Summerlicious 2005 – The Strip House

Yes. We are going to the Strip House. Don’t get me wrong. It’s the Strip House from the Summerlicious 2005 list of restaurants. After “negotiating” with my colleague Joanna, the Strip House was chosen based on the wide selection on its menu. Because of the American Express, we got front of the line reservation. On this Molson Indy weekend, 7 of us went downtown together and gave this restaurant a try.

Date: July 10, 2005
Time: 7:30p.m.
Location: Strip House (11 Duncan Street, 3rd floor), which is actually in the entertainment district; very close to the threatres and Roy Thomson Hall.

Located on the third floor of an old building. While walking on the stairs, you can hear the sound coming out from the wooden floor. The second floor is where the Filet of Sole is located. I could see there were a lot of patrons inside.

When I first walked into the Strip House, all I felt was a great contrast. A contrast between the hot and humid outside and the dark and cool inside. I was calmed. At 7:30p.m., the restaurant was about 75% full, with a few 6-8 persons table filled with young Asians. “A lot of Asian foodies out there…” I thought. Everyone seated. Although I have seen the menu before, I didn’t make the choice in advance. (Don’t really like jumping ahead…)

The first thing delivered to us was the breads, toasted w/ butter and herbs. Pretty good and I had a small piece of it. Olives were also presented. If you asked which ones I like better. I would say… maybe the black ones. Maybe it was because of the olive bread from ACE Bakery that I like. As for the wine of the night, we ordered the Spring Cave Riesling. It was actually very good with a fruity note. Canadian wines have always been under-evaluated.

As you can see from below, there were really a lot of choices on the menu. Since this restaurant was called the Strip House, most of us ordered the New York Strip Steak, and I ordered the Prime Rib. For the appetizer, most of us either ordered the Shrimp Cocktail or the Baked Lobster & Crab Soup. The soup really reminded me of the ones that I had while I was in HK. It looked really good. The taste from the first sip was excellent. It was sweet, not the candy sweet but the seafood creamy sweet. It may be too filling if I were to have the whole bowl. And it was boilingly hot!!! My tongue was almost cooked. The cocktail shrimp was not a surprise, but it wasn’t bad either.

Baked Lobster & Crab Soup

Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail
with Fresh Horseradish Cocktail Sauce

When I order steaks, I always go for the medium rare. Had a bite of Joanna’s medium rare New York Strip Steak and it was pretty good. My prime rib was actually very nice. You can see the pink from the dark picture of the prime rib (I didn’t use flash at all because I would feel weird seeing flashes in that kind of environment.) I especially liked the Duck Fat Roasted Garlic Rosemary Potato. Sounds fatty but tastes really good!

Grilled Alberta “High River’” Region
Butcher Block Reserve New York Strip Steak
with Yukon Gold Smashed

Slow Roasted Alberta “High River” Region
Butcher Block Reserve Prime Rib of Beef
with Duck Fat Roasted Garlic Rosemary Potato

Dessert time! It didn’t take long for me to make this decision. I just felt like CHOCOLATE that night. Chocolate Mousse in a Chocolate Cup made me thought of the upcoming movie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Should I go watch it?!). The Chocolate Mousse was nice, not too too sweet. Then, there was the strawberry cheesecake, which is pretty nice, but it would be better if the taste of cheese could be stronger. If I get a chance, I really want to go the Cheesecake, etc. in Vancouver again. Their cheesecakes were soo good!!! Didn’t try the Apple Normandy, just took a picture of it.

Belgian Chocolate Mousse in a Chocolate Cup

Strawberry Cheesecake

Warm Apple Normandy

Finally, the total (everything included) came to $51.5 for each person.
Had a good time with a reasonable price.