Longhorn Saloon French Dip Review, Edison, WA

Longhorn Saloon. It's right down the road now.  Nice place.  Feels cozy and lively.  Food is good.  Has pool tables, etc.

So they have sandwiches...nice, now we're talking.

And a French dip even!

And beer!

Looks good.  Cut on bias.  No skewers.  Jus looks dark.

Medium rareness.  Nice.

Melted cheesy.

Medium rare beef looking good.

I'm liking the bias cutting and size is large.

Side salad topped with parmesan.

Dark jus.

Looks a bit bedraggled but good.

Really bedraggled.

Lots of dressing on the side.

Was a decent salad in the end.

 

French dip - 4

• Swiss makes it taste gamey - sad!  Don't get Swiss ever again?
• Good, hot jus, plentiful - nice.  5.
• Good size
• Lots of meat
  • Medium rare parts

Side Salad - 3

• Parmesan
  • Shredded
  • Plentiful
• Good
• Temperature
  • Reasonably cold
• Tomatoes
  • Diced
• Greens
  • Small pieces
• Served in small cereal bowl
• Croutons
  • Plentiful
• Size
  • Big enough
• Dressing
  • Good and plentiful
  • Not noteworthy

Toby's, Coupeville, WA

 

Doesn't look too big but it does look good.

The money shot looks pretty good!

Looks pretty good.  Medium rare beef is always nice to see.

Looks like rich jus.  Sandwich cut on bias.  Pickle slices on top, which is unique.  Bamboo skewers.  Mom got mussels.

Or I guess I was feeling frisky and got fries.  Rare move for me but I did it.  Fries are always good, aren't they?

Well, they have a French Dip, what am I going to do?  Order the French dip...and a side salad. :)

Decor.

Our window view.  It's an old dive bar, generally and feels a bit "sticky" inside, I'd say.

Inside of Toby's

Nice little pic from Deception Pass Bridge.  

This is the outside.  We had to wait here for 30 minutes or more.  It was packed just because things seemed so limited on this busy summer day.

Had never been here before.  Old place.

This is like "Memento" of a blog post.  I come to Toby's in Coopeville with my mom in the middle of the summer.  It still felt like Covidtimes.  It was REALLY hot this day.  Mom and I were just looking for something fun to do and went for a drive to Oak Harbor and then farther south.  We tried going to Captian Whidbey but it was closed.  This was the only place in Coupeville that seemed doable and we were hungry.  

Bread 3

Meat 4

Jus 4

Overall 4

Irish Dip at Union in Anacortes

Sitting at one of the tables in the middle of Union in downtown Anacortes.  I hadn't seen Josh for years so it was fun.  Great to catch up with that guy.

Yeah, it's a bit of a dog and pony show but I pretty much have to get the French dip if it's on the menu and I haven't had it before.  I was obliged!!!!!!  Had never heard of an Irish Dip, I don't believe, so creativity points for that.  Cheese and mayo on a French dip is just a waste of time and energy.  These toppings are for "chefs" who don't realize that butter, toasting, great bread and jus are the truly essential components of doing it right.  They must have missed the memo.  Lo, I ordered it. 

So here it is.  Nice looking salad, I had three beers so my food was hardly my focus at this point.  They slighted me on the jus as well, so that was incredibly sad.  The sandwich looks a little flat and greasy.  Radishes on the salad always help it seem a bit fresher.

Meek jus.

A second serving of meek jus.  I took poor notes on this sandwich so you'll have to bare with me on my recollection. Overall good not great.  3 or 4, definitely not 5.

Here's the sandwich.  Looks pretty sad, I suppose.  And a bit greasy, and a bit "flat", as I earlier expressed.

Setting the Stage

So I'm living back in the Anacortes area after "just" 20 years away.  My good buddy Schaffer agreed to meet up with me for drinks.  I was excited.  I'd been to Union a time or two before but never for food.  Josh and I had a couple of beers and ordered food; it was dinner time.  I had to go with the dip because it's expected of me in some scenarios.

Review

• French Dip
• Sandwich. 3. Was decent, salty and tasty as a standalone unit. A bit greasy and "flat" like a car may have run over it.
• Jus. 2.  They gave you hardly any jus, which is always disappointing knowing that demand is much greater than supply.  Just bad economics.  I was given a second half-full cup of jus.  I got by but this is worth the complaint.
• Meat. 4.  Fun to have corned beef and of course that's tasty and salty, let's not lie.
• Non-Meat Toppings. 3.  Don't need the rest of the stuff but that was part of their concept: aioli and cheese.  Rich.  Probably too rich and didn't make the jus mean any more to me than it could have.
• Overall. 4.  Giving this a somewhat high score because of the creativity and uniqueness.  Shame for the mayo and cheese combo; that's just overkill....but again, that was part of their concept....
• Salad - Didn't eat it but could have been fine.
• Radishes. 5.  Nice touch.

Conclusions

Was a nice visit to Union and fun to reunite with Josh.  We ran into my friend Shawna while down there and ended up running into her and partying together with her and Jimmy at the Brown Lantern later.  Dean Rowell, Mike Hartley and their ladies showed up later that night.  A large bag of Cheetos and some Bud Light was involved later that evening.  Whew.  Back in A Town!

French Dips with Broiled and Buttered Ciabatta Bread at Mom's

Setting the Stage

I was over at my parents for dinner.  Mom said she'd be making French Dips.  She had to run to a meeting so I was left putting them together.  She'd done a great job and had the roast beef, nice ciabatta rolls, butter and au jus ready to go.  All I had to do was butter rolls, heat the jus and meat.  Dad was my customer.  

The Result

French Dip

Bread  5.  Was quite good: chewy and crunchy and buttery.

Meat 4.  Was nice pretty thick deli-sliced roast beef that I heated in the jus on the stove.

Jus 4.  Was good.  Johnny's liquid variety.  Ended up being quite good and was piping hot!

Overall 4.5.  These were really good. Simple and classic.  No miss no mess.  The buttered, broiled ciabatta made it nice.  Dad and I each had two.  And we were treated to some nice side salads as well and fresh, cold, crunchy watermelon.

Sides

Broccoli Slaw with Bacon 5.  Love his salad.  Water chestnuts, bacon and red onion make it stand out.

Coleslaw 4.  Good coleslaw.  May have been burnt out on mayo-based salads at this point but was nicely made, had cold, crunch, fresh green cabbage and carrot and was light on the mayo.

Watermelon 5.  Really good "do" on the watermelon.  Hadn't enjoyed pieces of watermelon in awhile.

Thanks for having me over, Mom!

French Dip Review: Steve's Bar & Grill, Bellevue, WA

The menu.

The French dip.  I added Swiss since the waitress recommended it.  She also said that they have Prime Rib on Wednesdays, so Thursdays they have a Prime Rib Dip.  I asked if diners could select the "doneness" of the Prime Rib and she said no.  That's okay but not preferred.  You can't get a 5 on a Prime Rib dip, most likely, unless the diner can select doneness.

I got a side salad with Bleu Cheese dressing.  More on that later.

I drank a beer.  Bud Light because I'm classy and high society like that.

Some regulars.

The French dip.  Good meat qty.  Good looking bread.  Orange-frilled wood skewers.  Not a ton of jus and it was orinally only luke (Skywalker).  The swiss was nice and seemed like quality although not overly flavorful.

I was generally pleased with this sandwich.  It gets a 4.

The side salad gets a 3 of 5 because it had good ingredients and dressing but the lettuce was unevenly cut and too wet.

The Review

• Narrative
• So I go out to Steve's where I'd never been on a lark. I was meeting up with my friend there. We were going to go to Daman's, which I like, but Steve's had much higher reviews and was nearby so I went for it. Steve's is a dive bar which I really do enjoy, especially in town like Bellevue that can be so pretentious. The service was pretty good. I ordered a couple of beers while I waited for Kailey to show. And decided that I'd order the French dip. (I was reminded that it was on my French dip to do list.) Eric Veal on July 21, 2017 "@kronny on Reddit says that the French dip is good, served on garlic bread. And strong drinks."

• Bellevue
• So we was in the Overlake area of Bellevue. It was a snow day and cold out!

• Steve's
• Overheard some people who looked like regulars making some racist comments which was somewhat alarming in 2019. But it's nice in some ways to be taken back in time and live like the wild people do.

• French Dip
  • Jus
    • Jus luke, sent back, came back piping hot
    • Au Jus good but only OK not too flavorful or salty
  • Plate
    • Plain white plate
  • Sandwich
    • Bread
      • Bread great, white and buttered, nicely Toasted
      • Skewers
        • Orange frilled toothpicks
    • Meat
      • Roast beef food and plentiful
    • Non-Meat Topping
      • Swiss cheese nice addition
      • Bread was buttered and toasted
  • Sides
    • Salad
      • Dressing
        • Chunky Bleu cheese
      • Black Olives in salad, tomatoes, good croutons
    • Pickle
      • Good long pickle
  • Rating
    • Overall 4, bread 4, beef 4, cheese 4, jus 3

Nordstrom Grill - Seattle, WA - Two Cheeses Confuse and Delight

Tasting Notes

• Started with a nice Argentinian Malbec that was recommended by the bartender
• Comfy in there
• Calming music was playing overhead 
• Felt a bit fancy like you might expect inside of a Nordstrom
• Feels like a steakhouse but was quiet.  Filled in later (I got there at 11:30 apparently before the lunch rush)
• Very good jus that I gave a 5 at first blush but downgraded to 4 over time.  Could have been hotter.  I think you want the jus to be molten lava hot, Jim Gaffigan
• Hard but good bread
• Sandwich was a 4
• Not huge in size
• Overall 4
• Definitely tasted above average and left a parmesan taste in your mouth upon completion
• Sweet pickle was provided which was quite fancy and a unique, nice touch
• Parmesan nice and pretty rare as a topping on FDs
• Bartender said that the French Dip is "their most popular item" and that people freak out and get really sad when they are sold out of it.
• The salad was a little mushy
• The biggest strike against this sandwich is that it does not give an option to choose the done-ness of the prime rib.  It would also be cool if you can choose cut thickness.  
• I also got a Hendricks gin martini with olives and the olives were great

Summary

Bread 5 

Jus 4

Non-Meat Toppings 4

Meat 4

Overall 4  Very good French dip with Prime rib but still not a 5 like you'd get from a steakhouse