Confessions of a Would-be Gourmand and Jetsetter

McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant, Downtown Austin

Over the weekend my girlfriend and I took a short trek down to Austin from our homes here in the Dallas area to listen to my cousin’s senior recital. Given how I operate, I wasn’t terribly interested in driving down Sunday morning, then driving back Sunday evening, so I planned a nice little getaway for us Saturday afternoon.

Saturday evening after we arrived and got settled in at the hotel, we took a stroll down Congress, and despite the wind attempting to blow us from there to I-35, we managed to walk a relatively straight line and when we got to 4th street, I looked around and spied a McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood.

It’s fairly well known that seafood will kill me dead, however the young woman accompanying me loves it, and in fact does not eat land animals, so it worked out well as I’d heard rumors in the shadows about the food being better than decent. In this day and age, for a fairly broad chain having food that is ‘better than decent’ it’s worth taking a chance on, if only to prove or disprove what I’ve been told.

The Experience

I will say that it didn’t go well at first for this particular location – as walk-ins, we were of course accepted on a contingency basis, but were immediately told there was no issue and we’d be seated within fifteen minutes or so. Several other walk-ins came right behind us, and they too were told the same thing.

The issue I had was after we (and all the other groups) moved to the bar to have drinks while waiting, the other groups were seated, and my girlfriend and I were still at the bar some twenty minutes later – not horrible, all told, as we were drinking a Real Ale Brewing Co. Fireman’s #4 Blonde Ale.

However, as the girlfriend continued to sip her beer, and another couple walked in and was immediately seated, I grew a little frustrated. To be fair, I could not hear from our spot on the corner of the bar whether or not they had a reservation, but I decided to check on the wait. I got up and walked over to the host-station, where the same girl was standing, and asked how she could help me. I inquired about the wait – and here’s the kicker, again I was asked if I had a reservation. I said no, that about twenty minutes ago, she’d told us it would be about fifteen minutes, and let it sink in that she’d forgotten me. She looked appropriately abashed, so I didn’t bother to bluntly state that she’d sat everyone else that was waiting already – though from the look on her face, she had already realized that.

I was told it would be another five minutes, so I closed the tab, and within three the hostess fetched us from the bar and deposited us at a table. The menu was interesting and appropriate for a surf and turf joint, and my date was appropriately awed by the interesting variety of options concerning the surf portion. The turf menu was limited, but certainly not lacking, having filet mignon, top sirloin, and ribeye amongst other cuts and my final selection, the New York strip.

So while she ordered the seafood stuffed Atlantic salmon, and declared it to be quite wonderful, I pondered over my own meal, which was paired with an Argentinian Malbec called Ñanos.

The service was prompt and our waiter was attentive without being overbearing. My girlfriend was somewhat annoyed at a rather pricey steak and seafood restaurant waiter taking her plate before I was done (she finished eating before I did), but otherwise we were pleased with the table service.

The Meal

Let me be honest, I’m reviewing a steak from a seafood restaurant, so that should be noted first. It is my opinion, however, that if something is an option on a menu, it should be prepared and served with the same care as everything else offered.

First was the apple salad. This was simply amazing. It was very basic – lettuce, walnuts – honey roasted, I believe, Gorgonzola cheese, and apple slices with an apple cider vinagrette. I can say nothing bad about this, and indeed, would have been glad to order this as a light meal, for lunch perhaps, with a grilled chicken breast on top. The salad was amazing, and had me very excited about the steak that would be coming shortly thereafter.

I ordered my steak rare plus, that is for those of you who prefer shoe leather, rare cooked slightly towards medium-rare. I’d asked about this, as many chains are leery of offering steaks cooked less than medium-rare, and our wait-person said that they would cook it “black and blue” if I so desired. That was fairly impressive to me, as you don’t hear the term much any more, but basically means that the outside is cold pink and the outside is seared, then served.

As my steak was presented, I was asked to cut across the middle to verify that it was prepared as I’d requested, which many steak places do, and it was indeed cooked properly. The plate had four spears of sauteed asparagus on it, along with two fried potato cakes. The potato cakes were good, though uninteresting. The asparagus was slightly overcooked, but not too much, so while it retained its flavor it was slightly stringy.

Now on to the focus of the meal: The New York strip. The steak itself had the amount of marbling I would expect on a NY strip, and as I actually cut through, was prepared well, but seemed to resist more than I would expect – of course, at first this could be a dull knife or a small piece of gristle, but as I consumed my steak, I noticed that portions of it were exceptionally chewy. So that was how it went, the flavor of the steak was excellent, and the kitchen did a good job of providing me with exactly what I ordered – but the steak itself would be what I would have considered buying on a budget at the supermarket, having far too much gristle and being much less tender than I would expect for the price.

The highlight was the Malbec that I’d selected to pair with my steak – it had a nice berry undertone with a floral accent, sweet, perhaps like honeysuckle, and a good mouth feel. It complimented the steak without being stringent in the slightest, and would have been a fine complement to any of the steaks offered.

Overall, testing the limits of a restaurant on one of the busiest nights of the week might not be the way to gauge the full ability thereof, but it seems to me that it is the best way to get a feel for what anyone walking in off the street might experience.

In order to wrap things up, I will put out there that the service could use some pointers, but I think the failure is not of the waiters and waitresses, it is simply that they’ve not been trained properly, and that can be carried to the hosting as well. Our waiter was quite good within these limitations, and I would not hesitate to ask for him again by name. The hosts and hostesses may be harried, but there is no excuse for forgetting someone who you’ve put on a list and has told you they will be at the bar.

The kitchen has some work to do, in my opinion. The food was within reason, and not badly prepared – but a bit more attention to what was being prepared could have prevented a chewy steak and overcooked asparagus. The salad was certainly good, but I would have been disappointed if such a simple formula had been poorly executed.

In conclusion, those who told me that McCormick & Schmick’s was “more than decent” would have have my dissent. It certainly was decent, there is no argument from me there, but I think that for the service and the food, it was well overpriced.

McCormick & Scmick’s Seafood Restaurant
401 Congress Ave.
Austin, TX 78701
512.836.9600

Service: 3/5
Food: 3.5/5
Price: $25-35 without drinks, $35-50 with drinks