David Burke's Primehouse

PRIME

Meet Prime. A native of Creekstone Farms in Campbellsburg, Kentucky, this happy fellow is 2,500 pounds of pasture-grazed, corn-fed, purebred Black Angus, and according to his owners, he ranks nationally in the top 2% of the active 14,000+ Black Angus bulls in terms of the quality of meat produced from his offspring. Black Angus is the most popular type of cattle in the US, but only the most marbled, flavorful and finely-textured meat is certified U.S. Prime by the USDA (a socialist organization if ever there was one). The DB website likes to joke about how "cocky" their prized steer Prime is, and indeed, this senior herd sire is long on responsibility. The finely marbled steaks served at all five David Burke's restaurants across the country go directly from his gene pool to your plate -- after a long period of dry aging in an Himalayan salt-lined cooler, that is.

Dry Aging is a process by which an entire side or smaller cuts of beef are set out to dry in a cooler for a period of time. At Primehouse, this period of time ranges from what they call "lite aging" on their South Side Filet Mignon all the way up to a $69, 75-day aged 20-oz. Ribeye. The process enhances beef by two means. First, moisture is evaporated from the muscle, creating a greater concentration of beef flavor. Second, the beef’s natural enzymes break down the connective tissue in the muscle, which leads to more tender beef. Dry aging is not a very common process because it causes a considerable loss of weight, so it is difficult to find dry aged beef outside of a fancy steakhouse like Primehouse. But flavor + tenderness = dry aged beef nirvana, and I promise that even the least experienced carnivore can taste the difference between a steak that has been aged and one that has not.

Chalone Pinot Noir - Monterey 2007 - $55. One of the cheaper bottles on the wine list, this unusually bold pinot was bright and full with a buttery finish that paired beautifully with the aged steak. This was brought at the same time as the bread course, which was fresh asiago popovers served with butter and the fancy sea salt that they use in so many applications. We were especially glad for the fancy salt later when the spinach arrived, and it also made us realize how few restaurants will bring you sea salt for your table. The eggy popovers were light and crispy, covered in toasted cheese. They didn't come to the table hot enough, as we missed the familiar puff of steam that should escape upon cracking into one, but they were still good.

You'll notice as we blog more that we're not much concerned with the aspects of a dining experience outside the food. Restaurant designs can be very nice or very bad, but that's not why we eat out. A great bar can entice me to visit a place more often, but it rarely influences my opinion of it. A really horrible server can ruin a meal, but we both spent many years working in the service industry so we're willing to give a server A LOT of slack. That said, Primehouse is the closest to a 'hip & trendy' steakhouse that Chicago has to offer, so if you go you'll see lots of pretty people in a pretty room, probably pay way too much for a bottle of wine and likely be treated rudely by a member of the staff at least once during your visit. But we're here for the beef, so let's bring on the beef!!

Kobe Beef Sashimi on Himalayan Sea Salt with Mushroom Chips and Truffle Mayo

For the first course we decided on a surf-and-turf combo by ordering the Kobe Beef Sashimi and the East Meets West Oyster plate. The sashimi was amazing. LITERALLY paper-thin slices of raw beef atop a brick of salt, served with toasts and a cup of truffle mayo. The presentation was very cool, a heavy brick of salt with translucent slices of beef fanned out over it. The meat was rich and velvety with a clean flavor, and since it hasn't even touched a grill the only seasoning was the essence of salt coming from the brick. We started by building tiny sandwiches, but by the end we were just peeling the meat off the brick and eating it plain. I love truffles, but the strongly-flavored mayo just got in the way for me, I only wanted the beef. I was also unsure of why they were featuring a Japanese beef when Prime and his American offspring are the pride of the establishment, but we loved it all the same.

East Meets West: 2 East Coast and 2 West Coast Oysters with Fennel Granita, Cocktail Sauce and Mignonette

The oyster plate came out in the classic serving on a bed of ice and seaweed. Oysters can be a bit tricky here in the center of the country, but these were right on the mark with their fresh brine and mild flavor. I wasn't given the tour when the oysters arrived, so I'm just assuming the smooth-shelled oysters (bottom of pic) were east coast. They were sweeter and slightly firmer than the west coasters which were more salty and very meaty for their size. The sauces were super, mignonette was vinegary and bold, cocktail sauce was extra spicy with a large dollop of horseradish added to it, and we will be stealing the fennel granita (we'll post a recipe for it once we figure it out, because it was PERFECT with the oysters and would make a very interesting cocktail, as well).

And now for the main event, the raison d'etre, The Steak. In no mood to try something more adventurous and miss out, we both decided on the 28-day aged Delmonico. Shhhhhh.... No talking now. Only eating.

28-day Aged 7 oz. Delmonico

MUH-GAW. So tender. So freaking tender. Beautifully grilled, deep ruby red color without an overwhelming amount of blood, the robust juice that runs out is almost clear. And that FLAVOR. It starts and ends with that pure buttery richness that would make you swear that they covered this steak in extra fat before grilling it, but it's what happens IN BETWEEN all that richness that makes it worth it. The aging produces such complexity of taste in the meat that it is possible to forget you're eating beef. It is in no way gamey or heavy, in fact it is exactly the opposite. Every ribbon of marbling seems to hold another nuance, and the free-range raising of the cattle comes through in the flavor via a fresh, almost floral quality. If happy cows come from California, then it must rain pure serotonin in Kentucky because these cows are fucking ecstatic.

As part of the Restaurant Week special, our steaks were served with shared sides of basil-whipped potatoes, pan roasted mushrooms, creamed spinach and sauteed asparagus & shallots. Just for good measure, we also ordered a side of the lobster fried rice. The rice had big chunks of lobster and it was spicy with thai peppers and ginger. It was a surprisingly good side dish for the steak (after Erin picked out all the peas, of course). The spinach was badly in need of some extra salt, but once we added that it was sweet and creamy and our favorite "complimentary" side dish. The asparagus was good, the potatoes were a fine classic. The mushrooms, on the other hand, were lousy. They were improperly seasoned and included thick, woody stems that had to be eaten around. We may have just gotten a bad batch, but they are not recommended.


Apple-Cheddar Pie with Salted Caramel Ice Cream

Slice of Prime Chocolate Cake with S'Mores Ice Cream

Dessert was fine. The Apple Pie was more like an apple wonton with a scoop of ice cream, and it reminded us of an upscale version of McDonald's apple pie -- for better and worse. The caramel ice cream was delicious but the super crispy "pie" was a little greasy and tasted like something you'd eat at the State Fair. The chocolate mousse cake was very standard, but nothing to blog about. On the whole I think we would agree that if you're looking for a place in the neighborhood for drinks and dessert, you can probably do better than DBs.

But dessert isn't why we went. We went for beef. And even with all the choices in Chicago, we went to David Burke's for beef. Before eating, I would have scoffed at the idea of paying $70 for a steak, especially since the best steak I've ever had (at the Irma Hotel in Cody, WY) couldn't have cost more than $20. But now... I think maybe I'll pinch my pennies and plan a return trip to try one of the "Reserve Cuts" (35 days or more aging in the salt vault), maybe even the extra-decadent 75-day aged ribeye. I mean, how good could it be? It can't possibly be worth the price, CAN IT? But the thing is, it will be at least on par with the steak I had Tuesday, and for a steak like that I'm willing to pay top dollar. How much better is a $70 steak than a $32 steak? I must research and will report back on any findings. Meanwhile, if anyone is interested in making that report happen sooner rather than later, please send a very large check payable to me, because this place is DAMN expensive.




Oh, and Brandon: socialist.