57. The Prime Rib
Let me start off by saying that I’m not a steak restaurant gal. Now before the haters start up, allow me to explain myself. When faced with a dinner decision, I’m almost never going to chose a steak. Because of that, I stay away from your standard steak restaurants (i.e. Mortons, Smith & Wollensky, etc.) because I figure that if they want you to order a steak, they’re not putting a whole lot of effort into the non-beef menu items. But Washingtonian is my guide, and so I must follow…to The Prime Rib.
So off I went this past Monday to eat steak and celebrate Christopher Columbus. I’m sure he loved steak. To be honest I wasn’t expecting to love the restaurant—I thought it would be stuffy and cold. But it couldn’t have been farther from the truth. Before setting foot in the restaurant, I never would have considered painting my walls black and buying some leather club chairs, but before I knew it I was trying to visualize my hand-me-down couch covered in a tasteful yet over the top Asian print. Don’t get me wrong—it’s a good old boy restaurant. There is a piano player dead in the middle of the restaurant, waiters in tuxes, white table cloths and ladies on the prowl at the bar. Instead of feeling like I was sneaking in to a 50th wedding anniversary party though, it just felt nostalgic and special.
I knew I had to order red meat, whether I normally would or not, since it was right in the name. And I was afraid that I would be dropping some serious coin for a meal I wouldn’t be too excited about, but lucky for me there was a lunch deal. I love a deal! For $25, you got three courses. That’s $8.33 per course. There weren’t tons of choices, though there was something for everyone. For a starter there was the roasted tomato soup or the house salad. We both chose the salad, which turned out to be a quintessential steak house salad, complete with creamy dressing and hard boiled eggs. For the main course, my friend dove head first into the prime rib. He may or may not have finished it before I got halfway through my meal, so he either dropped it on the floor or inhaled it. I’m guessing it was a hit. I went with the prime rib sandwich, which really hit the spot. Served with a rich and creamy horseradish sauce as well as some au jus for dipping, the meat was tender and flavorful and the roll was great. Served alongside all main courses is a hearty portion of mashed potatoes (garlicky and smooth) and creamed spinach (heavenly). The final course is a choice of desserts, which for us amounted to key lime pie, creme brulee, pumpkin pie or ice cream. I can’t turn down a key lime pie so I went to town on their seriously good version, while my friend rang in the season with the fresh-from-the-oven pumpkin pie.
For the record, our $25 got us the following: salad, meat, two sides, dessert and iced tea. By my calculations, I can buy approximately eleven grapes at Whole Foods for the same amount of money. Needless to say, The Prime Rib is not the money suck I falsely accused it of being. It is also (again, seriously surprised here) not the stuffy man cave I was expecting. Am I a changed woman when it comes to steak? Maybe not. But I promise not to make puking sounds the next time someone recommends a steak house to me. We’ll call it progress.
