Originally posted to FIDO-Cooking Jan 1999: I straggled into Encounter and was given an excellent table with a view of the Emirates Airlines terminal. I had either rare ahi tuna in mind or else a filet steak; but neither of the treatments they were offering sounded
all that interesting - the tuna was done with things that either I didn't like or was allergic to, I forget; the filet was presented the same way as it was several months ago when Manny and Benita and I ate there. It was between the NY steak and the veal chop. The
latter won out, because it was to be served with "habanero chili sauce," and the steak had cream sauce.
I started with an order of "sauteed mixed mushrooms," which came as a huge mound of regular mushrooms with a few shiitakes thrown in to avoid a charge of fraud. It was tasty but wildly over peppered with white pepper, a flavor I can do without. This was okay with the
rosemary loaf and the French baguette in the bread basket. Then I went on to the veal chop, which I ordered medium rare. What came was this puny overcooked thing, and I sent it back after dissecting it and finding not a drop of pinkness. The waitress, who appeared to
almost be expecting me to do so, said no problem ... came back about 15 minutes later with a humongous giganto chop. Looked like a cut of prime rib, you know, the kind that has the bone hanging over the side, that sort of thing. A $50 chop at half the price. Guess
what. It was dead raw in the middle. I did a bunch of surgery on it and had as much properly cooked veal chop as I could eat, off the edges and surfaces; I ate around the middle and was left with a perfectly good 4-oz veal cutlet on my plate, completely raw. The
habanero sauce was an ordinary brown sauce that was thickened with dried cayenne pepper and possibly a hint of dried habanero powder. It had a modest kick to it, but the flavor was such that I couldn't imagine anyone but me or my father actually enjoying it. Along
with came a big mound of vanilla-flavored mashed sweet potatoes (excellent - try it sometime - just like bourbon mashed potatoes but suitable for a Ruth), some very nice baby asparagus, some very nice baby carrots, and some shriveled and nasty baby green beans.