M and I were going to see our first show for our season tickets to the Winspear's Broadway Series last night (Blue Man Group - fun show!), and we picked Perry's as our pre-show dinner destination. (Actually M first teasingly suggested NSG just to hear my say BANNED! She is a loyal WiDiDallas follower after all).
First off, I got lost. See, their website describes the restaurant as "adjacent to the Ritz Carlton Hotel." Apparently in Perry's world "adjacent" means "across the street and about a half block down". It also claims it will be "adjacent" to the new Woodall Rodgers Park, which, again will be down the street. Mr. Perry, I don't think "adjacent" means what you think it means.
Perry's is a very pretty restaurant. It reminds me a lot of the steakhouses in Vegas. It has a modern art deco feel. Lots of dark wood, dimly lit, giant wine cellar in the back.
M was in the restroom when our waiter first showed up. As he started talking, I thought, oh, cute English/Aussie accent you have there. He saw me looking at the wine list and told me about their "featured" wine for $148 on page 14. I stopped listening at $148, so I have no idea what it was. Perry's is sure proud of their wines. M and I's first reaction when we saw the "by the glass" list was "wow". Most of their reds were in the $18-20 range. I was thinking about trying their bar out one night but not sure I want to at those prices. We settled on a Clos du Val Cabernet (it retails for between $25-30 and at Perry's we paid $70). Good steakhouse wine and cheaper than us ordering anything by the glass.
Our waiter then started talking and talking and talking. Something about Mr. Perry, Czech or Polish people, and sausages. I tuned him out. I was too busy trying to figure out where the heck his English/Aussie accent went because now he sounded like he was from Arkansas. Hmmmm. How could I have gotten it so wrong? Was he going to use a different accent for each course?
He did tell us about the special of the evening. The chef had created some type of steak topping that you could get added on to any steak for $11.95. After hearing the description twice, I honestly have no idea what this thing was. It had onions, mushrooms, crab, drunken goat cheese, Guinness cheddar, and then they'd come to your table and flambe it tableside. Huh? I'm a steak purist. A good steakhouse should not need to put any sauce or oniony cheese concoction on their steak to make it spectacular. Why are you dousing it with 151 and lighting a perfectly good steak on fire? We passed (although we were really hoping that someone would order it so we could see said fire).
We both ordered the 8oz filet. M, medium. Me, medium rare. The very center of my steak was cooked to perfection but the sides were almost medium well. The steak was good but I've had better. Probably would have like it more if it was cooked correctly. M really enjoyed hers.
We also ordered the creamed corn. So good. Fresh white corn (we knew it was fresh because some of the husk hairs were still there) with a cream sauce. We also ordered asparagus which was steamed to a perfect al dente.
The waiter encouraged us to try dessert. Apparently they have many flambe options and he really wanted to set something on fire. Normally I'm not opposed to setting things on fire but we had tickets and limited time so we passed. Our waiter then told us that we should come by to see him at the bar for drinks and appetizers. (um, are we - ie, M - getting hit on by the odd waiter?) Afterall, they always like to see "pretty ladies" at the bar. And . . . check please!
Overall, it was fine dining experience. Wouldn't be opposed to trying it again but to be honest, I'd rather go to Nick & Sam's or Bob's.
Cheers!
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