Back on a Saturday in April (yes, APRIL I am woefully late), I was craving a steak. Because I hadn't had one in a while, or it might have been that I'd had my fill of hoity-toity ingredients in uppity sauces. It was probably because that Monday I was due to have surgery - minor surgery mind you, but in this day and age of anything can happen and usually does, in my subconscious I probably had a strong desire to go out and chomp down on some meat before I myself went under the knife. "Just in cases..." *
And so we found ourselves on the Downtown Mall, headed upstairs. To
The Upstairs restaurant. Had read a decent review on
Cvillain**, and at mention of the phrase, "bourbon tasting flight" my ears perked up like my dog's before a thunderstorm. Did someone say bourbon? Did someone say tasting flight? Did someone say
The Upstairs just HAPPENS to be offering USDA Prime ribeyes and NY strip steaks for a mere $18 dollars? Almost HALF what you pay at
The Downtown Grille (1/2 block away) and not nearly the quality? Does the Downtown Grille have USDA Prime? No, they don't. I checked.
And since this is JULY, I'm afraid any specific details of this dinner have floated off into the ether. So I'm going to try something new and just talk about the major stuff I remember, good and bad. A new approach to reviewing restaurants people! Months after eating there, what stays with you? Maybe I've stumbled onto a new
food-blogging gimmick that will result in a movie deal, or maybe I'm just rationalizing away my laziness (I'm sure the latter). In any case, here's what I remember:
Foie gras appetizer - fine***
Nicely prepared, but a bit skimpy on the portion for the price ($12). I've had bigger slabs of this buttery delicacy elsewhere, but there is certainly enough here to get a good taste. Just maybe not the best value.
Steak - TERRIFIC. Perfectly cooked, medium rare - any more than that is sacrilege. VERY generous 12-ounce portion. Tender, juicy, nice char on the outside. Didn't need the Fred Flintstone knife they brought me, the butter one cuts right through it. Which is good because the accompanying truffle butter is to die for. Cut some steak, spear it, dip it in the butter. No changing of utensils required. Haricot verts side is fine, but with steak like this, who needs vegetables?
Creme Brulee - also fine. I've had better, I've had worse. But on that night, I wanted familiar. I wanted custard, and this stuff was good enough to fit the bill.
On to the spirits. Ah, the rye. The bourbon. To an aficionado of both, would
The Upstairs represent new adventures in whiskey? Why........yes! They didn't disappoint. The selection is remarkable compared to other places. Other places being manly-man sport slash cigar bars where they might have 3 or 4 choices beyond Maker's Mark. All of the selections at
The Upstairs were pretty good. Some were firewater, others nice and smooth. Just fine. Fine in that I wasn't pulling out my little notebook to write down the names of them, or racing-to-the-liquor-store-to-order-them fine. Just fine. I didn't discover anything new in bourbon world, but I sure enjoyed myself while looking.
HOWEVER, we did have a rum that was spectacular. I'm not a rum girl (too many bad experiences)
but the Cvillain review of the Angostura 1824 rum** they imbibed during their dinner got me curious. VERY curious. After the first sip I was in heaven. It didn't taste like rum. It was light, smooth, with a caramelly/vanilla aftertaste like you'd just finished sucking on a Werther's original candy about 3 minutes ago. PERFECT for after a meal. Almost like a dessert and digestif rolled into one. Just sweet enough. Snifter heaven.
Ironically, the bartender said he'd never tried it, and in fact, didn't recall anyone ever ordering it. I assure you, ordering this spirit will not leave you disappointed. We made sure he knew that, and even pointed it out to the couple drinking wine at the bar (wine? huh?), the couple at the other table chomping on steaks, and the waiter.
No one else because other than the people mentioned, the place was empty. At 8pm on a Saturday, during an alumni weekend. Even though the waiter assured me they'd been swamped the night before, I wondered. Was it because there was another steakhouse less than a block away? With outdoor seating? More visible from the street? With a slicker looking website and more menu choices? Hmmmm....
It is strange the owner would choose to open for all intents and purposes a STEAKHOUSE literally a block from another one. Clearly he feels like he's got something additional to offer Mall diners. And you know what? He does. Let me preface that with, "If you like bourbon, if you're a spirits connoisseur, and if you're a fan of prime steak for $18," then he most certainly does. While the Downtown Grille might be flashier (I thought it was a chain), The Upstairs has spirits for people who truly appreciate them. No longer do I have to read
The Washington Post and hem and haw that all we have in Cville is wine. Nope, we've got good spirits too. I'm not talking about fruity, floofy boat drinks. But real drinks. Stuff that goes well with leather chairs, pub seating, and good long conversations with old friends.
So what I remember - fine meal, stellar Angostura 1824 rum. Would definitely go back when the mood for a steak strikes again. The old-school truffle butter was a hit, the foie gras? Not so much, would probably opt for some other appie next visit. But that rum, that RUM!
*Any fans of Love, Actually out there? Ever since I saw the movie I've said, "Just in cases," WITH the "S". Just a thing I do. People who've seen the movie giggle, and those that haven't think I have a speech impediment...
**You've got until 7/30 to read it before they take it down forever. Now go.......GO!***When I say "fine" I'm really saying, "Not bad, not spectacular either."
