Stroube’s offers chic, delicious downtown dining

• By LISA TRAMONTANA
• Restaurant reviewer
• Published: Sep 25, 2009

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

Stroube’s Chophouse should have no trouble winning a slice of the downtown restaurant  business. It’s chic, comfortable, upscale, and its food should keep the customers coming back again and again.

We visited on a weekday evening when the downtown area was quiet. Even so, business was bustling inside Stroube’s. Diners feasted on steaks and seafood dishes, soups, salads and desserts.

Be warned that the menu items are pricey compared to most other downtown eateries, and side dishes must be ordered a la carte. It can add up quickly, so study the menu carefully.

We tried three entrees (with sides) — the herb marinated grilled chicken breast ($18) with a Caesar salad ($5); the filet ($29) with pave potatoes ($6); and the veal chop ($32) with shrimp and corn bisque ($6).

The grilled chicken breast is served with risotto and sautéed greens topped with a chicken demi-glace. The chicken was tender and seasoned well, and the moist risotto was a good choice to accompany it. The Caesar salad was also good and the shaved parmesan cheese was a nicely added touch that made this salad stand out.

The veal chop was a generous size, full of flavor and extremely tender. The shrimp and corn bisque was a hearty mix of seafood and corn in a thick broth.

The filet was exquisite. The 9-oz. cut of meat was melt-in-your-mouth delicious and rubbed with just the right amount of seasonings. The pave potatoes sounded good on the menu (thinly sliced and stacked potatoes in a cream sauce), but they were a disappointment. The potatoes lacked seasoning and had almost no  flavor.

One guest with a smaller appetite ordered soup (French onion, $6) and salad (blue cheese wedge, $6). This was a good combination. The iceberg wedge was covered with a creamy, tart blue cheese dressing with plenty of cheese crumbles, giving it lots of texture and flavor. Small tomato slices on the side  added even more zest. The soup was thicker and sweeter than the usual French onion recipe, but tasty and filling.

For dessert, we sampled the flourless chocolate cake ($6), which is a dense, dark, sweet confection almost the texture of fudge.

Stroube’s pays special attention to presentation. With their drizzled sauces and colorful garnishes, all the dishes we tried arrived at the table looking almost too pretty to eat.

We had an outstanding waiter, who was patient while we studied the menu in detail, and answered our questions about specific entrees. He kept our drink glasses filled throughout our meal, and had an uncanny ability to appear tableside every time we needed something.