South Bay: Alexander's Steakhouse
For a long time, Ahyi kept trying to get me to go to Alexander's Steakhouse with her. I held her off, citing the need for a special occasion to merit a trip to the fancy Michelin starred restaurant.
When we finally did go, it was rather anticlimactic. My mom, Ahyi, and I were discussing what to have for dinner when suddenly Alexander's Steakhouse came up. We looked at each other, shrugged, and then off we went:
We didn't have any reservations, so we weren't sure if we would be able to get in. Luckily, we got there pretty early, so after a bit of waiting, we were led to our table:
Unfortunately, our table was located directly under an AC vent. We were FREEZING on and off throughout the entire meal. Whenever we heard the AC turn on, we would pathetically try to huddle under the tablecloth.
The food made it worth nearly freezing our asses off though. It was that good.
The bread serving lady came around multiple times. Each time, we shamelessly loaded up on bread. There was some kind of cheese popover, some kind of olive bread, and some kind of parmesan crisp:
I especially enjoyed the olive bread because of the little olive pieces in it.
Everyone talks about the hamachi shot, so of course we had to get that as an appetizer. My mom wasn't so interested, so we only ordered two:
Each shot glass contained truffle ponzu, chili, avocado, ginger, wasabi greens, and fresh hamachi. $4 each may seem kind of excessive, but damn was it worth it.
We also wanted to try the shishito peppers ($9), which were cooked with den-miso, yuzu, and tenkasu:
After the appetizers, we were brought a fruit sorbet (I forget what kind) and nougat as a complimentary palate cleanser:
The sorbet was very bright and refreshing, but the nougat kinda got stuck in my teeth.
Then it was on to the star of the show: the steaks. I went with the NY strip steak with buttered shiitake mushrooms ($38, if I remember correctly):
Whereas both Ahyi and my mom got the 8 oz filet mignon ($48):
Omygawd. There are no words. Except maybe COME TO MAMA. I'm not kidding. My steak was melt-in-my-mouth-fantastic. Perfectly medium rare and so tender and juicy and I really want some right now.
My ahyi is notorious for always wanting to order more than we should. She's the type of person who would order everything off the menu if we let her. So she was the one who insisted that we tack on three extra sides. There was the truffle mac and cheese ($8) and the creamed spinach ($8):
And the crimini mushrooms cooked in soy-sherry and boursin cheese and sprinkled with sesame seeds ($10):
The mushrooms were a little disappointing and the mac and cheese a little too rich, but the creamed spinach was amazing. I'm a total sucker for creamed spinach.
Our server was a sweetie. When he asked if we were celebrating any special occasion, I mentioned that I'd recently transitioned from legal fellow at my nonprofit to full-blown staff attorney. It wasn't the reason why we were eating out, but it was definitely our excuse to.
I didn't think too much about the conversation after our server left, but then when our plates were cleared away, he suddenly showed up with this:
And glasses of sparkling lemonade:
How adorable is that? Well, the little red velvet cake wasn't actually all the good, but it's the thought that counts right? I guess this is how Alexander's Steakhouse makes its patrons feel good about shelling out so much money for a meal.
We figured that since we were at Alexander's Steakhouse, we might as well go all out and order dessert too. Which is how we ended up with the creme brulee, which consisted of butterscotch custard, cashew butter, and brioche crustini. It was also on FI-YAH:
Our server also suggested the "black and blue". It sounded interesting enough, so we took him up on that:
This little masterpiece is actually black and blueberry mousse blocked in by a fortress made of lemon poppy cake and decorated with brown butter crumble and calamansi.
At the really end of the meal, we were brought complimentary bubblegum cotton candy, some shortbread cookies, and some fruit gummies:
The cotton candy was a bit too sweet for me, but I loved the shortbread cookies.
I totally understand what all the hype is about now. I can't afford to go once a month, but Alexander's Steakhouse is definitely worth splurging on for special occasions. The food is an interesting meld of American steakhouse and Japanese influences. Kind of strange, but it works. Oh, Lord, how well it works.
And while you might need a jacket inside, the atmosphere and the service are superb. Here's another example of how great our server was. When he threatened to tell us a joke from his joke book, I called him out on it, thinking that he didn't actually have one. Except he did. We were all stunned when he pulled out a little black notebook from his pocket and proceeded to gift us with this gem, which I will now pass on to you:
What did the traffic light say to the car?
Don't look, I'm changing.
...
That alone made my entire night. I love Alexander's Steakhouse.
Thank you, Ahyi, for treating us to such an amazing dinner! You're the best!
Alexander's Steakhouse
10330 N Wolfe Rd
Cupertino, CA 95014
(408) 446-2222
http://www.alexanderssteakhouse.com/
When we finally did go, it was rather anticlimactic. My mom, Ahyi, and I were discussing what to have for dinner when suddenly Alexander's Steakhouse came up. We looked at each other, shrugged, and then off we went:
We didn't have any reservations, so we weren't sure if we would be able to get in. Luckily, we got there pretty early, so after a bit of waiting, we were led to our table:
Unfortunately, our table was located directly under an AC vent. We were FREEZING on and off throughout the entire meal. Whenever we heard the AC turn on, we would pathetically try to huddle under the tablecloth.
The food made it worth nearly freezing our asses off though. It was that good.
The bread serving lady came around multiple times. Each time, we shamelessly loaded up on bread. There was some kind of cheese popover, some kind of olive bread, and some kind of parmesan crisp:
I especially enjoyed the olive bread because of the little olive pieces in it.
Everyone talks about the hamachi shot, so of course we had to get that as an appetizer. My mom wasn't so interested, so we only ordered two:
Each shot glass contained truffle ponzu, chili, avocado, ginger, wasabi greens, and fresh hamachi. $4 each may seem kind of excessive, but damn was it worth it.
We also wanted to try the shishito peppers ($9), which were cooked with den-miso, yuzu, and tenkasu:
After the appetizers, we were brought a fruit sorbet (I forget what kind) and nougat as a complimentary palate cleanser:
The sorbet was very bright and refreshing, but the nougat kinda got stuck in my teeth.
Then it was on to the star of the show: the steaks. I went with the NY strip steak with buttered shiitake mushrooms ($38, if I remember correctly):
Whereas both Ahyi and my mom got the 8 oz filet mignon ($48):
Omygawd. There are no words. Except maybe COME TO MAMA. I'm not kidding. My steak was melt-in-my-mouth-fantastic. Perfectly medium rare and so tender and juicy and I really want some right now.
My ahyi is notorious for always wanting to order more than we should. She's the type of person who would order everything off the menu if we let her. So she was the one who insisted that we tack on three extra sides. There was the truffle mac and cheese ($8) and the creamed spinach ($8):
And the crimini mushrooms cooked in soy-sherry and boursin cheese and sprinkled with sesame seeds ($10):
The mushrooms were a little disappointing and the mac and cheese a little too rich, but the creamed spinach was amazing. I'm a total sucker for creamed spinach.
Our server was a sweetie. When he asked if we were celebrating any special occasion, I mentioned that I'd recently transitioned from legal fellow at my nonprofit to full-blown staff attorney. It wasn't the reason why we were eating out, but it was definitely our excuse to.
I didn't think too much about the conversation after our server left, but then when our plates were cleared away, he suddenly showed up with this:
And glasses of sparkling lemonade:
How adorable is that? Well, the little red velvet cake wasn't actually all the good, but it's the thought that counts right? I guess this is how Alexander's Steakhouse makes its patrons feel good about shelling out so much money for a meal.
We figured that since we were at Alexander's Steakhouse, we might as well go all out and order dessert too. Which is how we ended up with the creme brulee, which consisted of butterscotch custard, cashew butter, and brioche crustini. It was also on FI-YAH:
Our server also suggested the "black and blue". It sounded interesting enough, so we took him up on that:
This little masterpiece is actually black and blueberry mousse blocked in by a fortress made of lemon poppy cake and decorated with brown butter crumble and calamansi.
At the really end of the meal, we were brought complimentary bubblegum cotton candy, some shortbread cookies, and some fruit gummies:
The cotton candy was a bit too sweet for me, but I loved the shortbread cookies.
I totally understand what all the hype is about now. I can't afford to go once a month, but Alexander's Steakhouse is definitely worth splurging on for special occasions. The food is an interesting meld of American steakhouse and Japanese influences. Kind of strange, but it works. Oh, Lord, how well it works.
And while you might need a jacket inside, the atmosphere and the service are superb. Here's another example of how great our server was. When he threatened to tell us a joke from his joke book, I called him out on it, thinking that he didn't actually have one. Except he did. We were all stunned when he pulled out a little black notebook from his pocket and proceeded to gift us with this gem, which I will now pass on to you:
What did the traffic light say to the car?
Don't look, I'm changing.
...
That alone made my entire night. I love Alexander's Steakhouse.
Thank you, Ahyi, for treating us to such an amazing dinner! You're the best!
Alexander's Steakhouse
10330 N Wolfe Rd
Cupertino, CA 95014
(408) 446-2222
http://www.alexanderssteakhouse.com/
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