Steak lovers take heart at Chicago Grill
Chicago GrillHotel MarriottAl. Jerozolimskie 65/79WarsawHours: 6 p.m. - 11:30 p.m.Telephone 630-6306Reservations and credit cards accepted
First it was chicken eggs that found themselves in the bad books because of the living conditions of those poor battery hens. Their meat wasn't deemed much better full of artificial hormones apparently.
Seafood? Well, cod is facing extinction and the rest is likely to have high levels of heavy metals. As for fruit and vegetables, all those chemicals and fertilizers can't be good for you.
And of course, these days it's beef that's getting a roasting in the media thanks to the mad cow crisis that is slowly spreading across Europe, and indeed, around the world.
Last month, as I unwrapped some tartar mince for spaghetti bolognaise, I told David it would be our last for some time. But it's probably like shutting the gate after the cow has bolted, so to speak. I've been reading about BSE with the benign attitude of "it won't happen to me." But maybe it could? I'm apparently unable to give blood because I ate British beef in the early 1990s and may have had a cup of beef bouillon.
Any sign of forgetfulness or clumsiness, and I'm thinking about that stroganoff dinner back in 1993, or that beef in blackbean way back in 1992.
Anyway, our self-imposed beef ban only lasted so long. Last week we were craving a good steak so we headed to Warsaw's premier steak house, the Hotel Marriott's Chicago Grill.
I wasn't aware that grilled meat was big in Chicago, but I know that Americans like their steaks and barbecues. I also know that all the meat served in this restaurant is imported from what I will boldly call "BSE-safe" countries America for its beef, and New Zealand for its lamb.
I've been to a few steakhouses in my time and they're usually decked out in timber beams, with a few rusty farm implements hanging on the wall. Invariably there's a neon sign for Budweiser or Corona behind the bar, and the staff (forced to wear checked shirts and cowboy hats) hand out cardboard menus that are as big as a Texas roadmap. Well, the Marriott's Chicago Grill couldn't be more different.
This joint has that quintessential five-star hotel dining room feel floral carpets, landscape oil paintings, reproduction Georgian furniture and wine glasses that sparkle in the candlelight. The service is impeccable and not a shred of denim in sight. And when we visited on a Saturday night, a classical guitarist was strumming away.
After we were shown to our table another couple was tucked away in the opposite corner of the restaurant our waiter for the evening, Slawomir, materialized, passed us a menu and asked ever so politely if we'd like to order an aperitif. We did, but he seemed quite surprised when we said "no thanks" to starters we'd heard that the steaks were "man size."
A basket of scrumptious bread rolls arrived, as did a little surprise from the chef a beautifully presented single oyster in its shell. It was topped with Mornay sauce and crispy fried onion pieces on the side. It's always nice to think you're getting something for free ... even if you're not, because the prices in this place are not cheap. I chose a 12 oz. New York fillet for a cool zl. 109. David went for the "surf and turf," also zl. 109.
They're served with optional sauces such as green peppercorn, bearnaise sauce or Burgundy sauce. You can have your potatoes baked, fried or cooked in a tart. There's "rice of the day" and a selection of salads that are made at your table. You can have chicken or duck fillets, and there is fish on the menu too.
The extensive wine list had a few medium-priced bottles, but most were obscenely expensive. I was very tempted to order the zl. 4,900 Chateau Petrus 1978/79 or 1980. That's nearly 10 times the average monthly Polish wage, but for many of the Marriott's guests, I guess that's another world entirely. We stuck to zl. 17 EB draft beers.
Slawomir served our steaks with understated flourish. They looked mouthwateringly good. Steak is one of those things that you think is easy to cook, but it has to be done just right. We'd both asked for medium rare and that's what they were.
My large New York fillet was juicy and tender and nicely pink on the inside. It came with an assortment of vegetables two white asparagus spears, two green beans, a wedge of capsicum and a piece of shiitake mushroom. I'd ordered the rice, and atop it all was a rather strange piece of pastry that resembled a wagon wheel. But the steak was perfect.
As was David's. Atop a juicy, but small, beef tenderloin were two large prawns, covered in a small amount of rich cheese sauce. He had the same vegetable assortment as I did, but his pastry feature was a vol-au-vent with a small amount of melted cheese in the bottom. He finished his meal with relish and, thankfully, helped me with mine. Dinner for two, not including drinks, came to zl. 218 ($53.20).
On the menu:
Shrimp cocktailzl.69Caesar Saladzl.32Shellfish raviolizl.55New York steak (12 oz.)zl.109Surf and turfzl.109Porter House steakzl.149Creme Bruleezl.29
