Real Eats -- Alexander's Steakhouse, Cupertino, CA

It's not often that after a meal, I take home about half of my dinner but it happened recently at Alexander's Steakhouse in Cupertino. Recently there for an anniversary celebration dinner with my wife of thirty years, we enjoyed ourselves immensely. Our older son was taken there last year for his birthday by his girlfriend and has raved about it ever since. So he said next special-occasion dinner you've got to try this place. In addition to just telling us, our two sons encouraged us by buying us gift cards to use.

My wife started by making reservations for our special night on opentable.com. On the website, they ask about any special comments or requests. My wife merely typed in a request that we get a nice table for our 30th Anniversary. Little did we know the comment would set in motion a whole host of things starting when we arrived. The hosts congratulated us on our anniversary (are we the only ones?) and seated us at a nice corner table away from the major aisles.

Next up, our servers, Jennifer and helper Andrew, presented us with two flutes which were immediately filled with a Spanish "champagne" or sparkling wine for a toast. Very classy! The wine was a little on the sweet side but woke up our palates nicely.

For a starter, we opted to split a Caesar salad and we're glad we did. The salad, made with full romaine lettuce leaves was excellently prepared with a slightly-tangy dressing was plenty for the both of us.

We were tipped off by our son that the dinner portions were quite large so we didn't order a bunch of starters though they had an impressive selection of small plates ranging from sashimi to lamb chop to foie gras to popcorn crab. The also offered a tasting menu as well as an Omakase and Iron Chef-inspired tasting menus from their executive chef, Jeffrey Stout.

My wife ordered their small filet mignon that came with shitake mushrooms, scallions and candied bacon. Cooked to perfection, she just loved it!

A lover of ribeye, I ordered their two-pound plus bone-in ribeye that was in a BBQ demi-glace and was served with some roasted tomatoes. The beef was just superior to others I've had and was so tender and full of flavor. To accompany the entree, I chose a glass of Cannonball Winery, 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon that paired well with the ribeye.

As dinners are al la cart, we ordered some sides to accompany our dinners. One, was a large baked potato which, as requested, had "goodies" served on the side so we could control the portions to our liking. We also ordered a side of asparagus which we found a bit disappointing. There weren't many spears and the rouille and saffron bread crumbs (served on the side as we requested) were tasty but still left us a bit disappointed in the overall dish. The best side was our third selection of crimini mushrooms. These were plentiful and were excellently-prepared in sherry wine with leeks. Outstanding taste and value!

I failed to mention that in-between the courses, they treated us to some very nice palate-cleansers. They included: tasty cracker topped with marscapone cheese and smoked salmon; and, disk of cucumber jelly topped with a raspberry.

Do to the quantity of food we ordered (and the wonderful, personalized cake I had at home) we opted not to order a dessert from Alexander's but our server, Jennifer, said we shouldn't run off. Shortly they arrived with a special platter with chocolate-scripted "Happy 30th Anniversary" on it that had a small brownie bite served with a couple of berries and whipped cream. What a surprise!


Now, it seems that our son was correct! A very impressive eatery with excellent, even personalized service and decor. Who could ask for anything more on our anniversary!


Alexander's Steakhouse
10330 N. Wolfe Road
Cupertino, CA 95014
408-446-2222
www.alexanderssteakhouse.com

Thanks for reading!