves to try new places and also let our kids play. Today we checked out Bonchon. As you walk in I love the vibrant red, black and silver colors. They really stand out and make it look modern and clean.

 

There’s a full bar so you can have cocktails, beer and wine. We where promptly greeted by our waiter and I have to give him credit for dealing with our crew. He got down on the kids levels and chatted with them and made sure they where comfortable and taken care of. Service was quick even though we where the first ones in the space quickly filled with business men on lunch break.

For the kids we ordered POPCORN CHICKEN $9.95 (Juicy chicken bites, marinated and breaded in panko bread crumbs for the perfect crunch. Drizzled with honey and molasses and served with our house made kimchi mayo for dipping.) They where able to send the sauces on the side for the mommas to try and the kids gobbled up the chicken. My only complaint was with them using panko coating it got easily overcooked and was a little burnt. Not enough to taste, but just for looks.

I ordered ordered the Small (10 pcs) wings $11.95 with choice of sauce (Soy Garlic / Spicy / Half & Half) I went went half and half. The soy garlic sauce has a nice sweet flavor to it without being overly sweet. The spicy was spicy, but in a sneak up on you subtle spice. I would love one spicy with a little less heat, but I would totally order it again.

My friend ordered the Medium (20 pcs) wings $21.95 with 5 soy garlic and the rest naked. She’s what I like to call an expert on wings and raved about them. The side of pickled daikon radish is really yummy. It cools down the spice and is a perfect palate cleanser.

Next time when the weather is cooler we’ll hang out outside so the kids can move around more.

Will I come back ABSOLUTELY! There’s lots to pick from on their menu more than just wings (it’s what we where craving today). I already can’t decided what I want to try next. You won’t be disappointed eating here.

 

Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House

We visited Del Frisco’s back in 2011 during their Restaurant Week (click HERE to see my review). Sadly not much has changed and most of my complaints are still valid today several years later. This is the second chance I’ve given and I won’t be back again.

We had a 6:30pm reservation and was lead upstairs to where we were one of 3 tables seated. Quick prompt service followed by the waitress getting each of our names. We ordered drinks and all of our food choices for the evening and where off to a great start. By 7:15 we just got our salads and the upstairs started to fill up. This was our down hill spiral to the end of the night. Our waitress never really came around and when she did she said I’ll get my team to clear the table. Ok so your team was a bunch of food runners who mainly stood on the side most of the time talking. How come it took so long to get our food? Tables came and left around us all ordering multiple courses. I feel like the only change for the better from our visit in 2011 was we where at least offered the pepper grinder this time!

So onto the food….

For cocktails I had the VIP Martini $14 (Svedka Clementine infused with sweet Hawaiian pineapples). The pineapple is soaked for 2 weeks in vodka then pressed to make this cocktail. I have to say this was a great recommendation from the waitress as it was really tasty.

The bread was just as good as I remembered. Super soft, warm and fluffy as well as soft whipped butter.

Fried Calamari $17 (Shanghai Style). Once again by far the best thing we had all night. I highly recommend ordering this. There’s a nice sweet, heat, Asian sauce that goes really well instead of the traditional marinara. I could have eaten several orders of this. It’s a little on the high end for an appetizer, but it’s really good. The priced was $15 in 2011 and has gone up. I really think it should be priced at $10.

We all ordered the Caesar Salad. (regular menu price $9.50) Nothing to wow about, just a good standard salad. I liked the croutons being lightly baked as apposed to rock hard like some places.

For the main I ordered the broiled Filet Mignon 8oz with chateau potatoes and thin green beans. I did the entrée enhancement of $10 for Oscar Style. (regular menu price $42 for the steak, plus add on of Oscar and additional sides). The steak was better than I remembered last time, because last time I didn’t care for it. I love Oscar style, again is it worth $10 probably not. I had room temp sauce, minimal shavings of asparagus and just a few hunks of crab meat. For $10 I could make a batch to feed 20 people and they would get more crab and asparagus than what I got. I will stand by my last review and say they have good potatoes. The green beans on the other hand needed to be cooked a lot longer. They where so hard I had trouble cutting them with a steak knife.

D and T upgraded their steaks to the Prime Ribeye 16oz $18 entrée enhancements plus $6 Black Truffle Compound Butter (regular menu price is $48). Honestly with both guys getting the Prime steak they where not the same. I should have taken a picture. D had a prime, his was juicy, tender and flavorful. T did not his was full of fat, tuff and didn’t look the same.

K got the Pan Roasted Chicken. I missed on getting a picture. She said it was good and juicy and wouldn’t change anything. Her green beans where under cooked as well.

We also got a side of lobster mac and cheese $17. Not sure I would order again. It was really salty, and the sauce was really loose. 

I ordered the cheesecake with strawberry and K got the cheesecake with butterscotch. I couldn’t wait for this since they where out last time we visited. Sadly once again it was a disappointment. K ended up with the better topping I would have just ate a bowl of that. The cheesecake tasted like whipped whipping cream with a touch of cream cheese. I see why they laid it down it was so fluffy I don’t think it would have stood up. The taste was just off.

The guys both got the warm banana bread pudding with caramel sauce and fresh whipped cream. Again glad I didn’t order this. At least the cheesecake was edible. the bread pudding was so dried out and it was room temp so the ice cream didn’t melt except for one little drip on it.

From start to finish we where there 2 hours. Normally I wouldn’t care, but when it’s this little of food it should not take 2 hours. It took us 45 minutes just to get our salad. Another 30 minutes after that we got our main entrée. By then my food settled and I wasn’t as hungry anymore. On 2 occasions we alerted the manager or whoever the 1 of 6 guys running around in suits where. Their response “I’m sorry let me go check on that”, only never to return to check on us again. Our bill ended up being $400 after all the drinks we ordered to kill the time. I’m not proud of this, but I have NEVER walked out of a restaurant without tipping. This was a first for me. The food was crap, the service was crap and the attention to detail was lacking in a huge way. I guess they figure they have all the business people meeting after work who run up bills, but this was in no way how you treat people who come in for a good meal. Luckily we live in a big city with lots of steak places to pick from, because this is high on my list of DO NOT TRY.