David Burke's Primehouse (Chicago, IL)

Every year in February, Chicago holds a restaurant week where a large number of restaurants have discounted prix-fixe menus. This year's restaurant week coincided with Kristen's birthday. She wanted steak for her birthday, and I'd been wanting to try the dry aged steaks at David Burke's Primehouse, so the decision was an easy one.

Located in the James Hotel on the corner of Rush and Ontario, Primehouse specializes in dry aged steaks. They offer steaks up to 75 days, dry aged on site in their own aging room lined with Himlayan salt. The restaurant week menu was the only menu available, unfortunately, so we couldn't choose from all the steaks normally available or taste the red velvet cake in a can dessert.

The dinner started with popovers, instead of traditional bread service. The popover was nice and light, with a crispy exterior. It was served with butter topped with some of the Himalayan salt.

For appetizers, Kristen had the Surf and Turf Dumplings and I started with the Lobster Bisque. The Surf and Turf consisted of 2 lobster dumplings and 2 short rib dumplings. The lobster dumplings were boiled and the lobster was quite tender. The short rib dumplings were fried and served with a sweet chili sauce. I liked the lobster dumplings better and Kristen preferred the short rib ones. I went with the Lobster Bisque with Green Apple Essence. The bisque was rich, with an accent from the sherry. The green apple cubes added a tart contrast to the bisque. However, it was a tad too sweet, and made me wonder if there was some apple juice in the soup.

For our steaks, Kristen chose the filet topped with blue cheese, and for a supplement, I ordered the bone-in 35 day dry aged strip. Kristen's steak was nicely cooked at medium rare, and she was very happy with it. It did look a bit goofy with just the small cut of beef and so much white on the plate. My strip came on the rare side of medium rare, and was beefy with a slight minerally tinge. I also found that small bits of Kristen's blue cheese matched very well the steak, which wasn't surprising as blue cheese is one flavor that many associate with dry aged beef. I did hope for a bit more pronounced dry aged "beefiness" for a 35-day aged cut, but I was happy altogether. The steaks came with roasted wild mushrooms and basil mashed potatoes. The roasted mushrooms included shiitake, crimini, and oyster mushrooms, among others, but needed some salt. The basil mashed potatoes, on the other hand, were fantastic. They were buttery, yet light, and the basil was a very inspired complement. We'll definitely try to make these at home.

For dessert, Kristen had the pineapple upside-down cake with sour cherry sorbet. The cake was a tad dry and the sorbet was a little too sour, but eating them together balanced everything out. I ordered the Tahitian Brownie with Kahlua Ice Cream and Banana Mousse. The brownie was intensely chocolatey, almost fudge-like. The Kahlua ice cream and the banana mousse, which was frozen, helped cut the richness of the brownie. A rich ending to a rich meal. We were very pleased with the meal, and was among the best steaks we've had in Chicago, even if they didn't reach the heights of the dry aged beef at CUT and Carnevino in Las Vegas.