[title type="h5"]Friday, October 31, 2014.
Halloween. Ruth's Chris.[/title]
Mary Ann callS for dinner. When she does this, she is asking me for a date--something I've always loved women to do, probably because it happened so rarely.
As usual, she doesn't have an idea of where to go. But I do. I know that she can't turn down Ruth's Chris Steak House. And how about the downtown location? She says that it's one of the most beautiful restaurants in town, and if she says so, it must be true. It even has outdoor seating on the wonderful little Fulton Street mall. I know she will want to sit out there, even though it's cold and getting colder, and a brisk wind is blowing off the many tall buildings in the neighborhood. But a jazz quartet is playing a few yards away. It all feels perfect for a date.
And it is Halloween, a night we should celebrate.
I get there first. It's only two blocks from the radio station. I ask for as unexposed a table as I can find. But the place isn't busy, so we can move indoors if we must. The waiter is most accommodating, and brings a cone of freshly-fried potato chips and a bottle of San Pellegrino (MA's favorite).
When MA appears, she likes the table and the setup. But not the chips. "They're obviously fried in oil that needs to be changed!" she says. I hadn't noticed, as I ate most of them. Maybe a little too brown, I agree.
[caption id="attachment_45276" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Stuffed mushrooms at Ruth's Chris.[/caption]
We start with mushrooms stuffed with crabmeat for her, and a crock of French onion soup for me. Both are just what we expected. That is by definition good.
[caption id="attachment_45274" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Onion soup.[/caption]
The steak we settle on to split it the sixteen-ounce, $59, bone-in filet mignons. This cut has popped up sporadically in restaurants for many years, but it seems to be much more common lately. Reading the menu, one line in its description gives me pause. Both the menu and the waiter make much of how lean a cut this is. But the best steak beef isn't lean, it's fat. And indeed this was very lean. It is also hard to cut away from the bone. Not the restaurant's doing, but the architecture of the cut. Let's leave it at this: I won't be ordering another one of these anytime soon.
[caption id="attachment_45272" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Bone-in filet (with MA's share cut away for more broiling).[/caption]
We get creamed spinach and julienne fries (normal size and cut). The latter are as brown as the chips had been, and much oilier than I'm accustomed to here. Ruth's Chris has always had great fries. These are the first in my experience that they aren't.
[caption id="attachment_45273" align="alignnone" width="480"]
French fries julienne style.[/caption]
The wind blows harder and the temperature goes down as it gets dark. The table has a marble top and no tablecloth. A clear example of a restaurant that reall should have tablecloths, even when serving outdoors.
It's a measure of how nice a date this is that we don't get disgusted by the shortcomings in this $160 dinner. It would have been nearly perfect if we'd dined indoors, but alfresco tables are near the top of MA's favorite things, and it is my job to go along.
[title type="h5"]Ruth's Chris Steak House. CBD: 525 Fulton St. 504-587-7099. [/title]
Written by Tom Fitzmorris November 07, 2014 13:01 in
