Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Alexander's Steakhouse

10330 N Wolfe Rd
Cupertino, CA 95014
(408) 446-2222
www.alexanderssteakhouse.com

My friends and I went to Alexander's Steakhouse for my friend, Mark's birthday. Alexander's Steakhouse is an Japanese influenced steakhouse. Stepped into the steakhouse, and I was greeted by shelves of steak and another counter of steaks and explanation of where they came from. Right away, I knew I was at the right place.

The waiting area was very classy and dim with a few lounge chair and wine shelves. Our party of 12 was seated pretty fast, of course with a reservation. The waiter immediately gave us water and our menu.

Alexander's Steakhouse drink menu consists of many wines and a couple of signature cocktails and beers. The waiter recommended the Asian Pear cocktail, which made with sake and organic pear juice. They have many wines to choose from and a in-house sommelier to help give suggestions. The food menu was filled with sections of food starting with appetizers to cold plates to share, to hot plates to share, seafood and then steak. I was happy I went with a big group, which meant more to share and sample.

The Hamachi Shots is a very popular appetizers, and so, we ordered three of them. It comes with 6 shots each.
Hamachi Shots - Grade 5 Hamachi drizzle with truffled ponzu sauce and topped with chili, avocado, frizzled ginger & cilantro

We also ordered Truffled French Fries to share, which was very light but aromatic. My boyfriend ordered Ohitashi Spinach, which is a salad, as his starter. The spinach dish is made with cooked spinach, marinated octopus and maguro sashimi drizzled with ponzu sauce and topped with bonito flakes. The spinach was light but the whole dish was overpowered by the bonito flakes and ponzu sauce. My friend Mei ordered the Tuna Tartare as her starter. It is made with "Nicoise" flavors, green beans, kalamata olive foam and topped with a raw quail egg. She mixed up everything on the plate and served. The tuna tartare was very light and was not fishy at all. I could not taste the quail egg at all, which could be a good as well as a bad thing.

Since our party was quite large, there were quite a lot of entrees. I will focus on a few that really stood out to me. First all, let me started with my own. I was not too hungry to begin with, so I ordered a 6oz Filet Mignon, grilled to medium rare.

Filet Mignon - 6oz filet plated with a tarragon-mustard beurre blanc, demi glace.

My steak was grilled to perfection, char-broil liked exterior with flavor reminded me of Asian beef jerkey, and a very, very juicy and tender center.

My friend Philip ordered the New York Trio. The trio consisted of Japanese A5, Australian F1 and American certified Angus beef. This was one of the pricer entree, priced at $135.

New York Trio  - American certified Angus beef, Australian F1 and Japanese A5.

The steaks from the New York Trio, from left to right, American, Australian and Japanese. The Japanese A5 is clearly much fatter and the Australia F1 is more of a fusion between the American and Japanese steak. A small piece of Waygu is just good and enough for me-- it melted in my mouth like butter. I cannot imagine eating 4 ounces worth of butter. The Australian New York steak, nonetheless, has the best flavor and consistency.

I ordered a side of Kabocha Squash, which was roasted with maple syrup and sage. It was delicious. I never had squash this way before. The maple pairs well with the squash since the squash is not too sweet but starchy.

My friend Kirk ordered a Mushroom Risotto. One spoon and it was blasted with mushroom and cheese flavor. Even though I'm a big fan of mushroom, I did not enjoy this very much because it was too cheesy.

Another friend of mine ordered a Mac 'N Cheese with White Truffle Oil. Again, it was too cheesy and I couldn't really taste the truffle oil.
The unique thing I like about Alexander's Steakhouse is that before you start your meal, they give you a chef's complementary jump starter. For the night we went, it was Mushroom Bread Pudding. It was a very small piece but it was perfect because it was creamy. I love it because the mushroom flavor really stood out. Before our entrees were served, the waiters brought out a bite -sized palette cleanser, something sweet after all the salty food. That was very thoughtful. I believe it was sliced blueberry over cranberry gelatin. It was served on a tiny silver spoon. This might look small but it was filled with sweetness, it definitely chased away the salty taste in my mouth.

Lastly, the best part of the night...dessert! I was a little disappointed because the dessert selection looked pretty simple and lack of selection. But that was okay because with every meal, the steakhouse gives out cotton candy to end the night. The flavor we got that night was banana. I heard that they make 16 different flavors of cotton candies. Banana flavored cotton candy was surprisingly good and definitely satisfied my sweet tooth. On the second page of the dessert menu was a cigar menu. Alexander's has many, many cigar selection for those who want to hang outside the bar after their meal.

Alexander's Steakhouse was pretty pricey, but they do serve good quality of food. I am discouraged to go back because of the price, but would definitely not mind going back because of their delicious and unique fusion of Japanese and American steakhouse food.

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