House of Prime Rib is a San Francisco classic, opened in 1949. It’s similar to the Lawry’s chain of restaurants from L.A. - both focus on prime rib and have similar sides (e.g. the “spinning salad,” and the seasoned salt). HOPR opened up a little later than Lawry’s though. I haven’t been to a Lawry’s but have been to HOPR several times, mostly for special occasions, as was the case for this dinner.
Very simple menu, they focus on prime rib and don’t veer off from that much. There is an off menu vegetarian plate and also a fish dish for vegetarians and non red meat eaters. There are 4 cuts of prime rib available - the standard House of Prime rib cut, the English cut, which is about the same size as the HOPR cut but sliced into three thinner slices, the smaller City cut, and the larger bone-in Henry VIII cut. Though not advertised on the menu you can also get the Henry VIII cut sliced English style like the English cut. Each prime rib entree comes with bread (cornbread and a sourdough), a salad, a choice of creamed corn or spinach, Yorkshire pudding, and a choice of baked or mashed potatoes. I forgot to note the prices but I think they were all in the $40 region.
Salad
Salad consists of iceberg lettuce, some other salad greens, diced hard boiled egg, tomato, and strips of what looks like canned beets. Tossed with flourish table-side - the waiter spins the salad bowl and pours a stream of dressing into it. Some seasoned salt I believe was also added as well. The dressing was a little sweet and tangy, kind of tasted like a Russian or Thousand Island. They give you a chilled fork for the salad which is a nice touch. Not a bad salad but mostly unremarkable. I think it might be there just so you can get some vegetables before the meat parade.
Prime Rib, English Cut
Served with three types of horseradish with varying intensity. I got it with creamed spinach and mashed potatoes. The English cut is my favorite cut. I think it’s because I can get more of the jus around each bite since the slices are thinner. A good piece of aged meat. Perfectly medium rare, juicy, beefy, and swimming in a salty beef jus. Creamed spinach was very good and creamy, there’s some bacon in there too, it’s not vegetarian. The slice of Yorkshire pudding was not bad. I think it’s cooked in beef fat. Could have been a little fluffier though. Mashed potatoes were topped with a dollop of gravy and were fine. I prefer the mashed over the baked as I think the baked potato is a little too big and I’ve run out of toppings before.
. I might have been wrong about the baked potato. Did not run out of toppings.
