Sometimes nostalgia is as important as the food, when it comes to selecting a restaurant. An old San Francisco establishment, Alfred's provides one with a sense of place, and recreates a time when elegance in dining was exemplified by red flocked wallpaper and dimly lit crystal chandeliers. It's the type of place that appealed to our parents' and grandparents' generations. The decor was overdone, but the food served was familiar, yet better than home made. They were meat and potato people and this is a meat and potato restaurant. Frankly, they would be confused by what we call fine dining today, minuscule portions, unidentifiable ingredients, tasting menus, fusion. Alfred's food was and still is unintimidating.
The first thing we noticed was a very well stocked bar. The restaurant was almost empty at the time of our early reservation, but still we were asked to wait in the bar. Old habits apparently die hard, as this felt like the traditional ploy to get a patron to order a drink. It works but I personally find it to be transparent and off putting, so I chose to merely wait for our table. We were called within a minute of my dining companion's drink being placed on the bar.
This photo does not do the room justice, since it is really elegant in a mid-century sort of way. The banquettes we sat on were comfortable and being a party of two prevented us from sitting at a table in the middle of the room, because the larger tables had been set up for parties of four or more.
We came here for the dry aged beef, but that wasn't going to stop us from ordering a few side dishes or starters. The Cesar salad looked a bit anemic and one cannot help but notice that not only are there no croutons, but there doesn't appear to be any Parmigiano cheese either. Thankfully it was loaded with anchovies, so it passed muster, but didn't win any medals. The fried calamari turned out to be a much better choice for an item to whet our appetites.
The tenderness of the fried calamari was stunning, in the sense that I haven't had any cooked that perfectly for over half my lifetime. No one made fried calamari like my grandmother did, or even came close to hers until this moment. Instead of the frozen "rings", so irritatingly common today, she would fry them whole after flouring them. They always curled up, no matter how little time they spent in the hot oil, but they were always tender and sweet, never rubbery. Someone in Alfred's kitchen is channeling my grandmother! These fresh calamari were outstanding and the price was so low, I would have gladly paid double and still thought it was a bargain for the quality of the dish.
Here's the "money shot", creamed spinach and a huge rib eye steak on the signature Alfred's plate. I should have taken another photo after it was sliced so you could see that it was cooked medium rare as ordered. The flavor of this cut, even in a lower grade of beef without dry aging, is always outstanding. Alfred's cooks their steaks over a mesquite charcoal grill to create an even greater complexity of flavor. The high heat from the dense mesquite also serves to sear the meat and help it to retain it's natural juices. This is a big plus in my opinion. Another big plus, besides the prime grade, dry aging, and mesquite grilling is the fact that Alfred's beef is primarily grass fed with some corn not all grain fed. Why have we been going to New York for a Peter Luger steak with Alfred's in our own backyard?
The steak on the left is the same steak as in the large photo above, a 30 ounce Chicago Rib Steak with the bone left on. The steak on the right is what was described as a 16 ounce rib eye steak. Do they look much different to you? Even the original pound would have been too much beef for me to eat at one sitting, but what I received was a steak that must have weighed in at 24 ounces. I was already planning what might be done with this bonanza of meat, when my first slice stopped me cold. My medium rare order arrived more medium than rare and had no marbling in it. As I looked more closely at the steak, it occurred to me that it didn't even look like a rib eye, so I called the waiter over. The manager got into the act and both tried to convince me that it was indeed a rib eye, but it didn't even taste like one.
The accommodation to my dilemma was a new steak that was definitely a rib eye, definitely the right size and definitely medium rare. I couldn't have been happier with the service. The next time I need a steak fix, I will not be buying an airline ticket.
http://www.alfredssteakhouse.com/menus.html
659 Merchant St
659 Merchant St
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