Over the Top

I like business dinners. You get to go out, fraternize, eat well, have a glass of wine, and it's work. When I was in Indianapolis this week we went with some customers to Eddie Merlot's, one of a chain of steak houses located primarily in the Midwest. lots of chains produce sub-par food (exceptions I love: In-N-Out, Baja Fresh, Jimmy John's, lately Potbelly sandwiches), but steak is the exception: the buying power of chain steakhouses often gets you better beef than individual restaurants can obtain, unless you are Peter Luger (http://peterluger.com/).




Eddie Merlot's seems to get pretty good meat, and this is the prime 22-ounce bone-in ribeye, cooked just short of medium. It was great. by my estimate, I got through 20 ounces and three stalks of asparagus, which is not bad considering I had a bowl of (also wonderful) seafood bisque before dinner. Looking at the picture I realize that this must be over-the-top gross to a lot of people, but so rarely do I eat steak that I try to focus on enormous, excellent ones.