So to continue my spring break funtivities trip to Dallas, the plan was for Joni and I to meet her husband Tony for lunch at Perry's Steakhouse, along with a few other of their friends for their Friday pork chop special. We also invited our friend Paul to join us.
When I hear pork chop special, I'm thinking a family-owned dive restaurant with like 10 things on the menu. Boy was I wrong. Perry's is in Uptown Dallas, next to the Ritz Carlton. Once I heard that, I knew it had to be at least a little nicer than a dive. Again, boy was I wrong.
We pulled up and, like a lot of places in Dallas, valet parked the car. We were meeting the group for a late lunch, but there was still a pretty long line of people waiting on their cars. We didn't have reservations either, which I quickly realized is critical on pork chop Friday, because the place was packed and it was about 1:15 when we arrived.
I was so impressed from the moment I walked in the restaurant. It's definitely an upscale restaurant, with white tablecloths and a huge wine selection, but still a very warm and comfortable feel. We decided to have a drink at the bar while we waited for Tony. It seems like that's where everyone who doesn't have a reservation eats, so instead we went out to the patio. It was a little chilly and pretty windy, so they have removable curtain-type things, plus a fireplace and heat lamps hanging from the ceiling. But that wind didn't care. However, I can imagine in warmer weather that would be a fantastic place for happy hour.
Eventually it ended up only being Joni, Paul and I. We were seated at a table very close to the door. It wasn't bad when the door was closed, but every time it opened there was a chill. And the table seemed a little out of place, like they just stuck it there as an after-thought, to handle a few more people. After a few minutes we asked to be moved to another table. Although they were still really busy, they quickly moved us to a booth a little further back, and much more comfortable.
Joni and I were sharing a half-bottle of wine, which you don't see too often in restaurants. Or maybe I just don't notice it. They didn't have any more of the kind we ordered, and the manager very graciously offered us a more expensive bottle at the same price. I like that kind of manager. They also had a 3-liter bottle of wine that costs $2,200. I just can't imagine anyone even considering ordering that. But we figured that businessmen who want to impress big clients might. Either way, that's insane. So Joni and I just stuck to reasonably priced wine.
We decided to start with the appetizer trio
The calamari was absolutely outstanding. It was lightly breaded, perfectly cooked, and the cherry peppers on top were spicy, but not too much so and they added amazing flavor. I could have eaten an entire tray of that myself. The fried asparagus topped with jumbo lump crab meat was also amazing. They used thick asparagus, and the breading was just enough to add crunch without overpowering the flavor. And you could tell the crab meat was fresh. The homemade polish sausage was good and had just a little bit of heat, but it was my least favorite of the 3.
Joni wasn't super hungry, so she just got the warm spinach with bacon vinaigrette salad
I didn't have any, but she said it was really good. And it looked really good...and in reality, what's not going to taste good with huge chunks of bacon in it??
Paul and I both ordered pork chop specials and, as if that wasn't enough food, we decided to add an order of roasted creamed corn to the mix.
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That corn was fabulous. You could definitely taste the roasted flavor to the corn. And the creamed part was not overpowering. Again, I could have eaten that entire serving myself.
So, about this Friday pork chops special. It's only $11.95, which explains why everyone comes here to get it. It's normally $17.95 for the lunch portion, and comes with mashed potatoes and homemade apple sauce.
This was absolutely the largest pork chop I've ever seen in my entire life. And I'm stunned that this was the lunch portion...apparently the dinner portion is twice the size. The picture doesn't even remotely do justice to how big it is. I love that they cut it at the table for you, and then they even suggest how to eat it. The little piece under the lime, I forget what that's called but they say to eat that first. It's got that crispy deliciousness that makes it absolutely amazing. Then you're supposed to eat the chops. And then the biggest part, again, I can't remember what it's called. I was absolutely stuffed by the time I got to that part. But since I had forgotten to try the apple sauce, I tried a couple of bites with it. I probably haven't eaten apple sauce since I was a kid, but it was really delicious, and you could tell it was homemade.
The mashed potatoes were very delicious, but I only had a few bites.
The smart thing would have been to stop at this point, and just call it a day. That would have been the best decision. But we had also seen a couple of flambe desserts at tables around us, so we decided just to ask and see what types of options they had. And we couldn't resist the Nutty d'Angelo
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| Photo Courtesy of Perry's Steakhouse Crushed pecans flambéed with brown sugar and brandy, served over vanilla ice cream, dipped in white chocolate and toasted almonds |
Wow, that dessert was good. The only negative I can say is that the ice cream was a little too frozen, so it was a little hard for us to eat. But the combination of the brown sugar, brandy and white chocolate was phenomenal.
It's a good thing that Joni was driving back to Flower Mound, because I was in an absolute food coma by this point and probably wouldn't have made it on my own. But it was 100% worth it.
Will I go back? Absolutely no question. Their lunch prices are very reasonable, and the atmosphere is worth the trip.
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