We're spoiled in Chicago with one of the greatest selections of Steakhouses on the planet. Apparently people in Chicago must love steak for so many of these great restaurants to co-exist and all stay relatively successful. A couple of gems I recently visited were RPM & Steak 48. Both of these restaurants are relatively new in the grand scheme of Chicago steakhouses with RPM opening just over 4 years ago and Steak 48 just over a year now. This wasn't my first rodeo at RPM. I've been to this steakhouse a handful of times as well as their sister restaurant RPM Italian which is another one of my favorite restaurants in Chicago. On my most recent venture, I started the evening off by cleansing my pallet with an old fashioned. RPM does well here. High West Double Rye, Demerara, Angostura. This isn't the most common whiskey out there but is very smooth and works great in an Old Fashioned. It's a blend of a 2 year old rye from Indiana’s MGP Distillery along with a Rye from High West Distillery in Utah that ranges from 4 to 7 years old. Of course I detected that blend right from the first sip. Or not, and I just googled that so I could make this post sound smarter. Anyways, to the food. I didn't go to HAM on the apps this time but a must have at RPM Steak, is the Thick Cut Bacon, so of course one of those was ordered along with some cheddar popovers. For the main course, it's always a tough call as there are so many cuts that always sound so good. I decided to go with one from "The Signature Selection" this time and ordered "The Duke" which is a 10 oz. ribeye filet. With the ribeye filet you get the tenderness and flavor of a good ribeye steak but without the fat that might turn some people off. A little fat doesn't scare me whatsoever but sometimes a clean filet is nice. This steak gives you the best of both worlds. I didn't mess with any steak toppers this time and it didn't need any whatsoever. Like every other steak I've had at RPM, it was top notch and cooked perfectly. The steak is always the highlight of the meal but the sides are always a party too. Mushroom mac & cheese, spicy broccolini, crispy brussels sprouts, whipped potatoes... A solid variety to load up on. I know most people are quick to deny the dessert menu after a feast like this but once you've come this far, it'd be a disservice to neglect yourself from capping it off with something sweet. The cookies & cream sundae is a game changer I highly recommend. Overall, another amazing meal experience at RPM which keeps them in my top 5 for steakhouses in Chicago.
My next carnivorous adventure took me to Steak 48. I've heard some positive hype for this establishment from a few friends and colleagues so I was excited to give it a try. I was a little skeptical at first when we were the only group there at the restaurant but then I remembered we had a 5PM reservation and anybody else that was probably eating at this time was at Old Country Buffet. As per usual, I grabbed an old fashioned at the bar while I waited on the rest of party to arrive. Bulleit rye, solerno blood orange, orange bitters, orange, cherry. Pretty standard but well made. By time we were actually seated, the place started to fill in. The service was great from the get go. I'm not sure how many glasses of wine I drank during the night because the waiter never allowed my glass to be empty. To get the party started, we ordered a few apps. We had big seafood eaters in the group so the seafood tower was ordered. I'm not a huge seafood guy but I enjoy a good shrimp cocktail. The cocktail sauce had a nice kick of horseradish to it which is key. I'm not satisfied with a cocktail sauce unless my eyes are watering a little. We also ordered the braised pork belly. I probably ate 80% of this while people were distracted trying to crack open lobster tails. This was delicious and had a great glazed sauce. For the main course, the KC bone-in strip caught my eye. Most steakhouses, if not all, offer the NY strip which is a pretty popular choice as it's pretty lean and you can get a good sized steak for a little cheaper than other cuts. It's generally not my go-to but the KC variant which is bone-in is a little more unique and the added bone adds the extra flavor I feel like is missing from the NY. I'm not big on adding toppers but the waiter was selling me hard on the burrata. I like burrata and I've never seen the option to add it to a steak, so even though it seemed odd to me, I gave it a go. The steak itself turned out great. It didn't blow my mind but it definitely had some great flavor. The burrata topper was dumb. It didn't hurt the steak but didn't help it either. It was just in the way and I would've rather spent that 7 dollars towards another cocktail. For sides, I ordered up a nice spread of whipped potatoes, mac & cheese, brussels sprouts, and last but not least, corn créme brûlée which was awesome. Sweet enough to make it unique but not so sweet that it belonged on the dessert menu. Speaking of dessert, that got very aggressive. It went from the six of us saying we could get 1-2 items and split them to everybody ordering something. We committed to the split though so we could try everything. Ultimate Warm Vanilla Caramel Cake, Crispy Banana Split, Red Velvet Bread Pudding, S'mores in a Jar, Cookies & Cream Popcorn Sundae, Very Chocolate Cake. It was a plethora of sweets but they all were pretty amazing. No regrets.
Comments