To give you an idea of the place, let's first explain how excited I get about the free black bean dip at Gloria's and the free queso at Campo Verde. Yum. Well, after you sit down at Nick & Sam's, they bring out the free nibbles, including caviar. And I'm not talking about crappy roe, this was a really nice sturgeon. We both liked it much better than the oestra (which I think is a type of sturgeon...not sure what type of sturgeon we ate last night but it was lighter and better) we had last Christmas. So already, damn.
Now the steak we had was really great, it was, but this place tops anyplace I have ever been, Bern's in Tampa included, for service. Totally. Blown. Away. At first, I was vaguely irritated, as they brought out the dinners but we never saw our promised bread, and there seemed to be confusion as to where my black truffle butter was, as someone had muttered something about garlic butter that arrived at our table. My butter was in a solid form when infact it really should have been warmed if it's a side. Otherwise, I feel like I'm slathering butter on my steak.
Which let's face it, I am.
And I was unimpressed with the black truffle butter. Little more flavor little less BUTTER next time, k? I don't know how Dakota's did theirs but wowzers. And since they no longer offer it, it hardly matters. But what I was impressed with was our waiter apologizing and saying the manager was on his way over to "smooth things over." I wasn't sure why that was really necessary, but he came over and warmed the sauce for me and they had three other sauces brought out, complimentary. A nice bernaise, a peppercorn something or other and a caramelized onion-Marsala sauce (the clear winner) in addition to their house steak sauce (already at our table) which was damn fab itself.
So we got that treatment, which was shocking and delicious. And I don't mean to say the service was superior and the food was not. The food rocked, it totally kicked ass. And they are the only steakhouse in Dallas to offer chateaubriand (granted it's $140 but I think it's for 2 people). The desserts looked gorgeous (including this towering chocolate layered cake I can't seriously imagine anyone ordering after a dinner like that) but we refrained. And I probably wouldn't get the lobster mac and cheese side again...the mac and cheese was kinda...cheesy, for lack of a better word, but my mom's recipe has ruined all others for me, so that may not be their fault. And it was dark, so it was kinda hard to tell just how much lobster really made it in there...
But anyhoo, we finished up and D had a coffee and I a small port (I asked about their digestifs which were not quite up to what one might find at Les Halles, so I opted for port). We had already paid up, and as I finished my little glass, the waiter re-appeared and refilled my glass, again, complimentary.
And then? He left the bottle.
On purpose.
I didn't know if it was because I left a nice tip or what but *giggle*! And really, I've left better tips at worse places, but when the tab runs that high one has to bear that in mind...we figured out I'd left about 28% or so. And while there wasn't a ton of port left in the bottle, by the menu's pricing, I probably consumed at least $50 worth of port by the end! So I requested to have my tab brought back out and I left him a little extra.
So we are eating beans, dust bunnies and cat food for the rest of the month.
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