Prime Meats Review

Justin and I declared last Friday night date night.  After a week full of salads, vegetables, and snack-less-ness, I was ready for a splurge, and Prime Meats fit the ticket perfectly…

This is one of Justin’s favorite places, so nothing is more exciting to me than entering a restaurant knowing that it’s going to be glorious.  In the past, Prime Meats did not accept reservations, and their waiting area is cramped and stuffy.  So Justin was particularly excited to learn that they recently created a reservation system.  We arrived early (as usual) for our 7:30 reservations and were quickly seated – no cramped stuffy waiting necessary.

So, to me, the menu didn’t look super outrageous or exciting; and we all know I stalked the menu for the entire week leading up to date night.  Here are my unprofessional photographs of the menus, for your viewing pleasure:

As for our drinks, Justin and I went with our first round of the Old-Fashioned and a Manhattan, and my second drink was the Golden Handcuffs.  All of these were delicious.  I particularly enjoyed the twist of pear bitters in my Old-Fashioned.

 

For our appetizers, we went with a half-dozen oysters (the bottom three being from Washington, and the top three being from Massachusetts):

I much prefer the Washington, west coast option (plump and meaty), while Justin prefers the east coast (briny and flavorful).

We continued along with our appetizers to have the charred octopus and herb and gruyere spaztle:

Okay, the octopus was good.  The fingerling potatoes were extra salty and flavorful, and the octopus itself was cooked well.  The lemony-ness was perfect.  All good.

But that spatzle.  I realize that it looks like a bowl of worms.  But I don’t care.  If you go to Prime Meats, you must have this dish.  For $9 you are served a mustardy, delicious, creamy bowl of heaven:  macaroni and cheese made with a tender doughy dumpling.  If ordered alone as a pasta-esque entree, this would be fully satisfying.  An absolute must-have.  Plan to share it, though, because the sausages… oh the sausages…

For entrees we went with a special, an aged petit strip steak (ordered rare), and the Wurstbrett (a sampling of sausages):

The steak was great:  you could taste the age on it, and it was cooked excellently, though a little chewy.  The creamed spinach was great, too:  a little lighter than you’d typically expect.

Now, can you see that sausage party happening up there?  I mean, it was out of control.  I’m not usually a big fan of sausage (get your mind out of the gutter, I’m only talking about food here).  I’ll eat a good sausage and pepper hero, and I’ll always taste a house made sausage, when it’s available.  But rarely am I ever like, “Woah, that’s a good sausage.”  This platter of thuringer (pork and bacon – YUM), knackwurst, bratwurst, and venison sausage set a new standard, with the favorites, easily, being the thuringer and venison.  With the accompaniments of picked veggies, sauerkraut, and sweet and spicy mustards, I became a true sausage fan.  Another Prime Meats must have.

Last, of course, we had dessert:

These were both yummy, but not mind-blowingly yummy, as I would hope.  I went with the chocolate cremeux, which I much preferred over Justin’s apple strudel – it was a standard strudel.  The granola crumbly thing on top of the cremuex was cool and gave a nice texture to the dessert.

So Friday date night was a success – I left the restaurant both hating and loving myself, full of guilt, calories, and delicious flavors.  You could easily go to Prime Meats, order the spatzle, some sausage, and maybe a beer or a cocktail and leave fully satisfied for under $40 a person.

Prime Meats earned a four star Baconboozer rating, for excellent service, great food, and life-changing sausages.  Keep up the good work.  Letting Justin pick our date night restaurants continues to be a great idea.