The day right after the Last Fling Before the Ring was my 6AM flight to Austin, Texas. Yay, work travel (not.) It was my first time down to that Southern tip of the US, and I expected it to be huge, but apparently, this was the "small" part of the state. With less than 1 million citizens, the city is still growing and sprawling over the hills. 

I landed at 2PM, was at the customer's door by 3PM, and after that, I was starving. Good thing III Forks was just around the corner from where we were staying.

I had enough of steak houses, but P was into it, so we went to a restaurant that specializes in beef, and I had seafood. This was the halibut on a bed of risotto, one of their specials that day. A server also came by with a large platter of tomatoes, (by large, I mean probably the size of a small coffee table) and asked if we wanted a few slices to go with our meal. I needed vegetables, and so that's why there are 3 slices of tomatoes behind the little hill of food. 

Bread is a defining part of the meal. This was crispy on the outside, sweet chewy bread on the side. Give us more butter please!

P had a Prime New York steak, which came in a healthy serving size of 16 oz. I think the server mentioned it was 28 days wet aged? Not what I'm used to hearing, after all the dry aged beef back in Chicago just a month ago. 

Really though, it was the promise of chocolate cake for dessert that I agreed to come to this steakhouse. They had a chocolate cake with coconut flakes just along the back of the cake. Not too into coconut, so P ate that part for me. It was just what was needed to round off my day. 

There were a couple of other places that might be worth a mention from this trip to Silicon Hills, so I might hop in with another post in the near future. The tech industry seems to be booming (er... echoing?) in the gentle hills of this neighborhood. Not a bad place to set up shop for a little while, but there's no place like home. I also did not have enough time to find a good coffee shop in Texas, but next time... I'll be back for you, hipster coffee shops in Austin!

On one of the last days of Automate, it was P and I left in Chicago from our team, and we had no choice but to finish off the trip with steak. Out of convenience, we stepped into Shula's, right at the entrance of the Sheraton Grand, where we were staying: 

This time, I had the 8oz filet mignon, and added a side of sauteed spinach (you can see the plate of greens, right next to the glass of red wine in the photo above).



Honestly, this place didn't really stand out, neither good nor bad. The server did not go over how many days their beef is aged, so just with this tiny detail, it was clear that this place was not as high end as the previous two steakhouses. The prices were still exorbitantly high, being that it's part of the Sheraton. I don't usually expect too much from hotel restaurants, although there was one place in Burlington that was a good find (maybe I'll write more about this in the future)... Hotels are a place for sleeping, not really for eating!

Bonus for the stiff drinks that they serve here though.

Final note to close off this series of Chicago steakhouse posts is to remember to eat vegetables, because health is wealth. Many reminders of this have popped up throughout this month, with a few trips to the hospital (not for me), and a few stiff knees/leg cramps post standing for long periods of time. I was also very tired of digesting all the red meat during this week, and came back to Vancouver craving a fresh smoothie. Anybody care for a walk to Whole Foods with me?

Chicago Steakhouse Tour 2019:
1. Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak, and Stone Crab
2. Chicago Cut Steakhouse
3. Shula's

This week will probably be the longest of 2019. I'll try to remember only the happy moments, which on this trip in Chicago revolved around steakhouses. Starting with the first night at Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak, and Stone Crab:

I had the 8z filet mignon, medium rare, as I usually like. For sides, we had the sauteed spinach, broccolini, and the Lyonnaise potatoes (seen above the steak in the photo to the top). For dessert, we had to order the key lime pie, in honor of D, who could not make it for his own legitimate reasons:

Everything was just good enough, but not spectacular. The server came by and was very good at introducing the menu, told us about how their beef is prepared, and I should note the number of days that the meat is aged next time, but if my memory is correct, I believe she mentioned that it was between 30 and 40 days.  My medium rare steak was closer to medium rare plus, which is a term that I was reminded of on this trip, referring to steak that is just slightly more cooked than medium rare, but just below medium (it's all in the temperature control). 

Not only that, it was a tad dry and chewy, but hey, I was still able to eat the whole chunk of meat.

The sides were fair. Being the first time that I tried Lyonnaise potatoes, I didn't really know what to expect, but basically, they were large pieces of hashbrown with onions and gravy on top. Not sure if I'd order this again for dinner, because hashbrowns are a breakfast food in my mind.

The key lime pie was not too impressive, based on the ones that I've had before. I prefer a firmer texture and this one was already melting on the plate.

Walking around the windy city reminded me of how fortunate I am to be here, living in a 1st world country and doing the job that I have. Although it was a difficult week, we're blessed with an abundance of food and drink, and I'm grateful for the opportunities around me. I hope to be able to hire a robot to do everything that I don't want to do, like putting together trade show demos.

Chicago Steakhouse Tour 2019:
1. Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak, and Stone Crab
2. Chicago Cut Steakhouse
3. Shula's

We went to cozy, old school Gotham Steakhouse on a rainy Thursday... 

Almost everyone had rib eye, but I wasn’t feeling a 20oz slab of meat, so I had a manageable 10oz filet:

I had my steak rare, and it was perfectly rare. I wouldn't consider myself a connoisseur of beef, but take my word for it that this perfection is not easy to find. We had a selection of sides, including Gotham’s hash browns, onion rings, brussel sprouts with chorizo, creamed spinach, spicy beans (SUPER spicy), and the bread. Honestly thought I would prefer the mashed potatoes, but the hash browns were pretty gourmet. 

Top it off with a good Old Fashioned. No complaints here.

Rare, and perfectly done. There has been lots of talk about equality lately and I keep seeing this theme. It’s rare to be seated at a the table with half men and half women in this industry. The genders at the table was perfectly 50-50. The nationalities were Canadian, but it was the most Canadian it could get, with some Asian genes, some French, some Australian, and some just a random mix. Not that it mattered, because I just realized all of the above, as I’m writing this post, and the conversation and mutual understanding was made it perfect.