Intimate, expensive steakery will break new culinary ground in Boulder
Peter and Mara Soutiere, the folks who created Boulder’s Tahona Tequila Bistro (Pearl between 10th & 11th) and bought Sushi Tora (10th between Pearl & Spruce), are inserting another restaurant on that block. The Pearl Street Steak Room is slated to open on November 25, the day after Thanksgiving, tucked in beside Tahona. Small and intimate it is well named as a “room” rather than a “restaurant.” It was originally supposed to open on October 10, but delays in restaurant openings are par for the course.
I wonder whether Boulder is prepared for steakhouse-style sticker shock with every item not only high-priced but served (and billed) à la carte. They are floating such prices as $44 on the low end for an 8-ounce filet to $89 for a 32-ounce, bone-in Wagyu cut that they are calling a “Tomahawk” (basically, a giant very marbled bone-in ribeye). Sides are regulation steakhouse fare, including spuds, Brussels sprouts, creamed spinach and such.
By contrast, steaks at Boulder’s venerable Cork Restaurant run from $25 for a teriyaki sirloin to $36.50 for a large filet. I don’t know how large that is, but I do know that the Cork’s priciest steak is $7.50 more expensive than the Steak Room’s least expensive will be. Add-ons at The Cork run from $3 for mashed potatoes to $5.50 for green chile mac and cheese.
At the Boulder Chop House, right around the corner from the new Steak Room, steak prices are even lower, ranging from $19.95 for an 11-ounce top sirloin with Bourbon mushrooms to $33.95 for a 32-ounce Porterhouse at dinner. To compare like cuts, the Chop House charges $30.95 for an 8-ounce filet and $34.95 for a 12-ouncer. Plus, Chop House prices include a house salad and also a choice of white cheddar mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, seasoned fries, seasonal vegetables, pecan wild rice pilaf and either Wild Turkey whiskey sauce or Cabernet-thyme jus.
The Steak Room owners will probably explain, with justification, that their meat is top quality — the kind available to select few restaurants. But it better be the very best meat prepared the best way to justify big-city, big-name steahouse prices. It will be interesting to see whether the Soutieres guess right about what the Boulder meat market will bear.
The Steak Room is at 1035 Pearl Street, Boulder; 303-938-9604.
e Cork has been serving outstanding steaks and other American classics for well over 40 years when North Boulder was was downright rural. When the restaurant was established, the “happy hour” concept was still fairly new. Now, it is a standard among restaurants — and The Cork has one of the best around with salads, hot dishes, 10 different sliders, well-priced drinks and a dynamite green chile cheeseburger.
