Alexander's Steakhouse

448 Brannan St
San Francisco, CA 94107

Occasion: Close intimate birthday dinner with close family and friends for Henry's birthday. 02.25.12

I had just visited this restaurant about a month prior for a friend's birthday and had a great experience, so I was looking forward to another dining experience here. Attentive service, edgy decor with lights that weren't too bright nor too dim.  This time we sat downstairs in a round table, which was better than the table seating we got last time (a table for 10 near the bathroom, which got annoying when people kept on coming up to use the restroom).

Amuse Bouche

I don't remember what exactly it was. Perhaps some kind of seaweed salad.

Hamachi Shots

with truffled ponzu, frizzled ginger, chili and avocado

One of my favorite things to order here. I love how the ponzu sauce complements the fresh fish so well and the crunchy rice crispies that pop in your mouth with a hint of spice from the jalepeno. Delightful little appetizer to tease the palate before the real meal.

Raw  Trio

hamachi tartare / tako tiradito / tuna tataki

I don't know which was which, but each was prepared differently with different textures.  Loved each one of it and would suggest getting this trio if you're a big fish person.  The textures and flavors of each are worth trying.

Charred Octopus

fluffy tamago / wakamomo / arima sansyo / pickled shallot / truffle

Portion is kind of small, but I love the crunchy texture of octopus.  Reminds me of squid. The charred octopus had a nice smokey taste to it.

Hot seared foie gras

hudson valley / grilled eryngi / chanterelle / yuzu buttermilk / noble no 5

Enjoying it as much as we can before it gets banned in California.  So rich and buttery soft that it melts in your mouth.  Some love it, some others not so much.

Truffle French Fries

sundried tomato - tonkatsu aïoli / schichimi

The whole table loved it.  How can you go wrong with such a staple snack food.  The seasoning definitely added a special kick to it...and the aioli...addicting! I kept on reaching for more.

Stout Cesar Salad

62.5 degree onsen egg / romaine / traditional flavors

This was so refreshingly good. I'm not a big fan of meat, so it's nice to have some greens with such a rich and heavy meal.  The flavors were simple, but so good.  The egg definitely made it more enjoyable.

Some refreshing jelly palate cleanser before we start our meal off.

The Perfect Porterhouse

wet-aged prime strip steak / petite filet mignon / bone marrow /black garlic persillade

It came in a generous portion, big enough to be shared and even then, we both didn't finish our share. Prime strip steak was a lot more fatty and tasty, while the filet mignon was tender and leaner.  The bone marrow was loaded with a bunch of bread crumbs, which I thought was a little over done, and was too dry for my liking.  It was delicious, but there were a few people in our party who ordered higher end WAGYU meat and that was AMAZING!

Sides: Potatoes, brussel sprouts, mushrooms

All of which were absolutely flavorful.  Mushrooms were my favorite though.  How can you have meat without some delicious sides to go with it? You can't!

Sher Australian Wagyu

simply served / veal glace / truffled beurre fondue

Buttery soft, decadent flavors, huge portion.  It was absolutely one flavorful and delicious tasting slab of meat, but I think one small piece of it was good enough for me, as I found it way too rich for my liking. The most expensive piece of meat they sold there.

Complimentary cotton candy

Alexander's Steakhouse

448 Brannan St
San Francisco, CA 94107

Occasion: Celebrating Sophia's birthday. Party of 10. 01.27.12

Hamachi shots

We each got a shot and in my opinion, I thought it was quite tasty.  Hamachi, avocado, rice crisps, ponzu sauce. Yum.  Make sure you try to get everything in your mouth in one bite.  You get to really enjoy the crispy texture of the rice crisp with the buttery hamachi and avocado chunks with a hint of the ponzu sauce. It's quite a tasty tasty bite that you will not regret.

Foie Gras popcorn
sweet kettle corn with foie gras butter

Delicious little appetizer to share amongst the table before our real meal.  Foie gras taste is really subtle and not over powering.  There's the subtle tastes of the foie gras combined with the sweet kettle popcorn.  

Dry-aged ribeye steak

with aka miso,  kizami wasabi butter, dashi veal glace and topped with foie gras for an additional $20.00

I usually stick to what I know because I know I'll like it, especially at restaurants that serve food that I don't often eat.  I'm not big on meat or steak and this is probably one of the few times I decided to get something besides filet Mignon. I definitely did not regret my choice.  Though would have liked it a little bit more rare.  I asked for medium rare and it was more medium than rare.  The orange chunks of what seemed like a squash of some sort, was crunchy, bland and not very appetizing, though the added foie gras added a richness to the dish.  I probably finished 1/3 of this piece of meat, so you can definitely share it amongst two.

Truffled French Fries

sundried tomato - tonkatsu aïoli

So addicting. Subtle taste of truffle that complemented really well with the tonkatsu aioli. Delicious.

Prime Rib

until it’s gone / natural jus / horseradish trio

They only serve this until they sell out and if you're into prime rib, it's supposedly really good.  I mean I don't think I have made out a palate for steaks or primerib, but the meat seemed pretty juicy and tender.  My only complaint, along with a few others was the fact that the outer skin was overly seasoned and way too salty for our likings.  Other than that everyone who had it seemed to somewhat enjoy it.

jasmine rice hot pot

garlic root / green onion / unagi / takwan

Very similar to Chinese stone pot rice. I was quite impressed with the flavors of this dish as it had flavors similar to that of a Chinese dish.  It was good.

mashed potatoes

chicken cracklings and white gravy

brussels sprouts

charcoal-smoked marrow / yamagobo / late harvest viognier-honey vinaigrette

Filet Mignon

Ella's dish.  They had forgotten to add a piece of foie gras as requested, so when they came back with her dish, they slabbed on a huge piece for her.

Complimentary cotton candy

Souffle

House of Prime Rib

1906 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94109

Occasion: First time at House of Prime Rib.  Never wanted to try it and never have been a big fan of red meat, but finally decided to give this place a try.

The English Cut : some feel that a thinner slice produces the better flavor.

My choice. Definitely more my type of meat. First of all I am not too fond of too much meat anyway.  I liked this because it was thinner and a lot easier to chew.  It was more enjoyable because it reminded me of beef carpaccio.  The meat was cooked medium rare and very flavorful.  I mean I don't know what all the hype is about, but I finally came here.  Egh...maybe I'm just not a big meat person. Thank goodness for the variety of food it came with.

King Henry VIII Cut : extra-generous, thick cut of prime beef, for king size appetites.

It was a huge chunk of meat. So glad I did not get this because it is so not my type of cut.  It was super thick and I had to keep on chewing and chewing before I could swallow.  My jaws had a good workout after one small piece of meat. Egh.  I guess there's something that meatlovers/ prime rib lovers see that I don't.=X

Our Prime rib came with the following (we basically got one of everything so that we could try everything out):

The Salad Bowl

A colorful mixture of healthy, crisp, seasonal greens prepared at your table, tossed in our unique house dressing.

Not the best salad I've had, but it was entertaining watching our waitress prepare it.  Yes I've got to admit the house dressing was pretty good.

Mashed Potatoes

 served with thick brown gravy

Not the chunky kind of mashed potatoes that I like, but it was still yummy! Love potatoes made in all shape, size and form. 

Baked Potato

 A superior sized Idaho potato served with butter and sour cream, with a sprinkle of chives.

Loved this more than the mashed potatoes. It was stuffed with sour cream, butterliciousness chives and bacon bits which I was not too fond of...but you mush and mix everything together while it's still hot and its so delicious.  Ok maybe I'm exaggerating, but it was very satisfying.

Yorkshire Pudding

Straight from merry olde England! Light, airy batter baked to a golden brown dome, with a fluffy interior to soak up those savory beef juices.

Probably my favorite part of the meal.  When I had read this on the menu, I literally thought...PUDDING.  It was like a light fluffy pastry bread filled with moist goodness.  It was savory and super tasty. YUM!

Creamed Spinach

Needed some veggies to balance out all that meat and potato goodness.  It was decent, but not the highlight of the night.

Creamed corn

 between the creamed spinach and creamed corn. I have to say the corn was the better of the two.  That's probably because I love love love corn. Yummo.

Kokomo's Steak & Seafood

3400 Las Vegas Blvd S

Las Vegas, Nevada 89109

Mirage Hotel

Occasion: Nice fancy dinner on Sunday night. Half of us had to babysit the trouble maker @ a nice dinner while the other half went to watch the Jabbawockees.  Shared two entrees, 1 appetizer and a side amongst three people. 12.19.10

Seared Jumbo Scallops

with shallot butter sauce and chive oil

My favorite, I just had to order it.  I know what tastes good is biased based on each individual's likings, but this was probably my favorite thing we ordered.  Not the best scallops I've had, but they were juicy and tender with a little bit of a crisp on the outsides.  Though it was lacking a bit in flavor, I still seemed to enjoy it.

Crab Cakes

I got to try a little bit of this.  I know to other's it might have been a bit dry or lacking in moisture, but I didn't think so.  I think I prefer less mayonnaise- like taste to my crab cakes, which is probably why I thought these were decent.

Seabass

Definitely not the best I've ever had.  Very disappointed! How do you call this a steak and seafood restaurant if you can't even make your fish right. Sigh. It was definitely lacking in flavor.  Meat was very soft and tender, but there was no sauce to compliment it.

Porter House Steak 26 oz

The kitchen was nice enough to cut it up for us, since there were three of us sharing it.  Luckily we all have the same taste and wanted it cooked medium rare.  Again, not the best piece of meat I've had. But then again, I am not meat snob.  I am still learning about my meats and trying to figure out my own cut and liking.  We asked for a red wine reduction sauce with it, which in my opinion was bland in flavor and was a bit bitter.  It definitely did not compliment the meat too well.  I wish our server had gave us input on his recommendation with the type of sauce this cut of meat would be good with.  We were able to get a taste of the tomato butter sauce and that was amazing, perhaps due to the butter.

Filet Mignon

Got to try a piece of Jason's Filet Mignon. Egh. It was just mediocre.  Maybe because I am from a foodie city...and I'm spoiled with tons of great eats in San Francisco.  Our city is definitely home to many chef's of great culinary skills who are top of the line in comparison to those of Las Vegas' (well at least in my opinion it is).  I'd much rather have filet at Ruth's Chris', 5A5 or Alexanders...that's what I'd call a steakhouse.

Mashed potatoes

I love mashed potatoes!! The chunkier the better. This definitely helped as a filler! Yummy!

5a5 Steakhouse

244 Jackson St
San Francisco, CA 94111

Occasion: Celebrating BFF's 24th. Party of 10. 11.13.10

Complimentary bread
One had bacon bits in it and the other was plain
I thought it was pretty unique and the bread with the bacon bits was not too bad. Definitely adds flavor to the bread. Yum.

Hamachi Shooter

with avocado, ginger, yuzu tobiko, ponzu

I heard the shooters here are better than those at Alexanders, so I just had to try it. I have to disagree to that comment. Honestly, it was a bit too salty for my liking and the ones at Alexanders were way way way better.

Truffle Fries

sriracha aioli, truffle oil

Seriously most delicious and addicting fries ever. They're really as good as people say it is. It's a must get if you're here. There's something with sriracha and truffle that makes it so addicting.

Bone in Ribeye

roasted red onion, aged balsamic demi glaze 25 oz

I'm not usually a steak person and have no experience in ordering it either. I'm used to getting what I do know...the filet mignon. I wanted to try something different after briefly getting educated on the different cuts.  I decided for the bone in ribeye, not knowing how HUGE it was. It was ginormous and I wish I had shared it with someone. But no worries, the piece of meat lasted me three meals. Everyone who tried it loved it!! It was very tender and full of fatty flavor, well DUH...it is the fattiest cut, or so I was told.  I ordered it medium rare and it was more on the medium side, which was absolutely fine with me.  I would definitely recommend this cut, because in our opinion it was the best cut!

Mac and Cheese

gruyere, mozzarella, cheddar

Freaking amazing. I'm not a big mac and cheese person because mac and cheese is usually too rich for me. I get sick of it after a few bites, but not 5a5's mac and cheese.  It's freaking delicious. Maybe because there's three different cheeses in it. It's seriously something worth trying!

Alexander's Steakhouse

10330 N Wolfe Rd
Cupertino, CA 95014

**1 Michelin Star**

Occasion: Celebrating a Bday. 5.17.10 *Very Belated Post, but I'm back!*

Hamachi Shots
truffled ponzu sauce, chili, avocado, frizzled ginger and cilantro greens.
Came in a six pack! I thought it was delicious! For me, it was actually hard trying to take it like a shot. I'd try to take it like a shot and all I'd get was the ponzu sauce in my mouth. After the first few tries I just used a small cocktail fork to fork out all that goodness. It had a excellent blend of flavors. Chili was not too spicy, ginger didn't over power, ponzu sauce was sweet and complimented the hamachi very well. Loved it and would definitely get it again.

2+ pounds of bone in rib-eye topped with seared foie gras
His order. That thing was huge!!! It's totally a guy thing. Our two other guy friends ordered the same exact thing. Not really my type of cut. I like the more tender type of meat and I thought it was pretty rough. Well at least the bday boy enjoyed it!

Australian F1 Filet Mignon

Got it medium rare and the meat seriously was so tender it melted in my mouth. I am not an expert meat eater...yet, but from my sense of taste and feel the taste and the texture was superb! *Note* best eaten when warm...don't talk too much and leave it untouched for too long.

Lobster Mac and Cheese
I actually felt really indifferent about this. I'm not usually a mac and cheese type of girl, but the lobster and truffle oil sounded really appealing to me. I didn't think too highly of it, but a few others really enjoyed it. Or perhaps, by the time I actually took a bite out of it, it was no longer warm. Not sure, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would have.

Truffle fries

I just had to get it because of the reviews and Fanny. She highly recommended getting them and I don't regret it at all. They were amazing, but could definitely have been skipped since we ordered so much for 2. I love fries...but truffle fries are so much better.

5A5 Steakhouse

244 Jackson St
San Francisco, CA 94111

Occasion: Annie Doan's Quarter Century!

Fries

Best Fries ever!!! Love Love Loved it...especially when you dip it into their delicious aioli sauce. It is so addiciting. I love how the fries are fat!

6oz Filet Mignon
Cooked medium rare. It was nice and tender and still a bit warm when I got it. The sauce used to garnish over it was a bit sweet. Enjoyed it, but did not LOVE it.

Epic

369 Embarcadero
San Francisco, CA 94105

Occasion: Dinner before OVO- Cirque Du Soleil.

Sauteed Mushrooms
An extra side we ordered. Sauteed mushroom goes really well with meat. I love mushrooms and I'm glad we had it with our meal.

New York Strip 20oz

Coriander, Black Peppercorn and Coffee Rub

Humungous slab of meat. Definitely too much for my liking. I usually like variety and not too much meat, but it wasn't too bad. The peppercorn rub added a tangy kick to it.

Steak n’ Cake Petit Beef Filet with Spicy Crab Cake

Dungeness Crabmeat Hollandaise, Tomato Salsa

Absolutely delicious. Filet mignon is probably my favorite cut of beef. I like it because it's not too fatty and very tender. I asked for medium rare, which came out the way i wanted it. I started with the little bit of salad it had on there and bit into a delightful piece of crabmeat drenched in hollandaise. What a great start. It was so good. Crab cake was not as spicy as I had thought it would be, which was good. I like variety and I'm glad that with this dish I was able to get a taste of everything.

Wood Oven Roasted Chili Squid Salad\

White Beans, Olives and Tomato Confit

This salad came out warm. I usually eat salads cold, but it was something different and very good. Chewy squid, tomatoes, white beans in a vinaigrette dressing. yummilicious.

Complimentary Breads
French bread, madelines, savory pastry puff

Very different from the typical complimentary breads we get at any other restaurant. But this isn't just any other restaurant so we got something different. The french bread was nice and soft with a nice somewhat hard chewy skin. Savory puff pastry seemed to have a bit of a cheese taste, which was good. Puff pastry is delicious. The madelines were sweet with a hint of salt. It kind of reminded me of corn bread.