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Upstairs, Downstairs
Charleston's Cigar Compromise
Posted: Thursday, October 04, 2007
By Alejandro Benes
The Market Pavilion Hotel
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"We're not going to stay here, are we?" my wife fairly shouts to be heard above the music and the din of many people talking and having a good time. We have just taken the elevator up to the Pavilion Bar, not so high atop the Market Pavilion Hotel in Charleston, South Carolina. When my wife, a contrarian's guide to great cigar bars, protests as she just has, I know this is the place my fellow aficionados will love.
I was looking for a comfortable place to have a cigar after dinner, something that became considerably more challenging in the Palmetto State's Low Country this year since the Charleston City Council passed an indoor smoking ban. Basically, there are now three easily accessible places to enjoy a cigar in Charleston. (See below.) This night, I chose the Pavilion Bar, in part because downstairs is Grill 225, which advertises itself as the city's "only 100% USDA prime steakhouse," something that is itself a bit of a challenge these days and, to answer Grill 225's Web site, not so important.
Grill 225 gets great reviews from most and especially so for its steaks and lamb chops. I am always happy to have a USDA prime rib eye, even at 18 ounces as promised by Grill 225's menu, but I am unhappily cursed by the knowledge that prime beef in the United States is in high demand and relatively short supply. So I ask our server what kind of cow the rib eye comes from because some prime steak houses around the country are getting their beef from heifers. Dairy cows, in other words.
"I don't know," he says, "but I will find out." When he comes back form the kitchen, he says, "It's not Kobe or Angus, but beyond that I can tell you it's corn-fed Midwest beef."
The Grill 225 diningroom
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Grill 225's Web site has a category titled "Prime Beef 101" that includes the chef's screed against certified Angus beef. Amusing, given that no one seemed to know what flavor of cow gave itself up for my excessive consumption of protein this evening. In the interest of full disclosure, part of the reason I'm in Charleston is that I am on my way to the annual Certified Angus Beef convention in Savannah, Georgia. (In the interest of fuller disclosure, the reason I am on my way to that gathering is that I am a partner in 11 restaurants that together constitute one of the biggest sellers of certified Angus beef steaks in Southern California. So, they invite me every year.)
I explain to our server that my experience is that a steak from a dairy cow is not as consistently flavorful as a steak from cattle bred for steak. Still, I'm gonna take a shot because you, my fellow steak lovers, need to know if this is worth your time and the $39 for the rib eye, which is pretty reasonable these days for prime beef.
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