Orthogonal Thought | Random musings from the creator of Cooking For Engineers and Lead Architect of Fanpop

AUTHORS

CATEGORIES

ARCHIVE

ACTIONS

What I Ate: January 30, 2009 (Alexander's Steakhouse)

Posted 31 January, 2009 at 12:42am by Michael Chu
(Filed under: Food, What I Ate)

We had reservations at Alexander's Steakhouse for dinner tonight, so I didn't eat am overly heavy lunch. I meant to go out for a salad, but realized I had some left overs in the refrigerator, so I heated up some of that. I ended up eating the scallop and egg white rice with left over lamb and one last piece of naan.
Rice, naan, lamb

We went to Alexander's for dinner because we had heard from many people that it had the best steaks in (San Francisco) South Bay. We spent quite some time examining the menu at Alexander's. I really wanted to go for the $180-$200 cuts of Japanese Wagyu beef, but talked myself out of it because it wouldn't be the average person's experience at this steakhouse. I did want to order something dry aged since so few restaurants bother to dry age their beef these days. They only offer New York strip, T-bone, and Porterhouse steaks dry aged. (The reason for this became clear when I got a chance to visit their dry aging locker - they only dry age short loin primal cuts. When the 28 days are up, they had an band saw in the kitchen that they use to cut the short loin into the strip, T-bone, and Porterhouse.) We ended up ordering a dry aged Porterhouse steak cooked medium-rare. The beef was delicious but not the best steak we've ever had at a restaurant. That honor belongs to Peter Luger's where we also had a dry aged Porterhouse. (Later when chatting with owner and general manager of Alexander's, he said, "That's not fair! You can't compare us to Peter Luger's, they're the best. I'd say they are a 10 and we're around an 8.") My trouble with steaks is that if you buy a good quality steak and pay attention when you cook it, you can pretty much make a perfect steak at home. The only problem with that is the access to quality beef - it's not always easy to get Prime, Wagyu, or Dry Aged beef. After having the steak at Alexander's, I'd seriously consider them as my first choice of a steak dinner if I didn't feel like grilling my own.
Alexander’s Steakhouse - Dry Aged Porterhouse Steak

Before the beef, we started with a Leek Salad. (A bit too mild for our taste - we don't really recommend this dish.)
Alexander’s Steakhouse - Leek Salad

We ordered Beets & Greens and Mac 'N Cheese as our sides:
Alexander’s Steakhouse - Beets & Greens

The Mac 'N Cheese (with white truffle oil and Maine lobster) was the highlight of the meal for me. It was incredible - the mozzarella, gruyere, and cheddar cheese blend went incredibly well with the white truffle oil and decadence of the lobster chunks. If you go to Alexander's, ORDER THIS!
Alexander’s Steakhouse - Mac and Cheese

The best thing about Alexander's is how nice and accommodating everyone is. The atmosphere is fine dining, the food is a blend of steakhouse, fusion, and playful haute cuisine, but you also can't help but feel comfortable and relaxed when chatting with the waiter and just having a good time. Because we enjoyed our total experience so much, I'll be doing a longer write up for Cooking For Engineers.

2 comments to What I Ate: January 30, 2009 (Alexander's Steakhouse)

Nate, January 31st, 2009 at 10:16 pm:

  • Looking forward to your review. We'll be going to Alexander's too some time so will be getting that mac n cheese.

    It looks like they used some kind of extra virgin olive oil along with the jus on the steak plate?

    I think that it's more than just getting good meat to make a good steak at home. The heat is the main difference. Most people can't get their broiler or grill as hot as commercial restaurant grills. Closest thing I could think of is grilling directly over blazing hot mesquite coals.

Michael Chu, January 31st, 2009 at 11:00 pm:

  • The steak was served with a red wine something or other and the green is some oil of some sort. My notes show nothing about the sauce. (I'm not big into saucing steaks - if it's a good steak, it doesn't need sauce. If I'm reaching for the A-1, then you didn't do a good job.)

    They actually keep their grill around 600-700°F. (Unlike some restaurants that go for the blazing 1000°F grill.)

NAVIGATION

SEARCH