Valentine's Day dinner...

[trhee]

We went out the night before because we wanted a slightly quieter night out so we made reservations at Wolfgang's Steakhouse that opened up here in Seoul.

Superb night out with great food and impeccable service. Even though tipping isn't necessary or even expected here in Korea, we tipped him the equivalent of about $50 for great service.

We ended up ordering the porterhouse for four (2kg or 4.4 pounds), creamed spinach, fries, wedge salad, a bottle of pinot noir, a bottle of Pellegrino and 3 glasses of Jameson before the meal started.

Just a tad more expensive than the prices at Wolfgang's in NYC but that's to be expected here. However, the last time I had steak this good at a restaurant was 3 years ago back in NYC. We totally killed the steak and our server said it was the first time he had seen a couple order and finish the porterhouse for four. I feel like we should have gotten the dinner on the house. LOL.

 

[jimfet]

Damn that looks good. Hard to beat a steak cooked right. I have to work Valentines day. 12 hours.

 

[Redtide]

I don't get out enough. When did retro dishes like creamed spinach and wedge salad come back into style? Wedge salad especially seems weird to me.

 

[trhee]

I didn't know wedge salad ever went out of style. It's a classic steakhouse salad that many have continued to serve over the years. I love it, especially when it's served with a lot of chunky blue cheese and thick cut bacon lardons.

Same can be said for creamed spinach which has always been a classic side dish for steaks and prime ribs.

 

[Redtide]

Ah - I haven't been to a high-end steakhouse in many years. I guess I should google steakhouse menus to see if they usually offer other side dishes that seem unusually retro to me (creamed peas, creamed corn, jello salad, etc...)

Wedge salad seems like something invented by someone who hates salad.

 

[trhee]

I haven't seemed creamed peas, creamed corn, jello salad, etc... on any steakhouse menus for as long as I can remember. Things like creamed spinach, fries, chips, baked potato, mashed potato, roasted potato, asparagus, sautéed mushrooms, tomato salad, caesar salad, etc... are all steakhouse standards.

Ah - I haven't been to a high-end steakhouse in many years. I guess I should google steakhouse menus to see if they usually offer other side dishes that seem unusually retro to me (creamed peas, creamed corn, jello salad, etc...)

Wedge salad seems like something invented by someone who hates salad.

 

[GuyK]

That was a good looking meal.

 

[frankbooth]

I'm interested, being a chef, if you can enjoy a meal out or do you end up critiquing the food? Is it hard to separate yourself from it?

 

[trhee]

I enjoy eating out quite a bit and eat out almost every night as well as sometimes lunch on the weekends. I'd safely say I eat out around 30 times a month, sometimes trying new restaurants and sometimes going to one of my regulars.

My expectations change accordingly, depending on the price, food type as well as the hype the restaurant has. There are very few times that I leave a restaurant completely disappointed and I rarely complain unless the restaurant has made a grievous mistake that wasn't corrected immediately. With something like Wolfgang's Steakhouse, I knew I was going to be shelling out around $500 for the meal so my expectations were that it should be pretty much on par with Wolfgang's Steakhouse in NYC, which thankfully, it was. The same meal in NYC would've cost around $400, tip and tax inclusive.

Last year, a friend of mine suggested we go to her friend's Italian restaurant because she wanted to know what my opinion of the food was. She thought it was great and she considers herself a "foodie". Because she had given the chef there a head's up that she would be bringing me there, the chef had prepared a 9 course tasting meal for us. After the meal was finished, she asked me for my opinion and I gave her an honest rundown of my opinion course by course. All in all, not bad but nothing that came remotely close to wowing me. But at the end of the night, I was satisfied with the meal since the service was spot on and I had good company.

I'm not a food critic and I don't go to restaurants in order to nitpick every single detail of food, service and ambiance. I'm there to enjoy the food and the company that I'm with as well as filling my tummy. We can't always eat great food every single day of our lives but if the food is "good enough", I'm satisfied. A lot of my friends are nervous about inviting me over for dinner because they feel I'm going to critique the food but that's really not the case.

To summarize it best, I critique my own cooking much, much harsher than I would ever critique another chef's food.