An Outstanding Meal...The Old Way

As the return reader will know, I have been very lucky in dining. I have had a lot of great meals in a lot of great places. So it is a rare thing when a particular meal towers above all the rest in its category.  Such as the beef category for example.

I was in Beverly Hills, California about two months ago, a venue which I particularly enjoy.  Although I am rather luke warm about L.A., Beverly Hills is my kind of place. And every time I visit, I want to have dinner at Lawry's.  But I never did until this year. I was very sorry it took me this long.

I am a dedicated carnivore.  And I love prime rib most of all. The problem is that it is very, very difficult to find good prime rib.  I am not sure why this is. I had read somewhere that Lawry's had the finest prime rib around, so I was in a state of high anticipation when I left my car with the valet and ventured through the heavy wooden doors.

This is obviously a place that has been in business at this location a long time.  The bar, for example, had the patina of years of happy use. There are huge murals on the walls of the dining room.  One doesn't see that sort of decor all that much any more. The martini I had while waiting to be called for my reservation was perfect; icy, strong and in the proper glass.  When the hostess showed me to a banquette [my favorite sort of table] she introduced me to my server.  Here, all the servers wear old fashioned uniforms with little caps.  And they are addressed as "Mrs.", "Miss" or "Mr.".  I liked all of this a LOT.

After scanning the leather bound menu and wine list, I was surprised to find that the prices are very reasonable. All of the Prime Rib entrees come with salad and Yorkshire Pudding.  And the wine prices were also very reasonable, verging on downright low for some of the selections.  In fact, the price of a bottle of my beloved Chateneuf Du Pape was so reasonable that I ordered it...
 

For the meal, I decided to start with a traditional shrimp cocktail...

...and as you can see, Lawry's had heavy linen table cloths and heavy silver as well...

...very luxurious.  The salad was wheeled table side on a cart in a huge bowl set into another huge bowl filled with ice. After Mrs. Frei gave the greens a toss with tongs, she set the bowl to spinning and drizzled the salad with a very fine balsamic dressing. The salad was delicious.  But the main thing at Lawry's is of course Prime Rib.  I decided to order the second-largest cut, the Diamond Jim Brady, medium rare.  A silver leviathan approached the table...

an amazing Edwardian serving cart which contained the beef and all the accompaniments. Everything hand carved at table side.  The cart opened next to me, emitting the most amazing aroma imaginable...

...the chef carved my portion and then added mashed potatoes, gravy and English peas...

...along with creamed horseradish, simply the finest meal of beef I have ever had.  Bar none.  Did I mention that this is the SECOND largest portion?  The largest portion is what they serve to the football players for the Rose Bowl.  Oh? And did I also mention that they also include Yorkshire Pudding in the feast?  This was a light and savory dish which was a delight all of itself...the Lawry's web site has a photo depicting the pudding in its un-attacked condition which is what it looked like when it was delivered to my table...

I could not contain my enthusiasm long enough to take a photo until after I had lopped out a large portion for my plate and deflated the pudding....

...as I sipped the great Rhone wine and set to this marvelous meal, I looked around the room and thought only one word.  "Baronial".  This fine repast was nothing less than that.  When I was finished, I really had no room for dessert.  The dessert menu, however, contained one of my absolute favorites.  Sticky Toffee Pudding...the perfect end to this perfect meal...

I admit that even a trencherman such me could not finish the Sticky Pudding.  But what I had of it was delicious.  All that could have been added was a small bit of Stilton Cheese and a fine Port to round out this meal.  They have many nice Ports at Lawry's and I would bet that had I asked for Stilton they could have produced some for me.  But I was in too great a dining induced state of bliss to make any further requests.  This was the sort of meal that you remember fondly in the middle of a business day months or even years later.  I cannot wait to return to Lawry's for another round.

P.S. Lawry's only has four locations in the United States. Beverly Hills, Chicago, Dallas and Las Vegas.