David Burke’s Meat Locker (Primehouse)
This month’s Steak Night brought us to a new locale for myself. According to Mr. Useless Knowledge Rick Ray, the group had been here before, but it had been quite a while.
The night started off with us finding out I made the reservation for the wrong night. Luckily Mr. Fedderke and his German charm had the hostess secure us a table anyway. The bar situation wasn’t ideal but we got a couple of couches and cube chairs and made the best of it. Kid Ray gave the waitress a hard time for not specifying how many cubes of ice she was going to put in his scotch. She definitely spit in his 3rd glass. Some of us made it to opening day for the Cubs and were already nicely lathered when we got there. Glick showed up at 8PM. I guess all you can say is at least it wasn’t 8:15.
The wine selection consisted of some luxurious Willamette Valley selections. Maybe my favorite selections to date. The waiter definitely up-sold me on one of the bottles but he was spot on. The Adelsheim is one to revisit again.
When bacon is listed as an appetizer, you get it. No questions asked. It’s there for a reason and it was the shining star of the selections. Small, salty, peppery bites. Delicious. The Kobe Corn Dogs sounded better on paper. It didn’t stop me from wolfing them down but I’d give them no higher than a B Minus. Lastly the Octopus, which is turning into one of my favorite dishes in general, was good, but we all felt like it should have been served warm. It was a cold, salad-like dish.
On to the namesake of the group. The waiter tried to sell everyone on their signature dish, the 55 day dry aged ribeye. I think almost everyone went a few days lower and got the 40 day. The longer the aging, the “gamier” a steak can be, as the fat tends to disappear. More on this later. My steak was done to an exact medium rare, with a perfect charred crust. I ate the whole thing in about 2 minutes. I’d give it a solid 9.0.
The sides left a lot to be desired. The potato pancake was a travesty. The green beans I could have made myself, and much better I might add. The obligatory creamed spinach was definitely the best of the bunch but no where near the best.
During the standard pre-dessert cigarette with Mr. Glick, we informed the hostess that it was Mr. Market’s birthday. Apparently while we were gone, someone else informed them it was my birthday. So it was a double celebration. We had donuts you could with inject jelly or vanilla cream, and carrot cake which was supposedly pretty bad. I didn’t try any myself. Carrot cake? Now why is that a cake? You don’t make carrots into a cake. I’m sorry.
Now to the greatest part of the evening. While chatting with one of the managers, we inquired about the dry aging process. He actually offered to take us down to the dry aging room which was basically a huge walk-in fridge, and give us the skinny. It was awesome. The manager coughed a few times so I’d say wait about 60 days before going back to Mr. Burke’s. Anyway, it was great icing on the cake of steak night, and something to be remembered.
I hope Mr Burke catches wind of the reviews on his sides. They need some work there. Like Cubs fans say….maybe next year.
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Inappropriately sauced from a day of drinking at the Cubs opener with Tummy and the Swank brothers, I showed up in good form. I have been to David Burke’s a number of times – the bar area remains a lowlight. It isn’t really a bar so much as the corner of a hotel lobby; not very welcoming or even comfortable for that matter. Regardless we got a seat and Oban’s started to flow.
J-Cizzle ordered up some nice wine once we were seated at our table – an area I think he outpaces the rest of the group in. Always finds a great grape at a non-Holinger price. Apps get high scores in my opinion. The bacon was just amazing. If you love bacon (you are weird if you don’t….just like my little brother, Balanaby, who doesn’t like bacon….bet none of you would have bet on that) it is a must order. Some of the best I have had in the city. The Kobe corn dogs were good and plenty juicy, as evidenced by the hot dog juice stain on my sport coat.
When talking about the steaks, I knew going in they push the 55 day – that was my past experience and until recently, the steak I always ordered. A little older and wiser, I went with the 40 day bone in rib-eye. If you really step back to think about it, why would anyone want to give up marble in their steak? The 40 day was ordered medium rare and cooked to perfection. Sides were kind of a joke. The server hinted the potato pancake thing was weird – which was a miss on his end. I say it was a miss because I appreciate a more forceful recommendation from my wait staff. The guy knew it sucked. Say it sucks…not that it is weird. Crème spinach was a highlight and was still just, meh.
There was s bit of a birthday mix-up at the end of dinner. I think that was my fault. I was pretty hammered by then so don’t recall much.
After desert we were lucky enough to get to check the meat locker. Easy to see why the 40-day is the choice. Watching the great cuts aged longer just did not look apetizing. In the meat locker there was a wall of Himalayan rock salt that serves to season the meat as it sits. I thought that was pretty cool.
I am a huge fan of David Burke’s and even more of a fan when I walk with a free dinner. Giggity. I rate thee a 9.
We had dined at David Burke’s many moons ago and I was looking forward to a return trip.
Knowing that many of my dining companions had been at the Friendly Confines all day for the Cubs opener I was expecting various levels of intoxication upon my arrival and was hoping there would be at least a couple of people who could carry on a some what coherent conversation. The boys didn’t disappoint with Brad Ray clearly the lead horse in the drunk derby.
The bar is basically the bar at The James Hotel but we had one of the few tables available and thus an enjoyable cocktail hour. The bar setup would kind of suck if we didn’t have a table. Daddy Gimms and our waitress Kasha had some spirited discussion about the number of ice cubes provided for various scotch drinks. I think it is safe to say Kasha was ready for us to leave.
Bacon is the best. Bacon is so good you wrap other foods in it to make them better. I think the bacon stick appetizer was the best piece of bacon I have ever had period, incredible. On my previous visit I went with the 55-day bone in ribeye which was good but not my favorite steak. This visit I went with the 40-day bone in ribeye and it did not disappoint, a fabulous steak that was cooked to perfection and had tons of natural flavor. The sides may be the worst we have ever had at steak night. The pancakes were a weird consistency and just seemed like cheese didn’t belong on them. The green beans looked like they were taken out of a freezer at Jewel then thrown into the microwave with no seasoning or flavor added. I enjoyed the donuts where you inject your own filling for dessert. Hard to believe the same place could swing and miss so badly on the sides when other elements of the meal where knocked out of the park.
I liked the waiter. I like that he told it like it is and gave an honest opinion. He didn’t pretend everything was the best. In fact he warned us the pancakes were weird but we decided to order them anyway. Going into the meat locker was one of the coolest steak night experiences. Seeing all the meat and the salt wall and learning about the process was not something you see everyday and was a neat experience.
Our friend Kasha was summoned to pull the cards during roulette, showing up at our table with a look that screamed “not these assholes” again. Ironically Brad ends up winning which I am sure thrilled our new waitress friend. Another great evening gentlemen.
Very solid evening. While concerns were voiced at the scheduling of the dinner with some coming from the Cubs opener and others recovering from other illnesses (real or perceived)…the dinner was a rousing success. Having never experienced David Burke’s before I was excited for the event and the venue did not disappoint. Service was great, apps were in line the only negative was my steak was a little overcooked (definitely not medium rare, more like medium well)…but the conversation more than made up for the meat.
Overall 9
There I was, one of the few to actually put in a long, full day of work, arriving on time, sitting alone in the James Hotel lobby. I asked myself, did I somehow mess up the location?? Well, I best discuss this possibility with the hostess. She informed me that no one named John or Crenshaw and certainly not a John Crenshaw had a reservation for this evening. I then politely informed her of our need to have a table and the level of expectations. She obliged. Faux pas Crenshaw, who had actually made a reservation for that coming Sunday night.
The whiskey was Bulleit, then Bookers. The company rolled in slowly as the hour progressed. The corner table with comfortable chairs made an otherwise abhorrent bar situation tolerable. They really shouldnt call it a bar, they should call it a loud uncomfortable shoe box with disgruntled staffing, but that doesnt roll off the tongue like bar does.
The table was well situated at the neck of the room with a good view of the surrounding patrons. A mixed bag of tourists, under dressed wannabe seens, and gentlemen of our caliber.
I am not going to discuss the entire meal since it has been discussed in posts above. I am going to make two proclamations of greatness and two of utter failure.
1. David Burkes has the best bacon I have had in Chicago and the youngest steak is the best. Cooked to perfection at medium rare, fuck aging. I keep getting older, but I like my steaks the same age, young.
2. David Burke has the worst side dishes in Chicago, and was able to unthrone the Custom House for serving up a carrot cake I would rather obstain from then make sweet love to. If you call yourself a steak house you best make some damn fine carrot cake or else stop calling yourself a steak house.
The piece de resistance was the tour de cow chamber. What an experience. I have never seen anything like it and according to our host, there are few like it. He did inquire if we had ever seen 90K worth of meat and wasnt surprised to hear the answer is no. I tend not to keep that kind of cash invested in perishable meat in my home.
Some of the gents braved the evening and headed out to cherche le femme avec Glick. I headed for home and got working on my sweet dreams and meat sweats. Onto to May.
A fine evening indeed…one I was very worried about when the Cubs decided to start their pilgrimage to 100 losses by opening up on the first Thursday of April. That said, after using some unfound restraint during what was a snoozer of an opener at the ballpark, the real meat of the day was indeed steak night.
After being ditched by Ol’ Gimms (who couldn’t wait 10 minutes) and unable to find a cab outside my place, i hopped on a donkey and rode downtown.
Arriving to find a lively bunch was a nice welcome as the ride down was bumpy and I need a pick me up. As noted in the pregame writeup, I did happen to order my scotch correctly with one cube and proceeded to enjoy my drink while we sorted out the dining situation due to the reservation being, well, on a different night!
Upon our seating, the atmosphere was uneven at best, but we had a nice table with enough room to spread out. The appetizers arrrived and at my behest the group threw on one addition in the octupus, which I liked cold and thought was the winner of the group.
Onto the steaks, not being oversold on the 55 day dry age (meat gets way too gamey and, as we later found out, odd looking after 35 days) I went with the 30 day dry aged bone in ribeye, which was a fine piece but just a touch overcooked from my medium rare direction.
The sides should have been left for another night – maybe they were better had we come on the correct day – but the creamed spinach was the winner, which typically is just the old standby. I happen to have enjoyed the suprise birthday celebration but didn’t expect to have to share it with the host. Made it twice as good.
Some dessert coffee and chit chat about blowing one of the steak nights out hardcore once summertime chooses to stick around seems like a good bet and I look forward to a more healthy group number next time. Those who missed out can see a steak night first in the pictures, as the night was complete with a smelly trip to the meat locker where all the guts of the business are really laid out.