you can't beat a Fancy Steak Dinner

My very first post.

Andy and I talked one time about blogging about our Fancy Steak Dinners, and he did start one, but didn't really get off the ground. Fancy steak dinners? We started this tradition after we got married, but really we had already had a few fancy steak dinners before.

Andy took me on a date to Charley's Steakhouse in Orlando. The steak was melt-in-your-mouth fantastic. Several months later, we met in Chicago for the weekend. On the flight, I was reading the airline magazine and noticed that Charley's was listed as one of the Top 10 USDA Prime Steakhouses. Turns out there are a couple of top 10 steakhouse lists, and most of the steakhouses listed are not chains. Anyway, in Chicago, we went to the Chicago Chop House. Wow. This is in my personal top 2 so far.

We ended up getting married on Halloween in Raleigh, NC. That's a post for another time. It was our first day in town. Where to celebrate? We found an Outback Steakhouse and that's where we went for our wedding dinner.

On our first anniversary, Andy asked what I wanted to do. I suggested a steak dinner that was a step or two up from Outback. He said, "ooh ooh!" while waving his hands excitedly (his signature "I've got a GREAT idea" move - it reminds me a bit of Wallace & Grommit), and then disappeared to the office to work on his plan. Since he can't keep a secret, it wasn't long before he told me that we were going to fly to Denver to have dinner at another one of the Top 10 Steakhouses: Brook's Steakhouse.

That was the official start to our tradition. Each year for our anniversary, we go somewhere for a week or so to relax, renew and rediscover. And eat a Fancy Steak Dinner. We've been to the Oregon coast and Portland (Ringside Steakhouse); the north Georgia mountains and Atlanta (McKendrick's Steak House - the other of my personal top 2); and an island off the coast of Rhode Island and Boston (can't remember the name of the steak place right now). We just celebrated our 5th anniversary on the Florida Gulf Coast, and had a nice steak at Tio Pepe's in Clearwater.

I'm not a professional food critic or anything like that, and I don't work for or get paid by any of the restaurants/restaurant groups that I post about. I'm just your average carnivore.