I'm A Frayed Knott: Chicago Cut Steakhouse - Miss Chicago Steakhouse for September

Number 10 on the countdown...

I cannot believe this. Faithful readers, we have hit the home stretch. There are only 3 more steakhouses left to visit after our trip last Saturday night to Chicago Cut Steakhouse, a new place located right on the Chicago River at the LaSalle Street bridge, in the River North area. Damn, that place is jammed with steakhouses.

As I do every month, and because I'm a pageview whore, let's see where we've been thus far on our food odyssey. We started with Joe's, then Keefer's, Gibsons, Morton's, Primehouse, Rosebud, N9NE, Fogo de Chao, and Benny's. If you haven't read those reviews...look at that, I linked right to them.

Oh. Don't forget to click on the links. I like to think they are funny....

Speaking of links and pageviews, I'm going to try something here. For those that don't know, my review of Gibsons has a link to a safe-for-work photograph of Adult Film Star Briana Banks. I also have gotten 5 times the traffic on that particular blogpost than any other...I think the two things are related. So. Here's a safe-for-work link to a photograph of Adult Film Star Jill Kelly. Now we'll see some major traffic. Maybe.

I think I can get to the steakhouse review now.

No, I can't. Watch here in one week. I'll put it on Facebook when the time comes, but I have to check out some legalities about something I want to do. It has to do with helping fund next month's review (found out the place is REALLY pricey - TOO pricey)....and a trip out for one reader (couple) in appreciation in November. That's what I can say until I check out if I can even do it.

The cover of the menu. Very nice.

As I said, this month we went to Chicago Cut Steakhouse. When I proposed this venture, Chicago Cut was not on the list. It was a late substitution for Tramonto's. The reason for that is here. Chicago Cut is a newcomer to Chicago, just short of a year old. It wasted no time establishing its reputation, partly I'm sure because of its location, and partly because of the way we chose to dine Saturday night. Its outdoor seating is phenomenal. Saturday, Sept. 10th in Chicago was a glorious day. About 78 degrees with blue skies, it was the kind of day that makes living with 12" snowfalls tolerable.

Arriving about 10 minutes early for our 6 o'clock reservation, we passed what looked to be a host station on the way to the front door. We also noticed a fairly extensive outdoor seating area, overlooking the Chicago River. Not being sure what the procedure was, we went inside. We checked in and were about to be seated inside when I asked if we could sit outside. Turns out that was indeed a host station we had passed, and we could have stopped there. Our names were on the list outside as well.

Dave Kaplan. Celebrities in Chicago are sports related usually.
He qualifies.

In the brief moments we spent inside the restaurant, I glanced as quickly as I could. There is a massive wine rack next to the host station. All dining room seating is on the left, and actually looked pretty damned cramped. Like, too cramped. It looked nice, but it looked as if one might be elbowing one's neighbor all night. The bar was slightly to the right. The bar is gorgeous. Trimmed in cherry wood (central casting), and filled with bottles of liquor, the place looked inviting. Like I said, that was the extent of our time spent inside.

Being sent back to the outdoor host station, we were taken to our table, right on the railing looking over the river, a beautiful view. As we were approaching our table, I poked Amy and said, "There's Dave Kaplan." Dave is a local radio personality on WGN Radio, and also handles a lot of pre/post game work for the Chicago Cubs, as well as hosting Chicago Tribune Live on television. Chicago Cut has a reputation of being popular with local celebrities, and Mr. Kaplan certainly qualifies as one. We were seated a couple of tables away. Amy checked in on him regularly with her eyes. Apparently he had tuna, and corn. That's my girl.

Soon after sitting down, we were given a choice in waters again. Tap is fine. Seriously. A small basket of breads was left on the table, and we were given our menus. Our server for the evening, a new to the area gentleman named Tom, also brought out the most unique thing we've encountered at one of these places. An iPad with the wine list as an App. Yup. He left an iPad on the table for us. We weren't going to order wine, but I've got readers. I've got to check this out for you. The wines are grouped by region, or type, or price, etc. You choose. It's fucking cool. There are pictures, prices, and if you are inclined, you can order right from the iPad if you like. Cool. I was liking everything we were experiencing.

Lamb Chop Lollipops. Lolita would look good eating
one of these.

As we sat eating the breads (one of which was a Pretzel Roll - our personal favorite), we were asked for our appetizer orders. As I've said a couple of times on this journey, I've been inclined to try things I normally wouldn't, because....well....I'm not really sure. I'm just trying new things. Chicago Cut would prove to be no exception. As a child, I don't recall ever eating lamb, and with my proclivity for all things beef, I would not order it as an adult either. Why eat something I might like, when I can have something I KNOW I will like? But here I am, out at a fancy restaurant....so....what the fuck. I ordered the Lamb Chop Lollipops, cooked medium. I figured an appetizer of lamb can't hurt me. Amy ordered a cup of Split Pea Soup, cooked...well...cooked.

Reveling in the weather and the view, we were thoroughly enjoying the choice to eat al fresco. There is probably seating for about 40-50 guests outside. I felt lucky to be one of them on this night. A short while later, a couple who had just gotten married that afternoon arrived, along with their family/friends, a party of about a dozen people. Seemed like a good place for a celebration.

Split pea soup. Smoky green goodness. When I was in
high school, those words were applied differently.

After a couple more minutes, Tom arrived to take our entree orders, bringing the appetizers with him. The dinner order first. Chicago Cut dry ages their steaks for 35 days on premises. For those that didn't read last month, dry aged steak tends to not take a char as well as wet-aged steak does. It also lends a little gamey quality to the meat. I've figured out how to taste it. If this project has taught me nothing else, it's taught me that.

Anyway.

For our entrees, I ordered...wait for it...the Bone In Ribeye, cooked Medium Rare. SURPRISE! I love this cut of meat. Amy ordered the Bone In Filet, also cooked Medium Rare. We also ordered a Baked Potato (big enough to share), and a dish of Green Beans Almondine to accompany the meat. We then dug into our appetizers.

The Lamb Chop Lollipops were small portions of lamb, still attached to the bone, and they looked like lollipops. Ta-dah! Cooked to a perfect medium, the lamb was succulent. What was really good, however, was the minty, oily sauce that accompanied them. Giving just enough intrigue to the meat to justify using it, the sauce was a subtle garnish to a fantastic piece of meat. I heartily recommend the lamb. Hell, if I was to attend Chicago Cut regularly, I might even order it as an entree. It was that good.

Amy's soup was super thick, super creamy, and super smoky. I have a soft spot in my heart for things that are charred/smoky flavored. Amy's soup tickled that spot. She really enjoyed the hell out of it, and also recommends it. Since we always share at least one bite of every item, I can report I liked it also.

The waitstaff at Chicago Cut, like every one of the places we've attended, was exceptionally attentive. Water glasses were refilled quickly, when Amy went to the Ladies' Room, her napkin was refolded and placed next to her plate, etc. One of the perks of fine dining is that not only do you have a waiter, but the bus boy helps out quite a bit also. Plates don't sit empty. It should also be noted that Chicago Cut has its own "branded" steak knives. Their name is on them. Nice touch.

My Ribeye steak. Hungry? I am.

So they have these nice steak knives. What are they used for? Oh yeah! Steak. After a brief intermission post-appetizer, our steaks and sides arrived. Sides first. The sides arrived in All Clad fancy little serving dishes. Very nice. Amy's half of the potato was loaded with sour cream, chives and bacon. My half had butter. Potato was good. Not fantastic. A lot of the potato "stuck" to the skin, and was the part you can't eat, without going ahead and diving into the skin. Guess what I'm saying is that it was a little overdone, because only the very middle section was "tender." The green beans, however, were spectacular. Crisp. Flavored with just enough salt. They were the best green beans I've ever eaten. No hyperbole. And the sentence preceding the hyperbole thought is a sentence I never imagined I'd compose in my lifetime.

The steaks. That's what you're here for, right? My steak was lightly charred, and appeared to be cooked to the proper temperature. Served with a small tomato with a little wooden "M Rare" flag sticking out of it, the steak looked good enough to eat. Oh. Wait. Back to the "M Rare" flag. I don't know why I like those things, but I do. Remember going out with your grandparents, and getting a steak with a plastic tab sticking out of it? I do. Those flags always make me nostalgic. They're totally superfluous, but they give me a warm fuzzy feeling. I digress.

Meat cascading from the bone. She said the sauce was good.
She didn't use it, though. My God, this was a good steak.

Amy's steak was...there is no delicate way to say this....a clod of meat. Charred to a crisp on the outside, the way it was butchered almost made it look as if the meat was cascading off the bone. I don't know if that translates in the picture, but it looked GOOD. I dug into my ribeye, and Amy started in on her filet. My first comment was "this is dry aged." There is a definite flavor I've already talked about, and Chicago Cut's steak had it in droves. My steak was juicy, cooked to a hair past medium rare (close enough), and well charred on the outside. There was something a bit funky about it that is not Chicago Cut's fault. Dry aging steak also dry ages the fat. Ribeye is a fatty piece of meat. The ring of fat that helps define the "eye" gets a flavor that is a little funky with dry aging, and it also kind of dries out. A good wet-aged steak will have some of that fat melt in the broiling process. I think. I don't know. All I know is that the fat, which is unavoidable at times, added an odd flavor. Nothing Chicago Cut can do about that, short of wet-aging their steaks. Bottom line, my steak was great. Truly great. I am quibbling.

Amy's filet. Amy had not ordered a filet on this adventure yet. A pricey steak, it was worth every penny. Tender, charred to perfection on the outside, an almost red hue on the inside, it was a fantastic filet. I would recommend getting that steak if you go to Chicago Cut. It was tremendous. Since Amy had not been feeling well, she ate about half her portion and brought the rest home. She then proceeded to eat it in front of me the other night at dinner. Bitch. By the way, you know how people collect string handled shopping bags? We could have an extensive collection of these if we had chosen to save them, rather than using them for recycling our other paper. 'Cept our collection would be all steakhouses. Hee hee.

Chocolate Bag. It's not just a clever name.

Finishing up our dinner, our server Tom came over to tell us what was for dessert. I found it a tad askew that we didn't receive a menu for this. He listed Key Lime Pie, Cheesecake, etc. then he said, "Chocolate Bag." I didn't hear him right. I said, "Chocolate Bath?" I think Amy heard something similar, because she had been saying "no dessert" all night. When she heard "Chocolate bath/bag" she perked right up. Little trooper. Anyway, Tom corrected my deafness and said, "No, chocolate bag. It's a bag made of dark chocolate, with a white chocolate mousse and various berries inside." Um. Duh. Fetch that. Quickly.

I can report that the Chocolate Bag was exactly as described. The bag portion didn't really taste like dark chocolate, probably because of the other complementary flavors included in the bag. It was also a gorgeous presentation. We enjoyed it tremendously.

Darkness was starting to envelop the city, and our dinner was coming to a close. A beautiful night on the river, spent with a beautiful woman, eating a beautiful dinner. I am the luckiest man alive.

Nuts and Bolts:

We got out of there for $225. Sense a trend?

Place is beautiful inside, mostly. Tables look cramped. I recommend eating outside, if you can.

Bathrooms are about what you'd expect. Beautiful.

Attentive staff. Love that.

Chicago Cut is a new place, and earning a powerful reputation. I'd say it's well deserved. It takes balls of steel to open a steak place in a great steak city, and Chicago Cut certainly asserted itself right into the mix. Well done. Another place to return to, once this quest ends.

NEXT MONTH: TBD. (it's supposed to be Chicago Chop House - watch here next week for an announcement on that)