Title: Fleming's Steakhouse
Author: jean komatsu
Last saved by: GCS

Fleming's Steakhouse, Walnut Creek – update dinner
Review date: February 2011
 
We made a second visit to Fleming's Steakhouse to try their prime rib as our Valentine's Day celebration. Although I'd requested a table in the small back room via OpenTable, which we prefer to the main dining area, that note was ignored. Fortunately, we were there early and were able to request it when we checked in with the hostess.
 
The prime rib comes as a pre-fixe with side dish, choice of two salads, and any dessert. This is reasonably priced, and Carlos chose the Caesar which was large enough for us to share. I don't usually care for Caesars but enjoyed Fleming's version, which is very similar to the one Zachary's Pizza/Berkeley makes, with perhaps a little less dressing but an equally generous amount of garlic. 
 
I ordered the spicy fried calamari as my starter, as Carlos really enjoyed it the first time we ate here. Although a little different in execution this time, it was still very tasty and a generous enough serving that we brought some home. It wasn't as saucy as the first time, and the pickled vegetables were a little more tart, but we still liked this a lot.
 
My entree was the porcini-dusted filet mignon, a nice if very mild filet, certainly not wet-aged as Carlos' rib-eye had been on our first visit. But the porcini dusting gave it some flavor, and the brandy-green peppercorn cream sauce that accompanied it was very good. There were three small grilled asparagus spears, so I was glad we had shared the Caesar.
 
Unfortunately the prime rib didn't taste like wet-aged beef. It was hard to tell, however, because it was overseasoned with too much thyme in the dry rub. We like thyme, and I use it on my own beef roasts. But like oregano it's a very strong herb best used with discretion. When the manager came around to ask how everything was, I told him about the overseasoning, and he thanked us, saying the cook was new, having just started with them three weeks ago. Fleming's was also doing a Valentine's Day promotion and giving every table a $25 gift card, albeit with a 1-month expiration period. The manager gave us two of them, so we may be making yet another visit here soon.
 
Carlos opted for the chocolate lava cake, which was a quite good version - perhaps a bit too much like Hershey's dark chocolate, but there are far worse lava cakes to be had, and he enjoyed it. The pistachio ice cream on the side, however, was just vanilla ice cream with a sprinkling of chopped pistachios on it, so I snagged it to go along with my cappuccino, which was, like the cake, not the best but more than adequate.
 
Fleming's isn't perfect by a long shot, but for a steakhouse they do just enough things right to be worth the cost. I want to revisit Bob's Steakhouse in SF, a place I haven't been back to in years, to compare them with the others we've visited. But with $50 in gift cards to be used up, we'll probably make at least one more trek through the Caldecott Tunnel in the next few weeks!
 
One three course prefixe, one starter, one entree, three beverages, with tip came to $145.

Fleming's Steakhouse
1685 Mount Diablo Blvd., Walnut Creek, CA
http://www.flemingssteakhouse.com/menu
Review date: January 2011

Fleming's opened in downtown Walnut Creek just as the economy turned down, in early 2009. WC already has a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, which we tried and thought was good, if not great.

Great beef is never cheap, and steakhouses have always been 'special occasion' restaurants. Fleming's doesn't compare with Ruth's quieter music and atmosphere, and slightly more professional waitstaff. But they leap ahead of Ruth's in the one essential criteria – the quality of the beef.

We eat steak and roast beef regularly at home. But the quality of beef from supermarkets ranges from fair to abysmal. It's low-grade Choice, lacks sufficient marbling, and even when cooked rare can be decidedly chewy. I always marinate steaks and roasts, which gets them to a tolerable level. But all of it is a far cry from the 3” thick, Prime-quality porterhouse steaks my family used to get in Chicago.

Really good beef is aged – either wet or dry. When we ate at Ruth's, the filet was tender, but the flavor had the mildness of unaged beef, and Carlos' strip steak was an absolutely terrible cut, full of gristle and chewy to boot. Fleming's offers fewer beef choices – a few sizes of filet, one NY Strip, or boneless/bone-in rib-eye steak. The classic Prime Rib roast is restricted to Sundays. They offer one chicken, one lamb, one pork, and one veal chop entree each, along with seven seafood entrees. 

I love veal chops and can't often find them, so this was my choice of entree. Carlos picked the boneless rib-eye steak, and Inez chose the crab cake appetizer as a small plate entree. To start with, I chose the Sweet Chile Calamari, Carlos got the French onion soup, and Inez picked the special Manhattan Corn Chowder.

The calamari is batter-fried, then drizzled with a sweetened, chile-spiked vinegar. This plate had lightly pickled red bell peppers, which were both colorful and tasty. I first encountered pickled bell peppers at Paley’s Place in Portland, OR during our recent Pacific NW trip, and it's a delightful change from the usual pickled root vegetables and onions. The calamari batter softens under the sauce, but not disagreeably so.

Carlos' French onion soup was excellent, with a hearty, beefy stock. Both of us approved of the use of a Swiss-Parmesan cheese blend instead of the usual all-Parmesan. Unfortunately, Inez's soup wasn't to her liking, with an excess of dried oregano added to the tomato-based broth that was overwhelming. She also doesn't understand the difference between a cream chowder and a Manhattan chowder, so she expected a cream soup instead of the unthickened brothy soup she received.

My veal chop was large – veal is all half-grown beef nowadays – but it was beautifully grilled and not overly salty. It was as close to the classic veal chop as one can get nowadays, and I enjoyed it a lot. 

I won't say I loved it, because Carlos slipped me a slice of his prime rib, and that was superb. Not only was it truly Prime quality, but it was wet-aged which gave it that rich flavor which is unmistakeable. Our only disappointment is that they only have one size, the 16-oz, unlike some steakhouses where you can get several different weights.

Inez's crabcake were fresh Dungeness, with the strong red bell pepper taste that seems to be the fashion nowadays. They were good, although they paled in comparison to the meat...which, of course, is just how it should be at a good steakhouse.

As with most steakhouses, all entrees come without sides. We picked the chipotle cheddar mac'n'cheese, but although tasty it's too rich even for three people to finish a modest bowl. I love gemelli, a solid twisted rope pasta, but it's too heavy a pasta for these entrees. Although the cheese sauce is delicious, it's rich with cream. Carlos said the baked potato would have been a better choice, and I agreed.

The dessert list didn't inspire us, so we finished with cappuccinos. The decaf is a little rough, but the regular espresso is a good blend. Fleming's could use some barista training; the foam was mediocre, and serving single cappuccinos in a regular sized coffee cup cools them down too fast.

If I were to pick a quiet, relaxing atmosphere with wonderful service, Ruth's wins hands-down. Fleming's is noisy, both with jarringly spirited music, a huge bar in the main dining room, and crowded aisles. 

But when you're at a steakhouse, the only thing that matters is the beef. So Fleming's wins by a mile in a head-to-head comparison. There's a lot of steakhouses we haven't tried, and maybe there's better ones (although no, we don't plan to visit Michael Mina's new steakhouse that he opened in the St. Francis hotel/SF). But Fleming's is only a short drive away, and for a fabulous hunk of properly aged, skillfully grilled beef, right now they've got our vote. We're coming back on a Sunday to try that Prime Rib, soon.

Four starters (Inez's crabcakes are under the Appetizer section), two entrees, one side, two beverages, with tip came to $192.