Good Morning 'buds! Want to talk about steak at 10:30am? Because I'd rather talk about Walnut Turtle Pie, want to talk about that? Let's shall. Unto the breach....well, revue.
So as you may already know, I imposed a little contest on myself. Based on your suggestions, 4 restaurants were picked at random to compete in my Final Four competition. Fleming's is the first of the four that I've patroned. (See previous blogs for more details and full list of restaurants competing.)
As you know, I am subjecting each venue to a ranking system. How did Fleming's rank?
Well, let's just talk it out, before I give you the final score. I had a lovely dining companion last night. My dear friend, let's call her Wafa, was kind enough to take on Fleming's with me and see if this steakhouse chain was all it's cracked up to be. We had high but hesitant hopes. I say that because we understood that there are lots and lots of Fleming's in the country. Lots. Have you checked out their website? I think there are 18 in Arizona alone. Maybe that's an exaggeration. Wouldn't be the first time.
Our initial hesitancy also involved the debate: "To steak or not to steak". Wafa and I both love menus, we love the pre-dining research, so we wondered, "Do we have to get steak when it's predetermined that they have great steak?". From a blogger's perspective, what would I be telling you that you didn't already know? It's a Steakhouse! We discussed this at length, while we sat at the crowded bar, with a great view of the dining area.
Upon being seated, we looked through the regular menu, just for kicks. 3 pages of wine, 2 pages of food. Steaks were $30+ on a regular basis, as I expected. Our busboy immediately brought us bread and water. The bread was a really good baguette and was accompanied by 2 butters. 1 was garlicy, herbed butter that was really potent. The other was, what we determined, a sun dried tomato spread. That was my favorite. And what I really enjoyed about the bread was that it was sliced in small hunks, so you could eat a few pieces and not feel too guilty. Very smart.
Our waiter was a very nice gentlemen who took one look at us and knew we were doing the prix fixe Restaurant Week menu. How'd he know? Do they have table microphones that they listen to in the back??? So he handed us these sheik little paper menus that offered 3 appetizer choices, 4 entree choices and 2 dessert choices. Wafa and I put a plan into motion to ensure we did not double order anything. Let's get right down to it.
My order: The Lobster Bisque, The Petite Fillet Mignon and the Walnut Turtle Pie
Wafa's order: Seared Ahi Tuna, Marinated Breast of Chicken baked in a white wine, mushroom, shallot thyme sauce, Cheesecake with blueberries
Now, let's break it down by course...
The appetizers came out and we both sort of giggled at the Ahi Tuna plate that was placed in front of
Wafa. The presentation was very pretty...but there sure was a lot of white plate. Let's just say it looked like tiny food. Almost cartoonish, because of how small the portion was. Wafa shrewdly noted that this felt like one of those dishes you see in commercials, bashing tiny portions. Super little. I mean, there were about 6 slices of tuna, but it must have been a little baby tuna. It tasted a lot bigger than it looked, happily! The outside crust was very peppery and gave a nice spicy contrast to the cool fish. There was also a marinated carrot slaw on the side and a big drizzle of spicy mustard. As for the Lobster Bisque, I've never ordered this in my entire life and I'm not too fond of lobster. But as you may know from my previous blogs, I really enjoy trying things outside my pallet's comfort zone. This cup of bisque was very rich and buttery, with small hunks of lobster meat. I wasn't sure if what I was trying was good or not, having no prior experience. Wafa assured me, it was...in fact, we had this nice polite act going where we let each other try our appetizers and slowly but surely, our dishes did complete 180s and we ended up trading. I liked the spicy tuna with mustard and she liked the bisque. What a great date I had with me, right?
Entree time! Yes, I ordered the Petite Fillet Mignon. It was between that or the salmon and I just decided to go for the filet. I really love steak. I'm not going to lie. To my vegetarian friends, I am sorry...but that shit's good. Wafa ordered the Chicken Breast, as I mentioned earlier. Let's start with the chicken. It was a double breast, skin on, bones in. It looked really nice sitting in the complex sauce. We thought maybe the mushrooms would be more abundant on this dish, but they were diced up finely in the sauce. It was a very thymey sauce. We both really liked the chicken. In fact, I was really jealous...because my fillet was not so hot. I asked for it medium, but the outside looked really charred on the edges and the piece was really fatty. The closer I got to the center was, of course, the best part. But overall, I was underwhelmed. What I did appreciate was that it was just steak. No glazes, no frills. Just the natural flavor. I like fancy steaks, but you do have appreciate it au natural.
What I didn't mention earlier is that the menu said that each entree comes with a side of Green Beans and Fleming's potatoes. We only got 1 order of each. I'm not quite sure what the disconnect was, but in the end we didn't really care. So let's knock off the sides real quick. Trust me, it'll be quick. The Fleming's Potatoes turned out to be my arch Nemesis, scalloped potatoes. And we weren't sure at first. I looked at the side dish and asked, "Is this a white lasagna?". Then I lifted up the yellowy-orange cheese, that looked like cheez-whiz, and saw the dreaded scalloped taters. Of course we tried them. I don't think we came to a final conclusion on them because we didn't really eat them...so maybe we did. The green beans, on the other hand were fantastic. Visually, the were the brightest green I've ever seen and tasted fresh and crispy. They had a little sea salt on them, too, which was really good.
Moving on to desserts, I have to say it. This was our hands-down favorite course. The Walnut Turtle Pie was absolutely unlike anything I have ever had before...because I've never had it before. The cake tasted like unfinished, gooey chocolate batter and the caramel and walnuts made this entire dessert over the top. The Cheesecake with Blueberrys, simple right? No muss no fuss, you could say, but the more you took, the more you were all over it and the next thing we knew, it was gone. I'm talking plate CLEANED. We tried to clean the plate on the turtle pie, but the last piece became a sort of rock that formed itself to the plate. We tried with all our mite to extract it, but to no avail. I can't believe we had to leave that bite behind. Desserts = amazing.
Based on my rating system (see previous blogs), Fleming's scored a 37 out of 48 possible points. Not a bad score. Remember, the atmosphere, service and presentation all weigh into the scoring, not just the food. And Fleming's was a really pleasing to the eye, but very standard. I did enjoy the fact that could see into the kitchen. I think that decreases the "stuffy" factor. Makes you feel a little more relaxed.
Check back next week to see how Fleming's score holds up to Cantina Italiana and Cronin's Pub!
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