Epic (steak) Birthday

Well, as was documented last post, yesterday was my 50th birthday. My actual plans for celebrating my birthday fell through spectacularly, so my plans included hanging around at home and messing around with stuff. A couple of friends found out about me clever planning and decided this was not acceptable. They managed to get a table on short notice at Epic Steakhouse. All I had to do was bring some wine and the menu was all mine.

Now, not being familiar with Epic Steak, I did a little internet searching and found this place absolutely gets raked by the internet food cognoscenti, especially the ones who seem to be oh so clever. I have to say, that once again, I find myself stunned that anyone could rate this place poorly, at the very least, the food was excellent. I felt we were well served to be here on this night. The food...

Salt, glorious salt, Himalayan Pink, Sal Gris and Black Salt, the Black Salt is rather mild, but, the other two are great table condiments, I love Sal Gris.

Then there was the house-made charcueterie plate (pate, bresaola, salami, duck prosciutto and coppa),  and the appetizer/entree we ordered, a plate of boudin blanc and boudin noir over some truffled mashed potatoes and pumpernickel croutons. Gotta love that whole seed mustard too.

Then there was the steak, I went with the New York Strip, bone on, as it should be. This was cooked perfectly for medium rare and was rather consistent from edge to bone. This was clearly a nice corn-finished beef, as it turns out Angus, dry aged and with a wonderful chew, which beef should have.

 The items not shown, a lovely stone fruit salad with a great olive oil drizzle, a pear and arugula salad, I loved them together, with the bitter edge and pepper profile offsetting the incredible fruit. We also had steak fries and spinach for the table, a nice amuse bouche sandwich and then dessert and a cheese plate. Then these showed up...

Which were then filled with vintage port, which was compliments of the house, it is sometimes good to turn 50. A 2007 Crofts, a 2003 Taylor Fladgate and a 2000 Fonseca, these were very interesting with the younger wines showing a little heat still. The 2000 was just hitting it's stride and was a very pretty lighter style, lots or aromatics, but missing the caramel/toffee notes that I really enjoy. The Taylor Fladgate was more my style, but, needs time. Oh, the wines I brought, The Baron de Rothschild Carruades de Lafite was still a little closed despite decanting, allowed to sit, it opened slowly and by the time the steak was half done, it was really showing some wonderful aromas and complexity, I really need to leave the last bottle alone for a while longer. The Chateau Figeac on the other hand showed beautifully, a full blown Bordeaux aroma jumping from the glass and great layers of flavor. This was an excellent wine. Even more happily, the sommelier and host knew how to handle aged wines, carefully moving the wines to a decanting station, not turning the bottle, there was almost no sediment in the glasses.



(I have to apologize, I don't have a camera that works in these instances, so I had to use my phone. Still, I think the food shows through.)