Having missed the groups first trip to GT Prime I was particularly interested in trying this out after reading the rave reviews.  Upon arrival, it was obvious this is a recent entrant into the Chicago steakhouse market scene being all dark wood, brass fixtures, and exposed concrete.  The space itself is a bit too cozy if not claustrophobic.  The bar area lining the south wall is jammed in with high tops that are both for dinner and drink use which seems like a bad idea for keeping drinks flowing.  The service however was eager and spot on.  The finest gentlemen in Chicago began to arrive and we shortly had our high top to capacity of both man spreading and various liquor.  A side note, their draconian $50.00 per person cancellation policy is outright absurd especially when you are dealing with the likes of Mr. Donald 60/40 Cole.  I still cant figure out which is which in his percentages as they tend to equal 0/100 of late despite is return to excellence initiative.

I had called ahead and requested no booth to avoid frisky knee touches from Scooter Markets.  The hostess was reminded and delivered us the main banquette when you enter the dining room.  I was surprised how small the dining room actually is given some of the other recent entrants into the market like Steak 48 that feature multiple levels and enough room to drive a short bus through.  Conversation mainly revolved around the financial state of the union and risk averse strategies.  There was also debate over whether or not Scotty wears pants while on TV, the question was not resolved but assume no.  I fired in some seafood apps to get us started.  The tuna crudo was quite good while the crab and avocado looked like a bad skittles ad, however was pretty good as well.  our waitress was quick with the wine list and actually said, “if you want to look cool you should order a magnum.”  Jay Cutler responded best with his trademark, “doooooon’t caaaaaaare.”  I handed off the wine duty to our two headed beast of a sommelier known as Phelpsizzle who did an outstanding job keeping our glasses full and the prices reasonable.

On to the main event.  GT Prime is all about the Carnivore platter that allows patrons to taste various cuts of meat in lieu of ordering your own steak.  In theory this is an interesting concept in practice I found it to be a failure.  The portion size of 8oz causes temperature issues with the different cuts of meat and should you find there is something you prefer more than the other you are unlikely to get a second pass at it.  We ended up going back for seconds on the strip loin and the bison, both were quite good.  I was disappointed by the A5 Samurai Kamakazi Wagyu after hearing tales from abroad of meat melting in mouths in FL and TX.  The sides were adequate at best although I can’t speak to the roasted cauliflower because Cizzle killed it before it made it around the horn.  Nice job.  I need someone to explain to me why there is such aversion to having carrot cake on a steakhouse menu.  Even key lime pie got das boot over the past couple years.  In the place of these staples there are a bunch of overpriced bland desserts that sell hard and disappoint harder, kinda like Rick Ray at 3am.  Overall, good evening with Chicago’s finest but I would not put GT Prime ahead of some of our other favorites if someone was asking for a recommendation.  A couple of beers after dinner resulted in a hazy 5am wake up on Friday.  7.5/10

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