I met a friend at The Strip House last week, and my eyes were ablaze with the excitement that precedes a filet mignon. 8:30 reservations meant I was primed for a hearty meal, sooner rather than later. Service was swift, if not a bit stuffy, but we happily placed our orders with eager anticipation.
Now I love a good steak house as much as the next gal, but the stringent adherence to drowning lettuce in dressing has got to stop. I’m just sayin’. Salads sounded creative enough, but ours were doused with placid creamy sauces, rendering the flavors useless. Eeek. It is as I bite into a piece of calorie-laden lettuce that I notice the skinny little bitches on the wall: 1940’s style pin-up ladies slyly smiling down at me from every angle. And while the walls fascinate, interesting décor does not a great steak make. I say this because our steaks arrived soon thereafter, overly crispy on the outside and a little dry on the inside. My medium rare filet came medium, at best, and I'd classify the New York Strip as medium-well. Is this what we can expect from a steak chain HQ’d in NYC? The highlight was the roasted garlic clove that came steak-side, but... Oh no! They stole the bread basket! Oh well, we’ll always have creamed spinach. This, in all honestly, was a shining star.
The Strip House is on McKinney downtown, but if you’re downtown and looking to drop a money bomb on a steak, skip up to Vic & Anthony’s, in my opinion the best steak in this lovely steak town.
The Strip House - 1200 McKinney at San Jacinto downtown