Holy cow, Catman!*

Are you talking about Don Pepe on New Jersey highway 21 (McCarter Highway)?

If so, I had one of the best seafood paellas that I have ever had in my life (the other was at a Spanish restaurant on Bleecker Street in New York, but I forget the name of it — if it even still exists.

However, one of the people with whom I was dining ordered the steak. I thought to myself, “Now who would order a steak here?”

I do not remember the price, but the price indicated to me that an average-sized steak with an average flavor is what one would receive for such a low price. Of course (no pun intended?), this was at least 18 years ago since I was last there. On the current dinner menu, the closest item I can find to what I remember is the Costilla de Lomo, which is the Broiled Sirloin Steak served with their Chef's Special Sauce.

My Paella Marinera (seafood paella) had to have been enough food for at least two people, and it was excellent. However, out comes this tremendous steak that overflowed over the edges of the plate as the waiter brought it out, and it was cooked to perfection. I was offered to try it and, while I was definitely not sorry that I ordered the seafood paella by any means, I was sorry that I did not order the steak.

If one can still get a huge steak at an incredibly reasonable price, I also cast a vote for Don Pepe in Newark, New Jersey.

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I notice you mention Charley’s Steak House in Tampa, Catman. I believe the original one is in Orlando?

Many of the independent steak houses are opening new restaurants in different locations and thus becoming chains, such as Charley’s Steak House and Shula’s Steak House. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that even though the newer locations have excellent food, they just do not seem to be as good as the original location.

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*A rare double pun, which has just become a triple due to this little footnote...