House of Prime Rib
1906 Van Ness Ave. (x Washington)
When you name your restaurant “House of Prime Rib” there are a couple things that come with the title. Firstly, you better have the best freakin prime rib in town. Next, if you’re successful with that first part, you can go ahead and offer nothing else at your restaurant.
House of Prime Rib meets both of these requirements.
Interestingly at a fancy-pants place like this one, there’s not a lot of choice. You can choose prime rib or fresh fish… But obviously you didn’t come here for the fish. Next, you can select the quantity of prime rib you will consume: a lot, a whole lot, or a freakin whole lot. Your pick. Then, how would you liked it cooked? Regular meat cooking choices apply.
Your entree comes with an array of side dishes. While you’re waiting with your drinks, there’s warm sourdough bread with butter. Next, a salad mixed right before your eyes. When your meat comes you also get your potatoes (baked potato with all the fixins or mashed potatoes with gravy), Yorkshire pudding, and creamed corn or creamed spinach. Whew, a lot. Let’s break it down.
The Meat: The main event, really. In a word, excellent. The meat is very tender and juicy. My knife slid through my city cut super easily. There was also a couple large veins of fat running through my cut, hence a premium piece of prime rib. The meat was flavorful and sort of melted in my mouth (if that’s even possible). It wasn’t tough or chewy, and my medium-well was still very moist. They offer mild and strong horseradish. Not sure I’d be able to handle strong, I asked for mild and the server quickly plopped a very large dollop on my bread plate. I swear, I could probably eat three large pieces of prime rib to use up all that horseradish. Sadly, it was too mild for my liking and I ended up slathering the stuff on to get a bit of that bite. Still good, though.
The meat is sliced at your table. It comes in a large, silver, torpedo shaped warmer/server thingy with your very own chef! He reads your order and fixes your plate with the appropriate cut and cook of meat, plus the sides you requested. It’s all about the show here, especially with the first course…
The Salad: Moving backwards, the first course is made right in front of you so you know it’s as fresh as it can be. The server brings out a little cart with everything she’ll need for the next five minutes. She shows you what’s in the large bowl she’s about to serve: iceberg lettuce, mixed greens, beets, red cabbage, and probably some other stuff I couldn’t taste. She shows it as if she’s asking for your approval, which is sort of silly, but you get into it.
She hands you chilled forks. That’s right, folks, chilled. They’re laid out on a plate and you pick yours up. She then spins the bowl of salad in a larger bowl of ice and pours the contents of a silver gravy boat on the salad. She adds some special seasoning and a bit of ground pepper (all as the bowl is spinning), gives it a toss, and divvies up the salad for the table on chilled plates. Yes, the plates are chilled, too.
Wow, two graphs and I haven’t talked about the taste yet. The salad is your typical American style salad. The dressing is thousand island and it smothers the lettuce. But, true to what the server tells you, the veggies are absolutely fresh and delicious. Gobbled that stuff up right quick.
The Potatoes: I opted for the mashed potatoes, but I’ll talk about the baked potato, too. The baked potato is served at your table on yet another little cart. The cart is wheeled out when the torpedo comes and it’s packed with all the fixings. The server slices up your potato and slops on two heaving spoonfuls of sour cream. You also can get butter, bacon, and chives on your potato. The result is a vegetable that is no longer a vegetable. It’s a heart attack on a plate.
My mashed potatoes were just fine. They come on the same plate as your meat and taste like butter. The gravy is thick and tasty and the potatoes manage to soak up some of the meat juices. MMmMmMMmmMMMm.
The Creamed Side: One person in my party got the creamed spinach. Looked gross. The creamed corn was so much better. The kernels were mostly whole or slightly mashed. Funny enough they actually came in a cream sort of mixture that was creamy and buttery flavored. That was tasty and I ate it up pretty quickly.
The Yorkshire Pudding: I’m not sure I’ve ever had this before, but I wouldn’t mind having it again. It’s like… a savory pancake/crepe. Somewhere in between the two in terms of thickness, it’s kind of like a soft, fluffy, flat bread. It’s baked in an oven in a shallow frying pan. The server whips it out fresh from the oven and divides one pan’s worth amongst two or three people. It’s a bit salty and fried tasting, and it’s meant to soak up the meat juices so you don’t miss any of the flavors. Personally, I didn’t like that use. It was nice all by itself.
The atmosphere is much like the food: classic and very showy. The interior is like an old English something or other, I’m not really sure. It’s dark inside, with dark red wood panels on the walls and low ceilings. Knick knacks are everywhere: fancy-ish, fake champagne bottles, impressionist paintings of farms and general countryside, and even a fireplace with a faux, but rustic-looking fire. You get the feel that you’re in a very important place.
While the surroundings are visually pleasing and the food superior, the company isn’t always so positive. We sat next to a table full of lawyers… Probably a bunch of litigators. Loud, obnoxious, not even really funny, and the wine was flowing like crazy. The result is you shouting across the table for conversation. The whole setup is nice, but not very great in terms of acoustics – you hear everything and everyone. The restaurant is pretty large, so that just means a ton of noise. Since it’s a popular restaurant, you’re always going to be at capacity. Bummer.
Let’s talk about price. You’re crazy if you think you’ll be eating meat and paying less than $35+ per person. So unless you’re just eating salad and a baked potato, you better shell out the cash. Sum it up: worth it.
Overall: A really superb meal, but a costly one. Worth it, though.
Rating: 10/10!
choice chow 
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