One of the nights we were in the Orlando area for a small trade show, my colleague John wanted to go out for a big-assed steak. Once again, he went to the concierge at the Marriott World Center and told him that we needed to go to someplace nice because I was a "top 10 most-read blogger on Urbanspoon (now Zomato)" (which he got correct this time). The concierge suggested another Talk of the Town restaurant by the name of Charley's Steak House that wasn't far from the hotel. He gave us directions and less than 10 minutes after we left we pulled up to Charley's Steak House in Kissimmee. (see map)
Like its brother restaurant - Johnnie's Hideaway - that we ate at earlier on this trip (click here to see the entry on Johnnie's Hideaway), Charley's Steak House features steaks and seafood in an elegant and comfortable setting. The Kissimmee location (it's actually in Celebration, FL) was the first of the now three Charley Steak House locations. It was formerly a Texas Cattle Company location - also owned by the Talk of the Town restaurant group - but it was renamed Charley's Steak House after Talk of the Town founder and CEO Charley Woodsby. There is also a Charley's Steak House in nearby Orlando and another one over in Tampa.
Entering the restaurant and checking in with the hostess, we couldn't miss the huge open pit grill up front. Two chefs were manning the grill that cooks steaks to temperatures up to 1200 degrees (F) over a mix of Florida citrus and oak wood. The smell of the cooking steaks - even with the heavy duty exhaust fan over the grill - was intoxicating for a couple of hungry guys like us.
We were escorted by a hostess to a booth just over a wall from the grill area. She dropped off a couple of dinner menus as well as a wine list. Shortly thereafter, our server for the evening, a pleasant young man by the name of Talal, came over to greet us. I started off the evening by ordering a glass of the Widmer Bros. Upheaval IPA.
As John and I were settling in for the evening, one of the managers at Charley's Steak House, Beau Motley, came over to greet us. He had with him a sample of their lobster bisque as a welcome to the restaurant. I didn't notice him doing that for other patrons before or after he came over, so I asked John if he told them I was a blogger as he did with the hostess at Johnnie's Hideaway. He said, "No, but I'm sure the concierge told them that when he made the reservations for us." I sort of shook my head took a sip of the excellent lobster bisque. John sort of chuckled and said, "I think you need an agent!"
Talal came back with a platter of meat and to explain the cuts and steak preparation. The steaks served at Charley's are either USDA prime or USDA choice cuts. The steaks are aged 32 to 48 days by Charley's in-house aging room and cut daily by a manager. They featured bone-in ribeyes, porterhouse cuts, filets, Kansas City strips and T-bone steaks. They also feature lamb and pork chops, grilled chicken and, of course, fresh seafood such as swordfish, Chilean sea bass, ahi tuna, and a cedar plank roasted salmon.
Our first item that we had that evening was an appetizer were the bacon-wrapped scallops that John first spied on the menu. They were huge sushi-grade scallops wrapped in thick cut applewood smoked bacon and chargrilled. They were served with Charley's housemade Jezebel sauce - it's a combination of orange marmalade in a light peppercorn sauce with a mixture of spices so secret that not even the individual restaurant managers for Charley's know the recipe. All I have to say that it was spectacular with the scallops - which would have been outstanding without the Jezebel sauce. We each had one and a half scallops and I told John, "If they would just keep bringing these out to us, I'd be happy."
I got a wedge salad to go along with my meal that was topped with Maytag Blue Cheese crumbles in a blue cheese dressing. I had to tell Talal that I grew up in Newton, IA and was sentenced as a fifth grader to visit the Maytag Dairy Farm to experience the horrid smell that goes into making their world famous blue cheese. "I didn't eat blue cheese until I was about 30 years old," I told him. The horrible smell of the process was burned into my olfactory glands for years and I couldn't even stand to look at blue cheese, let alone eat it. But then a boss of mine years ago showed me that you take blue cheese crumbles and combine it with sweet red vinegar and oil on a salad and it makes for a winning combination. Just like the crumbled blue cheese dressing that I had on the very good and very crisp wedge salad at Charley's.
For dinner that evening, I ordered the USDA prime cut, 4 to 6 week aged bone-in ribeye. I normally don't go for bone-in steaks, but the bone-in ribeye on the tray that Talal initially brought out looked enticing. I found the steak, however, to be just "OK". I mean, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't spectacular in taste. I guess I was expecting something more and maybe it's the Midwest steak snob coming out in me, but there was something lacking in taste. However, it was thick, tender and juicy, and the cognac peppercorn sauce that I ordered on the side with the steak helped in the overall taste. Also with my dinner, I was able to get a glass of the William Hill cabernet, a very meaty red that goes well with steaks.
John ended up getting the Kansas City bone-in strip steak and he was more than effusive in his praise for the cut of meat and its taste. It looked very good, too, and I sat there wishing I had gone with that. He got his steak medium rare (as I did with my ribeye) and he was just going bonkers about how great his steak was. I don't eat ribeyes that much and I thought I should have gone with something with less marbling as I normally do. Still, I was happy enough with what I got.
We also got a couple of sides to go along with our steaks. John picked out the potatoes au gratin and I got the sautéed mushrooms. The mushrooms had a great fresh and earthy taste to them mixed in with the butter they were sautéed with. But the potatoes au gratin were thick and cheesy with a crispy top of broiled bread crumbs that gave it a distinct taste. The sides were both absolutely tasty.
But they were also very rich. And we both had some big chunks of meat that we made serious dents into. John's bone-in K.C. strip was 22 ounces, my bone-in ribeye was similar in size. We ate what we could, but had to throw in the towel. When Talal asked if we had any room for dessert or an after dinner drink, we both moaned in mock distress. There was no way we could each eat any dessert after that meal.
The manager came over to check on us one more time. He asked how our steaks were. As I said, I expected more out of my dry aged USDA prime bone-in ribeye. It was good, but not the eye-watering ecstasy I was expecting from a steak like that. I told him that I should have gotten the filet. John was completely happy with his bone-in Kansas City strip and the bacon-wrapped scallops, my wedge salad and the sides we had were all outstanding. And Talal's service was impeccable - the type of service you'd expect from a place like Charley's Steak House. It wasn't a cheap meal, but we'd had a good show and we were celebrating. It was a great dining experience at Charley's Steak House.
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