Hyoun K.
Yelp
This trip to J. Alexander's is brought to you by my friend Brent A's birthday. I planned it with another friend of mine a few weeks ago and neither of them had ever been to Kayne Prime. So I promised we would go but my lapse in judgment thought it would be easy to get a table because people aren't going out due to COVID. Fast forward to earlier this week, I forgot 1) I live in Nashville and 2) everyone had given up on quarantining. So not only was Kayne fully booked, so were other high-end steak houses.
Then of course, they suggested Stoney River, which I despise. Stoney River's food is good but it's overpriced. The price you pay for Stoney River pales in comparison to even chain steakhouses like Fleming's, Morton's, or Ruth Chris. Then I remember years ago when I was married, my ex-wife and I would always go to J. Alexander's! I remembered I loved that place.
I placed a reservation online and had plenty of options to choose from. Fast forward to today and we were off to the races.
Upon being seated, I ordered my usual. Fire-grilled artichokes, a house salad with the cilantro lime vinaigrette, a New York Strip (med rare) with a loaded baked potato. It brought back memories of times when I was in love. Not of my ex-wife (haha) but of how delicious the food was!
What I really like about J. Alexander's is the wood-fired grill. There's something about the flavor of grilling over open wood that enhances everything. That's why you have the eternal debate of charcoal VS gas. It's that slight taste of char/smoke from wood that enhances the culinary experience. So to start off, the artichokes. Nobody at the table likes artichokes, which was fine. I didn't want to share anyway. Two whole artichokes, seasoned with herbs and butter, split in half and served with remoulade. Despite being more work than eating several clusters of crab legs, it's worth the effort. Buttery, garlicky, with my teeth scraping/nibbling the small piece of heart attached to the base of every leaf. Maybe it's the butter? I don't know... I just know I like it.
Next up is the house salad with cilantro lime vinaigrette. As far as salads go, as long as the veggies aren't wilted, all salads are the same. It's the dressings that make or break it for me and this cilantro lime hits the spot everytime. Now I know, cilantro is as polarizing as anise seeds so if you think cilantro has the flavor of soap, blame your genetics. It's fresh, it's tart, it's sour, and it's sweet. It's the best house dressing since I discovered the Hot Bacon dressing at Rafferty's.
Now the main course. Loaded baked potato. Again, like salads, it's hard to mess up. The bacon is real (not imitation) and it's loaded with sour cream, chives, and butter. The outside skin is seasoned with butter and salt. If you screw up a baked potato, consider yourself a failure.
The prize here is the steak. I've never ever had a bad steak here. Always cooked perfectly with the wood smoke enhancing the overall flavor. Each bite had the right amount of salt, splash of creamy melted butter, slight crispness to the cooked fat (which is why I like NY Strip) and was absolutely juicy and tender. It was like that from beginning to end.
Now here's the bad part. I got so caught up in the food, I forgot to take the pictures except of the artichoke hearts (which I got first). So... That's my fault. If you're looking for a good meal with friends or your significant other/date, you can't go wrong with J. Alexander's.