gourmet babble

Nested in the first floor of a well-positioned hotel that I had never heard of, Primehouse is clearly meant as a place to "see and be seen". They have decent-to-generous portions of extravagantly priced food, with some good flairs; they dry age their own beef in a salt cavern that they've made with pink salt blocks that they imported from somewhere (I've been told four or five times, and I still can't remember where). Their dishes often have a whimsical component, and the more whimsy, the less content; one of their signature appetizers, the "Angry Lobster", is tasty and pleasant, but is more show on the plate than lobster meat for the eating. Even the complimentary bread has that whimsy to it; there are no loaves of bread, but everyone gets served a popover, mostly hollow, in a little copper pan; a brick of butter with a little coarse pink salt (sense a theme here?) serves as your "accessory" for the popover, though why and how you butter a popover I still cannot figure out. I am especially fond of their Kobe beef tartare, made with a truffle cream sauce and toasted shallot slices, served over a brick of the pink salt from the cave. (We'll ignore the fact that it's pretty clearly not actually Kobe beef, but "merely" Wagyu beef… but that diatribe is forthcoming anyway in the "ingredients" section of this site.)

Like the enoteca fad that has hit Chicago of late, Primehouse serves their wine in little quartino carafes so you can sample many different varieties during dinner; too bad their wine list isn't actually so worthy as to have many wines you'd really want to sample. Their dry-aged meats really are quite nice, and they offer a choice of seven or eight different sauces, creams, and soufflés on the side to augment the dishes; I am fond of the truffle cream, worth the $3 or $5 surcharge, and their 207L complimentary steak sauce. (Avoid their "standard" steak sauce at all costs; it's sugary and pretty horrid, and a great way to ruin their otherwise fine meats.) The peppercorn sauce is quite nice as well, though my dining companions usually enjoy it more than I do. Their "South Side" bone-in, oversized, lightly dry aged filet mignon is a nice hunk of meat; I've eaten there a few times now and I still think it's my favorite, despite having tried several different cuts. They make a big deal with lots of marketing literature that all their meat comes from a common ancestor, a bull they personally own: 207L, sitting at their fields in Kansas. I personally think it's way overhyped, but I suppose there is something to be said for a known source for your beef, both in terms of location and genetics. Still, one wonders if he isn't borrowing from the coastal overhype of mad cow disease a tad.

Desserts are unilaterally lousy, and even though we have yet to escape without getting given a complimentary dessert, usually a signature one (like the David Burke dipped cheesecake lollipops), we have yet to enjoy one, even though in total, I've tried bits of four or five of their sweet offerings. Frankly, I'd rather just have another Kobe beef tartare.

The atmosphere of the place is leathers and woods, though not so much so that it only appeals to "old rich white republican men." I believe it opened only a few months ago (March 2006?), and they're definitely trying to make it an "in" scene; being pretty seems to get you a better shot at a better table, and quicker. When we went on the Monday night of the National Restaurant Association show, it was absolutely packed; clearly it was seen as an "in" place, and David was being ferried from table to table to meet with industry movers and shakers. Even as busy as it was, though, our usual waiter (Scott) did right by us and took good care of us, which was a good sign.