The last two weeks have been Philadelphia's Center City
Restaurant Week. In the past I've simply avoided having anything to do with this, as I was under the impression that it's ridiculously crowded, restaurant chefs and servers resent it, and I like being able to choose from a whole menu. But I think I may have been missing out a little. The basic gist is that you can go to a number of restaurants in Center City, and have a three course meal for $32. This includes quite high-end fancy establishments, like
Le Bec Fin and a host of other places where usually you'd have to drop more than $30 for a glass of wine and an appetizer. So when A.S. texted me to gauge my interest in taking advantage of restaurant week, I was suddenly motivated. I took time looking over the different restaurants' offerings an eventually suggested we go to
Union Trust. I wore a fancy dress and high heeled shoes, because this is a steakhouse with a capital S. Well, not really. More of a capital U and T. Let's move on. While we were on time for our reservation, there was a slight delay for a table, so we enjoyed dirty martinis at the bar. Dirty.
When we were seated - about 15 or 20 minutes later - we were given a pretty sweet spot. It was strange that it seemed like there were plenty of two tops available (so why the wait) but we got a corner booth, all velvety and burgundy, that gave us a great view of the space and other patrons while giving us some privacy. Not that we needed privacy, but it was nice to have our backs to the wall and some breathing room between us and any other guest. I should have taken more photographs of what it looked like inside, but I didn't want to be gauche. It's one thing to take photos of food, it's another to start wandering around a restaurant taking photographs of its ceiling. The choices for the first course included jumbo shrimp cocktail, beef carpaccio and a wedge salad. We both went for the shrimp. They were jumbo and delicious. I imagined that they would be served in fancy martini glass, and maybe for a regular diner they are. While presentation was a little lacking, degustation was on the mark. Did I just make up a word?
I ordered one glass of Benegas Malbec to accompany the meal, which at $13 was on the cheaper end of their 'wines by the glass' selection.
Haricots Verts and Creamed Corn came with our meals, A.S. was enamored with the beans, which I enjoyed as well ... but not much as the creamy corn.
We both ordered the filet mignon with espresso rub and truffle butter. Our collective reasoning being: why order chicken or fish at a steakhouse? I ordered mine medium rare and AS ordered hers medium and, as it should have been, we could actually tell the difference between the two. Mmm. Meat. I enjoyed it thoroughly, though I didn't actually need the espresso rub element, and might have enjoyed another sauce or addition instead.
We didn't feel rushed nor looked down upon by our servers, even though we all knew that they wouldn't be getting the same sort of super bill/tip that the place usually demands. And I appreciated that. Here is the display in their foyer.
So my first restaurant week experience was a success. We had desserts as well, but the photos were not really worth the effort of photoshopping - and neither dish was amazing really. After dinner I accompanied A.S. as she unlocked her bike then made my way to the bus stop just in time to see my bus start pulling away. So I, in my high wedges and dress made a run for it. It seemed like a success when the bus then had to stop at a light ten feet away from the stop itself. But when I knocked on the door the bus driver shook her head and pointed me back to the bus stop. I think that's pretty dumb. I understand if I was three blocks away from the stop and knocked on her door that she might not/could not let me in...but ten feet away from the stop itself? Excuse me while I curse: fuck you lady. I then stood at the bus stop for 20 minutes, losing my food buzz and looking a bit overdressed for public transportation before the next bus arrived.
When we were seated - about 15 or 20 minutes later - we were given a pretty sweet spot. It was strange that it seemed like there were plenty of two tops available (so why the wait) but we got a corner booth, all velvety and burgundy, that gave us a great view of the space and other patrons while giving us some privacy. Not that we needed privacy, but it was nice to have our backs to the wall and some breathing room between us and any other guest. I should have taken more photographs of what it looked like inside, but I didn't want to be gauche. It's one thing to take photos of food, it's another to start wandering around a restaurant taking photographs of its ceiling. The choices for the first course included jumbo shrimp cocktail, beef carpaccio and a wedge salad. We both went for the shrimp. They were jumbo and delicious. I imagined that they would be served in fancy martini glass, and maybe for a regular diner they are. While presentation was a little lacking, degustation was on the mark. Did I just make up a word?
I ordered one glass of Benegas Malbec to accompany the meal, which at $13 was on the cheaper end of their 'wines by the glass' selection.
Haricots Verts and Creamed Corn came with our meals, A.S. was enamored with the beans, which I enjoyed as well ... but not much as the creamy corn.
We both ordered the filet mignon with espresso rub and truffle butter. Our collective reasoning being: why order chicken or fish at a steakhouse? I ordered mine medium rare and AS ordered hers medium and, as it should have been, we could actually tell the difference between the two. Mmm. Meat. I enjoyed it thoroughly, though I didn't actually need the espresso rub element, and might have enjoyed another sauce or addition instead.
We didn't feel rushed nor looked down upon by our servers, even though we all knew that they wouldn't be getting the same sort of super bill/tip that the place usually demands. And I appreciated that. Here is the display in their foyer.
So my first restaurant week experience was a success. We had desserts as well, but the photos were not really worth the effort of photoshopping - and neither dish was amazing really. After dinner I accompanied A.S. as she unlocked her bike then made my way to the bus stop just in time to see my bus start pulling away. So I, in my high wedges and dress made a run for it. It seemed like a success when the bus then had to stop at a light ten feet away from the stop itself. But when I knocked on the door the bus driver shook her head and pointed me back to the bus stop. I think that's pretty dumb. I understand if I was three blocks away from the stop and knocked on her door that she might not/could not let me in...but ten feet away from the stop itself? Excuse me while I curse: fuck you lady. I then stood at the bus stop for 20 minutes, losing my food buzz and looking a bit overdressed for public transportation before the next bus arrived.
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