I’ve been reading Alan Richman’s book, Fork It Over, The Intrepid Adventures of a Professional Eater. It’s nothing mind blowing, but it is easy and entertaining reading. It’s a compilation of his articles which makes it even better reading for train rides. I only read a few pages at a time.
I was just reading his Ten Commandments for Diners, and number 4 reads, ” Don’t order steak at a seafood restaurant. However, seafood at a steak restaurant is never bad.” I thought about this for a while. I don’t think I’ve ever ordered steak at a seafood restaurant. It just seems like common sense to me not to. Then, I thought about seafood at a steak place. I can only think of one instance, since I usually order steak at a steak restaurant. Lon and I shared a Strip Steak and a Seared Tuna dish at Strip House. The fish was fresh but the preparation lacked flavor and seasoning. I’m not sure if Mr. Richman was only referring to freshness/quality of ingredient when he said “never bad” but I don’t remember either of us wanting to finish the tuna that night.
I’m really curious to hear what others have experienced in terms of steak at seafood restaurants or seafood at steak restaurants. Please do tell!
My only experiences eating seafood at steakhouses are from when I was in college, and didn’t eat any red meat or poultry. We would go to places like Outback Steakhouse and I would end up with like, the coconut shrimp appetizer (and petals off the bloomin’ onion). The shrimp as I recall was pretty terrible, but I sort of assume the steak wasn’t fab either, it being the kind of place that it was.
In a fine dining restaurant I would imagine that the seafood would be up to par regardless of the restaurant’s emphasis.
I myself have never ordered a fish entree at a steakhouse. That is just weird to me (unless of course you don’t eat red meat). But…I have ordered seafood appetizers which have been really good (i.e. crab cakes, oysters, scallops, etc). In my experiences at steakhouses, the ones where I’ve really liked the steak I also have generally enjoyed the appetizers, sides and desserts as well. So, I would assume that their seafood options would be just as good as everything else. Same goes the other way, I think its pretty much guaranteed that if a steakhouse can’t make a good steak, then everything else will taste like poop.
When we went to BLT Prime, I ordered sea scallops which was served over risotto as an appetizer. It was very good. However, the other times I’ve gone to steakhouses I haven’t ordered fish or seafood.