A lot of people including me agree: Champagne is also very enjoyable in a wine glass.
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Of course Champagne is enjoyable in a wine glass. Probably so through a beer funnel, too.
I donāt mind it in small (5-9 oz) stems, or even small Duralex.
I have been to too many restaurants that are regarded as quite fine, charging astronomical sums for very small portions, astronomical prices for appetizers, salads, sides, and desserts, and case prices for single bottles of quite good but not earth shaking wines. They seem to assume that their clientele is either sufficiently wealthy or on expense account and will not bat an eye at that fifty dollar entree with various $20 items preceding, accompanying, or following, all washed down with $300-400 bottles of a very fine but not staggeringly good wines. Yes, the meals were pretty, pretty enough that the plating enhanced the experience, but I still left hungry. Too many such restaurants are pretentious but not really making truly great food. Yes, there are some rare restaurants that really deserve those kinds of accolades and pricing. Oddly, I never leave one of those hungry and somehow they can find and offer superb wines for under $100. It takes a special breed of sommelier to find those.
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Agree 100%, but thatās not an indictment of plating, is it?
Nope. Just saying poseur restaurants rely heavily on it to up-charge.
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Again, totally agree. I suppose there are poseurs to Claim Jumpers, too.
Wahine is from a largely rural Midwestern state. Her hometown isnāt small, but restaurants there die or thrive not on their gustatory merits, but on the perceived āvalueā of the offerings. This simply means portion size : price. We have watched over the years as new places have failed because, IOO, they ask $1 more for some menu item. We despair over this.
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I disdain being served a pre-cut steak. It comes to me cold and usually in a small portion and it takes away the pleasure and skill of me cutting it myself into the exact bites I want. Nobody can cut a steak better for me than I can for myself.
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I agree, but a good bistro known for serving excellent steak frites ought to be able to serve it sliced and fanned to receive a pan sauce and still hot, along with hot and crispy frites. It then allows the diner to cut bite sized pieces. A whole steak is pretty hard to beat. There is a unique pleasure in sizing up a sizzling ribeye and deciding how to tackle it. I usually go for the fat first. It loses a bit of its appeal as it cools. I love steak pretty much any way it is presented as long as it is properly cooked (rare and with a crunchy and buttery sear for me, please).
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Does this extend to salads or fries topped with steak?
I could get behind a rare porterhouse on top of a small salad with no dressing.
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Sure. Thereās a tavern near me that offers half a ceasar salad for $6.99 and they list add-ons for an extra charge. One extra is an 8oz sirloin for $9.99. I tried it once and the steak was very good. And together itās a lot cheaper than the same steak as an entree.
I like to cut my own steaks, too, but in this case, Iād rather the steak be served sliced atop the greens.
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Some years back we used to stop at an Applebeeās after flying into our destination. My order was their steak Caesar salad, a decent bed of greens with 8oz rare sliced strip steak on top. More than I could eat, I usually ziplocked part of the steak for lunch. It was quite acceptable quality and absurdly inexpensive. Not sure itās still offered. Not a profit center.
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A couple of places where Iād meet friends after work did salads topped with sliced tenderloin- obviously a way to use up their too-small-for-dinner filets. A fine dish in both spots (and very similar lol; they were sort of competitors).
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A salad topped with steak isnāt something I order very often though we have a restaurant nearby that we go to sometimes that has a Thai steak salad and they serve the steak on it sliced. I order it whenever we go there and something about their presentation makes it ok for me. Maybe itās simply that itās on a salad and therefore makes practical sense to be pre-sliced.
Maybe fajitas count as an exception too, but I seldom order fajitas.
I like the presentation of a whole steak; also enjoy the process of choosing the best bite and eating that first while itās hot, or sometimes saving it for the last bite.
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Iām not a steak-on-salad guy either FWIW. It doesnāt do a good example of either one much justice.
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Slicing the beef for yum nuah also allows the dressing to marinate more of the meat than one big ole piece. A favorite summer salad in this household.
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Oh, yeah, there are many beef preps served sliced thay wouldnāt be the same. London broil, for example. Stroganoff. Shabushabu.
Stroganoff! No noodles! No tomato!
Shabu shabu slicing is best left to a butcher with an electric slicer, IMO. The Wegmanās within driving distance usually has rib eye shabu shabu - which is great for cheesesteaks !! They also have pork and lamb sliced/shaved fresh.
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My only ring mold is a silicone one my cousin brought to keep her fried egg round when she was here.
I do have a couple of Jello molds, though, maybe Iāll use one tonight.
My Costco has shabu shabu-sliced ribeyes. Routinely. That would be great for stroganoff, but Iād have to have egg noodles with it too. ours looks delightful.
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