St. Elmo Steak House

A few weeks ago, Tim and I went to dinner with some friends to celebrate both Tim's and our friend Damien's birthdays.  Our goal was to go to Bluebeard, which our friends had not yet tried, but upon arrival at 6:30pm we were told there was a 2.5 hour wait.  Let me say that again--two and a half hours.  Now, was the wait really that long?  Who knows.  But we weren't ready to wait quite that long.  So we began searching for a restaurant that took reservations asap.

As luck would have it, St. Elmo's had some openings, so we headed there.  Upon arrival, we were seated right away in the basement level room.  If you haven't been there before, you should know that St. Elmo's is pretty enormous.  It's a maze of several rooms and levels, and the whole place is decked out in traditional steakhouse wood-and-leather style.

We settled in and ordered some drinks, as well as shrimp cocktail ($15.95).  I'm sure you've had many people tell you about St. Elmo's shrimp cocktail, if you haven't had it yourself, and let me just say that in my opinion, it is delicious.  The shrimp are well cooked and large, and the sauce famously full of horseradish.  Spicy!

Shortly after, we received our bread basket, which as usual contained a couple different kinds of rolls and a cheesy flatbread (my favorites are the flatbread and onion rolls).  Then our orders were taken.  I went with the 8oz filet ($37.95), as did Tim.  Our entrees came with tomato juice or navy bean soup, or we could upgrade to lobster bisque, so Tim and I both did that.  It doesn't look too impressive in the picture, but it was really delicious--creamy and flavorful and full of lots of large pieces of lobster.  Can't remember how much the upgrade fee was, but it was worth it, no matter what.  Really delicious.


Soon after (but not too soon after), our entrees came.  The picture is dark, but our filets had lovely char marks on them and were cooked PERFECTLY.  They were also seasoned PERFECTLY.  I generally like a good amount of salt on a steak, but I didn't have to add any at all, whereas Tim normally likes things light on salt, and he didn't think it was too salty.  PERFECT.  St. Elmo's may be pricey, but they cook a good steak.  Our sides were mashed redskin potatoes, which are garlicky and yummy and satisfyingly carby next to all that red meat.

Had to include a picture of our friend Jeff's prime rib...it was enormous!!!  He said it was cooked perfectly and very tasty.  He was also quite impressed with the service at St. Elmo's (it was his first visit).  The waiters there are professionals, for sure--they know what they're doing.  Attentive without being in your face, great with recommendations, know the menu well, the timing of the meal is good--just all-around great service.  It's a place for special occasions, and they do make the occasion special.

Side note:  If you want the experience at a discount, go on Sundays.  They have their usual Devour Downtown menu on offer year-round on Sundays:  $35 for an app (salad or the shrimp cocktail), main course (filet is an option), and dessert.  Great deal!

Website:  St. Elmo Steak House

Thunderbird

I had been wanting to try Thunderbird since it opened, so I convinced Tim and two of our friends to go there for dinner a few Saturdays ago.  I'd heard a bit about it, and knew the cocktails were the focus, but the menu sounded interesting, also.

The menu I'd seen (and linked to, below), unfortunately, wasn't priced the same as the one at the actual restaurant.  If you take a look, there are several items priced at $10, but several are also priced at $4.  So, I figured we could each get a $10 dish (which I assumed would be bigger), and a few of the $4 dishes to share, allowing us to taste several items plus a couple of drinks.  It would be pricey, but no worse than several other restaurants in town.

Therefore, we were rather displeased to see that ALL of the food items are now priced at $10 (well, except for a few 'snacks').  Some of these items include hush puppies, ham croquettes, and a mac & cheese that comes in a tiny ramekin.  Not paying $10 each for those, sorry!

So, what did we get?  I opted for the pimento grilled cheese, and it was a good-sized sandwich filled with the aforementioned pimento cheese, tomato, and pickles.  On the side were pickled peppers, which (forgive the Emerilism) really kicked the sandwich up a notch--seriously good with those added.  Was it worth $10?  Eh, I don't know about that, especially since it came with no fries or chips or anything on the side, but it was a tasty sandwich.

Tim got the duck neck biscuits and gravy, and he loved it.  It was one decently sized biscuit that was covered in gravy made with duck neck meat (I imagine the neck itself also imparted its own flavor into the whole thing).  The meat was finely shredded and tender.  It was topped with a fried egg and some micro-greens, and the whole thing was tasty enough that one of our friends ended up ordering it after tasting  Tim's (he had originally opted just the crisp hominy, $4, thinking that we weren't going to stay long.  For the record, he did enjoy that, too!).


 Our other friend got the chicken and hoecake sandwich.  This was a fried "buttermilk" chicken thigh between two cornmeal hoecakes, topped with smoked cheddar and bacon honey butter.  Sounds great, right?  Unfortunately, he reported that the whole thing suffered from a lack of flavor.  It wasn't seasoned enough, and the hoecake was somewhat flavorless, also.  Maybe more bacon honey butter would have helped?

I did force Tim into dessert, because the beignets with espresso cream cheese ($4) were calling my name.  You can barely see them in the picture (apologies for the poor quality/lighting of all the pics, but it was super dark in the back corner where we were seated), but we got four donut balls covered in a slightly sweet cream cheese icing and sprinkled with what I think may have been tarragon.  These were SUPER good.  Not exactly like the beignets I've had in New Orleans, but they did hearken back to those, texture-wise, and they tasted fantastic.

We did have several of the cocktails, but I the pictures turned out crazy dark.  I started with the Ti' Punch ($9), which is La Favorite Rhum Agricole, Lime, and Cane Sugar.  It was good, but not overly complex--it mostly just tasted of lime.  Which, again, is good in my book, because I like lime, but not overly special.  I also had the Joke About Jamaica ($9), which is Smith & Cross Rum, Gosling's Rum, Montenegro Amaro, Lime, and Pomegranate Demerara.  The pomegranate gave this one a more floral, fruity kick, and I really liked it.  Only negative I'd give about either of these, is that my glasses were only about 2/3 full.  They still packed a punch, but come on--they are $9.  Top off the glass.

The final conclusion we came to when we were done was that we'd primarily go there just for cocktails...but if we just want cocktails, Tim and I, at least, would pick Ball & Biscuit any day.  I'd be happy to go there with friends if someone wanted to, but I don't know that I'd suggest it myself--I wasn't blown away enough.  However, if they ever update their menu and reconsider their food price points, that might be a good reason to try it again!

Website:  Thunderbird  (again, warning that the prices aren't up to date)