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

El Furniture Warehouse French Dip Review, Whistler, BC

This place is rad in Whistler.  Great prices and food.  Lots of fun.  Must go!

And they have a French dip so of course I had to try it.  "Horseradish butter" is rare.  Crispy onion strings.  Everything on the menu is $5.95 so you kind of can't miss and it's in CAD instead of USD and the exchange rate is good right now for USD so let's party!  

We got a seat but others had to wait.  I think we were a few drinks in by the time we had this meal.

Here it is, very small.  Not much jus in the cup.  I got a side salad with Bleu cheese, as is my custom.

White bread.

Jeremy got fish tacos that he liked a lot.

Small size and strange meat-bits are visible.

Onion strings add flavor and crunch.

Demonstrating just how small this thing is.  Kind of traditional soft, white bread.

Money shot and dark, rich jus.

We got wings, too.

Tasting Notes

Good, salty Au jus
Too $hort, one of my favorite rappers from high school and college, was playing overhead.  Not something I'm accustomed to hearing every day out in public!
All good including high end FD is $5.95 cad

Yes, "high end"
By the time we got here we were quite inebriated and cold from sitting outside at The Longhorn, another Whistler must-do
Salad with Bleu
I was upsold on Swiss
Size is very small
Onions are good
The beef had a pulled pork texture but was good
Very Dark, midnight jus.  mmmmmm
White, soft bread
It is Toasted
Great! flavor
Smallness the big issue but get two
Dense bread
Good little Bleu cheese salad with nice greens

All in all a great French dip sandwich, gourmet, for just $5.95 CAD.  Get two next time and enjoy!

Bread 4

Meat 4

Jus 5

Non-Meat Toppings 5

Overall 5 for the price

Go here and enjoy yourself!

Daman's Bar and Grill French Dip in Redmond, WA

It was a sunny stretch of weather in December in Seattle.  Here we see steam emanating from some local fence-posts.

I've been to Daman's quite a few times.  It's a traditional sports bar near Microsoft headquarters in a strip mall.

I was greeted by a very friendly and fun waitress, Andrea, and provided the menu.  I had a bit of a cold and had the day off work.  Daman's was on my French Dip To Do List and it sounded comforting, so why not.

There is is.  Under $15.  Came with tots.  Was asked if I wanted cheese on it.  They have a turkey dip option as well.  

I wait.  But not for long.  There's a view of the kitchen so I knew if progress was being made.

Here it is.  Looks really good.  Jus looks really rich, tots good, big size.  Colored, frilled skewers.  And a side of horseradish FTW.  

The side of good horseradish (not the creamy kind).  And you can see the good pickle spear in the bottom left of this picture as well.

Was provided with the necessary ketchup and yellow mustard as well for my tots but I wound up not using it.  My cold was getting in the way.  But horseradish and that fun, intense "nasal hit" would come to the rescue.

Jus looks good with some marbling from beef bits.

I opened the sandwich and slathered it with horseradish.  Why not?!

The money shot.  Was great.

Good bread, nice melted cheese, skewer.  Life is good.

$16.77 total.  I just went with water as a beverage.  It was worth it.  Good value, I'd say.

Detailed Tasting Notes and Scores

Perfect horseradish side was offered and I slathered it onto the sandwich thickly.
Swiss cheese was nicely melted and got a 4 of 5.
The beef was somewhat chewy at times but still good and gets a 4 of 5.  Good flavor and plentiful.
Tots were good and hot but only get a 3 of 5.  Weren't especially salty. Still good.
The jus was good, rich and hot and had a somewhat but not in a bad way texture 5
Overall this thing gets a 5 of 5.
Good size.
Orange and blue frilly toothpicks add a nice touch of care and concern for the eater.
Good looking, nice toasted, large bread.

Good, high quality dill pickle spear.

Conclusions

I'll be back and this was a great French dip.  They took care and it was really good.  They have a turkey dip, too, Daman's should stay on the French Dip To Do list.  Thanks to Andrea for her friendly and fun service.  Go Daman's (yelp)!

The Burger Dip (aka Yankee Dip) Sandwich at Bellevue, WA's Lil Jon's Restaurant Awarded a 4 of 5 DeliciScore™ (Really Good) on this 8th day of February, 2017 - Not bad!

Fanciness with Layouts from Instagram.

The place. I was on my way home from work and had basically skipped lunch so was starving.  I knew this place had dips so I gave it a shot.

It's a diner with fancy things like gumball machines.

Diner.  Got it?

And they have a menu, which is nice if you want to know what a place serves.

Sandwiches.

A variety of dipped-sandwich (French dip platform) options.

See!  

Other things, too, and breakfast all day.

My "view".

I suppose those things make milkshakes.

I didn't wait long and then my meal of food magically appeared!

There it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Nice looking. Jus is a lighter brown color but looks legit.  Nicely toasted bread.  Some pickle chips.  Golden fries.

You can see the butter on there.  Pickle chips also look appealing.

I like eating French fries sometimes.  I dipped these into ketchup.  I wanted to ALSO dip them into yellow mustard but none was on the table and I didn't want to hassle the limited staff.

Beefy.

Like I said, light colored jus but it was also delicious and authentic.

Green tasseled toothpicks to make sure things don't go flopping everywhere.  This is like a sandwich's brazier.

Beef.  It's not high grade burger or anything like that but sometimes I really like to eat burger.  And it doesn't have to be too fancy.

We dip French dip sandwiches.

And we get them soaked in jus.

And we eat them for enjoyment and nourishment.

We make progress on our projects.

We continue and try to use what his provided to us.

We see tasty remaining bits and we consume them.

Sometimes we succeed.

And we don't always have to pay a ton of money.

Raw Tasting Notes

• Jus look.  The jus was a tan-ish/grayish color but that's okay.  It looks kind of different, but that's okay.  We are tolerant.  
• Jus.  I drank the jus.  It was delicious and gets a 4 or 5
• Sides.  I liked the simple yet delicious, refreshing and very effective pickle chips
• Size.  This was a "classic size".  Not too big, not too small. Had no cheese but who needs it.
• Bread. The bread was soft, nicely toasted and buttered 4 of 5.
• Fries.  The fries were good and hot.  Where was my mustard!?!?! 
• Meat (hamburger).  The hamburger patties were low (2 of 5), kind of greasy and even fatty tasting but when we combine that issue with delicious jus, things get good.
• Sandwich and overall.  The sandwich alone, without the jus is a 2 of 5 (really not that wonderful) but when we place that sandwich into their delicious jus, it becomes a 4 or 5
• Winning.  The jus is the great neutralizer here

Other stuff post facto

Estrella is a very sweet companion.

Sometimes it snows.

And sometimes we live at elevation where there is more snow.

Like for reals!