I have always been fascinated by the corner of Capitol and Quarrier streets in downtown Charleston. Before I moved here, I was intrigued by the yellow facade and "Cafe de Paris" moniker - before finding out it had closed quite some time prior. It has also been a McDonald's and most recently The Block. It seems like a prime space for a restaurant, so I'm not sure why there has been quite the turnover. But now, it is DT Prime Steakhouse.
Their claim to fame is that they are offering "Steakstones," which - as an alternative to your steak being cooked to order and prepared back in the kitchen - it arrives rare on a very hot steakstone and you cook it to your preference as you eat it. Is it perhaps gimmicky? Maybe, but it is something different that I wanted to test out for myself.
My friend and queen of all things FestivALL Mackenzie Spencer and I went to check it out recently. The menu says all steaks are sourced from West Virginia farms - which is surprising - and served with a potato of choice.
I went with the 7 oz. filet on the steakstone and "Reggie's Tarragon Room Potatoes," which are Yukon gold potatoes scalloped and layered with fresh shaved parmesan, Italian seasonings and cream.
First, we were served bread made in-house with some whipped butter - both pretty tasty. It was warm, which is always nice. But it was also very warm in the restaurant, so I didn't dig in like I normally would. What I did enjoy was good.
We did also have some macaroni and cheese to split - it had bacon and was baked. So, the key here is to dig deep, pull up some of that creamy bechamel that is clinging to the bottom and spread it atop the noodles that get a bit dried out in the baking process. Not bad, even though my personal preference is to err on the side of creamy.
When the steak came out, we didn't receive a ton of instruction other than put some salt on the stone and then cook to preference. So, I layered a bunch of salt and put my entire filet on the stone. Mistakes were made. 1) You do not have to use much salt. My first bites were VERY salty. 2) Cut hunks of the steak off - don't try to cook the whole thing. Once I adjusted, my steak was not bad. I did not get that super juicy center, though, as I was just cutting pieces as I was going. And because filet is such a mild flavor, some seasoning would have been good. The sauce and butter did help as accoutrements.
Also, they mixed up my potatoes and gave me mashed - which were fine - but the ones I actually ordered didn't come out until at the very end of the meal, so I took those to go. I do love some scalloped potatoes, and while I'm sure they would've been better fresh from the oven and not as leftovers, they were still tasty.
Overall, a pretty tasty meal with a unique experience that can work for a nice night out or something different.
Grade: B
