Outback Is Out Of This World

You might recall my obsession with trying the Bloomin' Onion at Outback, primarily set off by countless TV commercials and Phantom Gourmet's recommendations. Well, plasticfamily, which now includes Adam, finally made it to Outback Steakhouse last night.

A few bites into their steaks, the elder members of plasticfamily were already plotting their next trip back to Outback. Now that's a sign of a good meal. They quietly discussed their strategy, "Maybe we should come at 4pm so we don't have to wait" and "You know what, let's come on Sunday, I think they open early at 2pm." They analyzed the quality of their meat, "It's so tender," "My prime-rib is grilled" and "Oi-shi" or "Delicious" in Japanese. Even our server exceeded our expectations and was super helpful. Adam noticed that he wore more pieces of "flair" on his uniform than other servers. plasticmom, much impressed by our server, tried to convince us that our server had earned his "flair" for selling lots of Bloomin' Onions and Steaks. She argued, "maybe he got a pin for his uniform when he sold 100 Onions."

Even as we ate dinner, Outback was quickly becoming our gold standard for food service as we started comparing all aspects of our meal to other restaurants. As of today, steaks, in fact all forms of beef, are now critiqued in comparison to Outback. Even the croutons deserve such attention. Adam had read that the croutons at Outback take two hours to prepare. Since Adam didn't have any croutons in his salad, the following is a reconstructed conversation.

Adam: How were your croutons [plasticgranny]?
plasticgranny: [blank look]
Adam: The menu says the croutons take two hours to make.
plasticgranny: I ate them.
plasticann: Were they good?
plasticgranny: I don't usually eat croutons at Souplantation.
plasticann: But, you ate the Outback croutons.
Adam: Are the Outback croutons better than Souplantation?
plasticgranny: [gravely nods her head]

Now a rundown of our menu with commentary on the lackluster misses and the major hits:

Bloomin' Onion: Tasty, the substantial pieces of breaded/fried onion were easy to eat and the dipping sauce had a nice kick. A clear step up from any other fried onion concoction I've experienced, but I could probably pass on the onion on my next visit.

Blue Cheese Chopped Salad: Pecans, blue cheese, cranberries, etc. You'd think it would taste good, but it just tasted weird. Not only could I pass on this next time, I pretty much passed on it after two bites. I decided to save my calories and spend them on my entree. A wise decision indeed.

Caesar Salad: plasticgranny enjoyed the croutons...enough said. I'm ordering it next time.

French Onion Soup: No details on this one, but plasticmom seemed to enjoy her soup. It did come with a giant cheese encrusted crouton.

Prime Rib: plasticmom's steak came lightly grilled. A departure from the usual prime rib, but the steak was incredibly moist and tender and downright delicious.

New York Strip Steak: plasticgranny commented many times on how much she enjoyed her steak. She enjoyed some leftovers today and plans to finish enjoying the rest tomorrow.

Sirloin Steak: Adam and I ordered ours Medium Rare and boy was it Medium Rare and have I mentioned, delicious. We had a "jacket potato" with all the fixin's which is pretty much a baked potato.

Coconut Shrimp: Imagine a coconut macaroon cookie fried around a giant shrimp served with an orange marmalade. Let me put it this way, Adam savored the last shrimp as a dessert.

Ideal Menu for next time: Sirloin Steak, Coconut Shrimp and the Caesar Salad with extra croutons.