Dinner at the Met

Today I turned 27 for the 12th consecutive year. It's been a good year for more than a decade. Rather than musing on the nature of aging, I'll instead talk about dinner. Because that's what's really important.

For dinner tonight the GF took me out to the Metropolitan Grill. It's a classic, old school steakhouse in downtown Seattle.

Dinner was fantastic. But there were a few quirks.

On the chalkboard, they advertised a Wagyu Beef Tartare appetizer. It sounded great, so I ordered that. The waiter came back a few minutes later and told me they unfortunately didn't have that today. Huh?

He was very apologetic, but how do you run out of a steak tartare dish? If you have steak, and you have a knife, you basically have what you need to make tartare, don't you? Isn't the whole point that the main ingredient is skill? Was the guy with the recipe not in yet?

The waiter suggested the Wagyu Sashimi as an alternative, which was fantastic. And apparently in stock.

I ordered the 21 ounce Delmonico for dinner which was a great, flavorful steak. They cooked it just as I asked. When I ordered it the waiter commented that the Delmonico is great man's steak. He used to order it regularly, when it was on the employee menu.

Little did I know this was a sore issue with him. Now, I should say, he was cheery and polite throughout the evening.

When he brought our dinner, he commented again how the Delmonico used to be on the employee menu, but alas, it no longer was.

When he checked on us later, he again commented on how he used to enjoy the Delmonico when it was on the employee menu.

I can understand his disappointment; but the running commentary was highly amusing.

We wrapped up dinner the only way you can wrap up a dinner like this -- with a dessert on fire.

Bananas Foster is one of those desserts you don't see on a lot of menus these days -- because of the fire.

As the ice cream melted into the remaining unburned rum, it turned into a sweet, banana-y rum soup. And I am convinced that Rum Soup should appear on a menu some place.

Seattle is fortunate to have a some great resturants, and the Metropiltan Grill is a nice choice for a special occasion. It's not cheap, but offers a great dining experience.

If you'd rather soak up the ambience without the big dinner, have an Old Fashioned or a glass of wine and the spacious bar. They have a good Happy Hour menu there, too.