Fleming’s March 2013
I’ll play substitute teacher on this one. Please act as if your regular teacher is still here and refrain from spitballs, passing notes, and general tomfoolery. I’ll keep it short and sweet.
The Crew: Jevon, Don, Rick, Bill, Hans, myself, and a late appearance by Maria Bartilomo.
Cocktails: Flemings actually has a nice open bar area downstairs with plenty of seating. That’s partly because there were three people there besides ourselves. Their top shelf whiskey is Maker’s Mark. I went with a Bartles & Jaymes Melon Splash.
The Waiter: No idea. It’s been a month. Unremarkable I guess.
The Apps: Sweet Chili Calamari. (Not as good as Capital Grill) No idea what else we had. I had a wedge salad and didn’t share with Hans. He was pissed.
The Steak: I had a dry aged bone-in ribeye. Mine was cooked a perfect medium rare and was actually pretty good. Don also ordered medium rare and it was clearly medium well. But since we’re just a bunch of tourist buffoons apparently we weren’t aware that dry aged steaks will always look a little more brown? Don rightfully informed the waiter that we’d done this a few times so save the bullshit for Hank and Dotty from Iowa.
Sides: Potatoes maybe? Potentially some creamed spinach? Nothing to see here folks. Keep on moving.
Conclusion:
Fleming’s was decent if you’re staying at the Marriott and don’t feel like walking more than a block. Can’t see coming back here outside of eating some LSD and accidentally walking in wearing nothing but my mesh Nike Flight half shirt and some Birkenstocks.
Filed under: General
Best pinch hit write up, ever. Hi Don.
My steak also the dry aged bone in was actually quite good, slightly over salted, but still quite good. Everything else was nominal at best except for the company of course.
For the second consecutive time as host Don does not post. Not a strong effort and we expect more from Chicago’s finest gentlemen.
The meal was a month ago so I can’t say I remember all the specific details. I do know I had the Dry Aged Bone In Ribeye and it was excellent. I was actually pleasantly surprised the steak was so good. I guess that is a combination of low expectations and getting a top notch steak but I really enjoyed it. Flemings does that chili spiced calamari which was good but not as good as Sullivan’s and Capital Grill which have similar takes on calamari. The other thing that I remember from the evening is that the place was dead, a couple of people in the bar other than us and a couple of other tables seated. In fact when we left I think we were the only ones in the place that didn’t work there. The atmosphere is certainly lacking.
Flemings is fine and the steak was great but as far as the overall experience there are many better options in Chicago. I’m not rushing back.
The host has a week to post rule should be revisited this Thursday. I expect spirited yet productive conversation around the rule and the consequences for breaking it.
Too long ago and certainly too many scotches ago to remember but place was dead and service sucked. Hilarity was abound basically because the place sucked so bad. Zee German and I had surf and turf (king crab) and the melted butter episode where the waiter (due to the drafty window) couldn’t lite the flame under the butter and eventually walked off saying “oh well.” Guy just gave up and no, I didn’t dare share my warm butter.
That all said, the steak was pretty good and cooked to order so that wasn’t a bad thing. Place was so deserted by the time we all left that we could have stayed there for several more hours and I doubt anyone would have noticed.
6.5
Knowing that Fleming’s basically shares a kitchen with Outback, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised in total. Tough to recall details a month later.
Cocktails: I had to go back to work, so stuck with wine. An excellent after work Flor de Campo Pinot Noir at the outset, then something more flavorful accompanied the meal.
Apps: What were they? I don’t know, but I do remember being pleasantly surprised.
Steak: I had a wet-aged ribeye, which of course was nice and red. The dry aged never look quite as red, which is a fact taught at the earliest levels of schooling. Not thrilled, but satisfied.
I remember also finding the conversation to be engaging, but not taxing, exciting, but not distracting.
Flemings – not sure why they made us wait for an 8:15 reservation when the joint was empty. We had a terrific oval table on the 2nd floor with a large window view. Unfortunately, the window was drafty, so whomever sat next to it was destined for a chilly experience.
I thought the food was top notch, one of the better steaks I have had. However, what stood out was the demeanor of our waiter. He made it seem as though he was doing us a favor to be there. Cannot say I appreciated much of his approach.
The boys were in good form, other than a TV that was above our heads and was cause for distraction, it was all well and good.
Kid Ray was missing for 2nd month in a row and was missed.
Flemings – strong 7.5