Ruth's Chris

Address: 2001 Park City Avenue, Park City, Utah 84060. 435.940.5070.

Review: We recently traveled the thirty miles from our home to Park City to celebrate my wife's birthday. The birthday meal was a challenge since most of Park City's upper-crust restaurants still hadn't opened by this time. Now, my wife an I aren't steak people. Once every six months is about our max. This noted, we thought we'd give Ruth's Chris a try. We'd heard good things. We were not disappointed.

We started with the osso bucco ravioli. Osso bucco is a wonderful concoction of veal shanks seared and then cooked low and slow in vegetables and wine. Honestly, the braising liquid is generally the best part of dish. And while the ravioli part of Ruth's Chris's osso bucco ravioli was good but not great (the pasta was too thick, among other things), the sauce was exceptional. Sauces like this is why crusty bread was invented. it was wonderfully fragrant and meaty; a joy to eat.

Next, the side. We ordered creamed spinach, mashed potatoes with roasted garlic, and a roasted tomato. First, the spinach. Creamy, rich, silky. You could taste the spinach, but the taste wasn't overpowering as it can be with some cooked spinach dishes. It went very well with the steak and blue cheese (more on those later). Second, the mashed potatoes. Velvety, garlicky, buttery. The roasted garlic gave the potatoes a deep and somewhat sweet flavor. Very good. Third, the tomato. Not sure what type it was, but it was roasted to sweet perfection. It kept its shape and texture well, and the roasting process brought out the natural sugars. We fought over this tomato to the bitter end.

And then, the steak. We ordered the bone-in ribeye. Medium rare, of course. Topped with blue cheese crumbles. It was perfectly cooked and tender. I'm not entirely sure how you adequately describe the taste of a good steak other than deep and meaty, which this steak was. My wife and I agreed the blue cheese was a distraction, not because it did not taste good, but because the steak tasted so good it needed nothing more than salt. Next time, we will have our steak naked, and we'll like it.

I'm not much of an ambience guy, but Ruth's Chris had a good feel to it. Low lighting. Large tables. Live music. Nice, high-class establishment where you can spend entirely too much for a very good steak, and an even better roasted tomato.

Rating: 8.5/10 (5/10 is average).