While I'm a rare to medium-rare guy, I've had too many experiences like you've described to count. I don't think some of these places train the line cooks to properly cook a thick piece of meat.

Because of this problem, when my wife and I want a great steak I go to Fox and Obel and buy a couple of 21-day dry aged prime ribeyes and throw them on the grill at home. They come out just the way we like them. Besides, my wine cellar at home has better stuff than a lot of steakhouse wine lists, and costs less as well. You can't beat rare steak and aged bordeaux while sitting in your jammies!

All the best,
John

Wanted to post the outcome of my earlier concerns. While I have no doubt that Alen has had a really bad run of luck and what happened is near unforgiveable at this level of dining, I am happy to report that my expierence was quite different. It should be noted that nothing was ordered past mid-rare and I did not take "done-ness" shots. I will say that everything was perfectly cooked.

I will make two comments that are, if not negative, not glowing with praise. First the service, while efficent and not overbearing was a bit clumsy at times. We had, what appeared to be, a table of NRA convetion goers (they were in town at the time) across from us for the first 3/4 of our meal. These folks were either expense accounting it or reaching deep as I belive they sampled the whole menu for a 10-top. After they left, out two servest (we were Tag-Teamed... not a bad thing per se but hard to get a feel on both sides IMHO) were visably arguing abou the table reset for the next bit group about 4 ft. from our table. Keep in mind that I currently work in retail, worked in the resturant buisness for years, see a gal in the biz, and dine out a good deal. The one rule a server should always follow is never...ever... let your temper get out of control on the floor. No excuses. Just don't let it happen. Second issue was the apps. This was also related to service. We ordered the Short Rib and Lobster Surf and Turf dumplings. Our server wisely asked us if we wanted to increase the order so we each had one of both varieties as the normal order is, I belive 2 of each kind and there were 3 of us. We agreed. However, she actually doubled the order and then added 1 of each kind, bringing the total to 5 of each, essentially making it a $25.00 app. This would have been somethign we could have overlooked if the actuall product was better. Sadly we didn't pick the proper app and the dumplings were lacking in flavor and gummy in texture. Ahhh... you win some, you lose some.

Onj the positive, Everything after the apps was fantastic. The sides were, in particular, outstanding. All the meats were spot on in tamp and flavor. I would not hesitate to recomend David Burke in a second and certainly look forward to returning myself.

Dining Room



Lobser and Short Rib "Surf & Turf" Dumpling



Asparagus and Shallot



Hash Browns



Lamb Chops



"South Side" Bone in Filet



Standard Age Rib-Eye

the real point is not the food. i think what i've eaten there has been pretty good to excellent. the point is how it was handled. or in my case mishandled. and then ignored when given the oppty to correct it.

Stagger wrote:First the service, while efficent and not overbearing was a bit clumsy at times.

This statement made me think of the time I dropped in at DB on an early Saturday evening and, not wanting a full sit down meal, grabbed a bite at the bar. My friend ordered a lobster, and asked the bartender for a cracker. We then saw this well-meaning guy look around the adjacent servers area, run back to the kitchen, ask this server, that server; we were starting to wonder what the problem was when he returns after about 10 minutes of this, and sadly reports that "no, the restaurant unfortunately does not have any crackers." The other bartender looks at him, calls him an idiot, and tells him, "they want a seafood cracker! Not soup crackers!" (Neither of us had soup.) No harm done, but I thought it was pretty funny at the time although, in that case, the service was a bit lug-headed.

aschie30 wrote:The other bartender looks at him, calls him an idiot, and tells him, "they want a seafood cracker! Not soup crackers!" (Neither of us had soup.)

That's not clumsy... that's moronic!

I think a clear picture of the place has emerged, one that's entirely consistent with my own experiences here. Great meat, great cocktails, unacceptably inconsistent service (really, it's a Chicago steakhouse; service tends to be uniformly high in the genre, if a bit robotic), inconsistent "doneness" (ditto -- we had real issues with DB's inability to find medium once). And those dumplings are a disaster. They sit too long in something that is not a dim sum steamer. The cloddish wrappers wouldn't make it in Chinatown at a place with plastic bag covered tables, either. (Not to mention second rate hoisin sauce right from the plastic bottle.) I'm there for a rare steak and a Manhattan, so I forgive.

As a general rule, I don’t eat at steakhouses. I think my last true steakhouse meal was at like Ruth’s Chris—coincidentally, in the Chicago 'burbs—five years ago. Sure, I order the occasional steak when dining out, but the steakhouse thing doesn’t really do it for me. With that said, when it was brought to my attention that my family would be staying in the James Hotel, a visit to David Burke’s Primehouse seemed fitting.

We were able to secure a Saturday evening reservation with just a few hours notice, so after touristy drinks at the John Hancock we made it back to the James and Primehouse. Although but a few of the tables were occupied at this relatively early hour, we were first seated at a table directly next to a party with a baby in a high chair. I’m all for bringing kids out to restaurants, but the restaurant should not have tried to seat us here with so many open tables. After asking for a booth on the other side of the restaurant we were briefly led back to the host stand before finally being led to a comfy booth. I’ll also add that the red leather table coverings are rather amusing—cow is literally everywhere.

After receiving the whole schpiel on their signature steaks, the cow the restaurant owns, and the salt cave, we set out to order. The four of us sampled the following dishes:

Popovers

A nice, warm way to start the meal. The butter, topped with what I'm sure was Himalayan rock salt, was wayyy cold though. It flaked more than it spread.

Apps
Surf and turf dumplings

Two lobster and two braised short rib. A pretty successful dish but they weren’t particularly hot when we received them. Another minute or two in the steamer would’ve made the dish even better.

Lobster bisque

Not the best picture, but this was a really nice update on the classic. The “foot-long lobster spring roll,” despite being gimmicky, actually provided a nice bit of textural contrast. We all really enjoyed this dish in a fashion similar to the Caesar salad. Something we wouldn’t normally order but made interesting, or at least worthwhile, with the David Burke touch.

Caesar salad prepared tableside
Sorry, no picture. This salad was particularly delicious, however. I can’t think of the last time I ordered a Caesar salad, but this was what other Caesars should be. The dressing was creamy, salty, with just enough citrus to add balance. Get over your foodie superiority complex and order it. I did.

Meats
All steaks were ordered med-rare

Petite, bone-in filet

This was a special and the right size for a diner with a moderate appetite. It obviously doesn’t have the same hulking appeal of the full-size cut but still allows one to sample the bone-in filet that’s become a signature dish here. This was obviously the most tender but also the least interesting in terms of flavor. I generally don’t like tenderloin as a steak but this was quite good.

40-day reserve ribeye

Notice the artful chive garnish. That's what we're paying the big bucks for. Nevertheless, this was a very nice piece of meat. The eye of the ribeye was good if not great but the deckle is what really shined. The fat was particularly luxurious and made for great eats with the meat from the cap. The most distinctively flavored of the steaks I sampled.

Porterhouse for two, post-slicing

This was perhaps the best of the bunch. Of course, it’s nice to get two cuts of beef in one, but the appeal of this steak was its balance. It managed to be noticeably more tender than the ribeye but not so devoid of interesting flavor as the bone-in filet. Obviously this is expected, but it was really clear in this steak. I would say this was cooked closer to rare, not a problem for us, but those with a significant attachment to true medium-rare might’ve been somewhat perturbed.

We also got some sides and an order of the truffle mousse. The mousse is kind of like a super whipped truffle butter. We applied this to everything, steaks and sides and fingers, in copious amounts. The sides of asparagus with shallots and hashbrowns were also quite good. Nothing to complain about there, and I’d probably order them again.

Hashbrowns


Dessert
Cheesecake lollipop tree

Yeah, I gave in. I’d never order this in New York, but here it just seemed right—steakhouse, Caesar, and a gaudy lollipop tree. It was tasty but not so much that my enjoyment of it overcame the extreme gimmickry of the thing. I would’ve preferred a bit more differentiation between the types of the cheesecake on, or is it in, the tree.

In general, they got us the food mighty quickly. We had plans for later in the evening so this wasn’t a problem, but it’s quite clear that they’re trying to turn tables and do so quickly. If you’ll notice, a few of the dishes would’ve benefited from just another minute of cooking/reheating just to make them hotter. Even ordering three full courses and wine, we were out of there in just shy of 1.5 hours. With that said, I really liked the place. The steakhouse thing isn’t so much for me, but Primehouse does a good job of blending the boring old school steakhouse with the depressingly trendy new age steakhouse. I’m not sure if Primehouse is the best in Chicago, but I enjoyed myself thoroughly. A few minor changes and it would’ve been an excellent meal.

Edited: To fix pictures because apparently images hosted on eG don't show up here for some reason. Strange.

The same thing happened to us two times in the last two months. Once at David's Bistro in Des Plaines- hubby's medium steak came out bloody rare not once but twice, me and mom finished our meals before he started his. No one cared while we were there, and the chef owner/operator did not respond at all to my letter or fax. Oh well. Opposite end of the service spectrum was Tramonto's, when my steak was too rare for my taste- waiter apologized, manager came right over and apologized and offered us a few different options- would keep my husband meal warm, give me the side dishes to eat, both waiter and manager came back after it came back out to make sure it was done properly, which it was, they gave us a free dessert- top notch service for an understandable food issue.

Bryan, in another thread, you wrote:

My team at work was kind enough to give in to my wishes and schedule a team dinner at Spiaggia. This would mark my birthday and first time I could legally drink with them. Certainly an occasion worth celebrating.

I don't know how else to interpret this other than that you are just over 21 now. I keep thinking that's impossible, because you write so knowledgably about fine food, as if you have at least a few decades' experience eating it. (You also write as if you've been writing about it for decades.) In your post above, you even reference, as a benchmark, a fine dining experience that could only have taken place when you were 16. There are only three possibilities: my reading comprehension skills are slipping; my math skills are slipping; or you are a phenom. I think it's the last of these. I hope you don't mind this slightly intrusive inquiry, but I am truly blown away.