Last week Wednesday, before I went to California and before my family was visiting, Chuck and I met up with Alpana Singh and her husband Charles Blackstone at a wine tasting she was hosting at Osteria Via Stato. Afterwards she had made dinner arrangements for us at David Burke’s Primehouse and also invited Martin Duffy, a whisky expert.
Marty made special arrangements to bring his own high-end whiskys to dinner and spent a lot of time describing each one and educating us about whisky and scotch, how it’s made, how it tastes, the smell, where it comes from, it’s history, etc. I know some of the others at dinner knew more about whisky, but for me it was really a learning experience. I think whisky will have to be an acquired taste for me and I should probably keep at it, but I like trying new things and learning all about whisky that night was really fun for me.
I must also talk about David Burke’s Primehouse. It was divine. I don’t eat very much steak at all, but I thought it was fantastic. I loved the decor, the lighting, the tables, and of course the food. The service was pretty great, but because we had special arrangements, I can’t really speak for how it is on a regular night. I mean, David Burke himself came out to our table to say hello. Awesome.
One thing I really liked about Primehouse even before I set foot in the restaurant was the fact that the restaurant is named after a bull on a ranch in Kentucky that sires all of the cows who are then butchered to make the steaks used in David Burke’s restaurants. The bull’s name is Prime (and he has his own website here). It’s kind of morbid to think about, but I was really digging the fact that David Burke is so into his ingredients and that involved in knowing where they come from. Also, an interesting fact we learned that night: If Prime were to die today, there’s enough of him (his sperm?) in storage that they could continue making steaks with his lineage for about 50 years.
Here’s what it comes down to – David Burke’s Primehouse is pricey, but I thought it was really worth it. If you’re in Chicago and have a special occasion coming up and you love steak, why not try it out instead of the normal go-tos like Morton’s and Gibson’s?
Read Chuck’s post about our dinner on Chicagoist.
