Dine Out - Prime Paradise

Chesterfield’s the setting for Return of the Swank Steakhouse, starring the new Xanadu.

By Dave Lowry

Photographs by Katherine Bish

We don’t want you to think we’re weird. [Editor’s note: Too late.] But we spend a lot of time in cemeteries: The company’s good. The thoughts there, of our own mortality and of our debt to previous generations, are always salubrious. And when we can stroll through a beautiful old cemetery after a delightful meal, so much the better—which is just one reason we so enjoy Xanadu, the stylish new restaurant just south of all the commercial development of the Chesterfield Valley.

Deprived of the legendary Al Baker’s, the region has long needed a grand red-flocked steakhouse with all the frills. By all standards, Xanadu fills the bill. A luxurious interior of red, gold and black is bathed in mellow lighting; everything that isn’t sleek, glowing marble or glass brick is plush, soft and inviting. There are chandeliers, banquettes at the edges of the dining area, napkins and table linen starchy as an Atkins dieter’s nightmares. There is the sensation, as one walks in, of having entered the kind of restaurant that hasn’t been much seen since the mid-1960s: urbane, handsome and formal. The feeling continues when a dinner-jacketed waiter presents a lavishly designed menu and lingers while you read it. Scarcely a nod is given to current culinary preoccupations with low-fat, low-carb or self-conscious trendiness. Meals here are unabashedly rich and extravagant, and the emphasis is on the protein.

Admittedly, there is no steakhouse sizzle when the meat arrives, but the beef here is a triumph. New York strips, filet mignon, ribeyes and hefty porterhouse steaks are all prepared exactly to order. We could discern the difference between a rare prime rib ($24.95 for a 16-ounce cut served without embellishment, save for sides of jus, horseradish and mayonnaise that allow the diner to mix his own dip) and a medium-rare 8-ounce filet ($25.95). Meat is wet-aged here, packaged and kept cool for several days to improve its tenderness. Debate rages as to the results of this method versus those of the more expensive dry aging, but all of the cuts we sampled were beefy in flavor and almost poetically tender. Specialties include a massive crabmeat-stuffed tenderloin that’s plenty for two ($34.95) and a dish that a less old-school restaurant might call the “Transient Underemployed Person’s Special” but which Xanadu proudly advertises as the “Hobo Beef Special”—chunks of tenderloin, garlic, shallots and mushrooms with a port-wine demiglace. (The dish is priced at $27.95: Hobos dine a little more palatially in Xanadu, it seems.)

Veal comes four ways: sautéed scallopines drizzled with lemon butter in a piccata; with a Marsala wine sauce; in a lemon-cream sauce with artichoke hearts; and as veal Oscar, an extravagant production featuring asparagus, lobster tail and hollandaise sauce (all $21.95). For those less bovinely inclined, there are three preparations of chicken, including a breast stuffed with crabmeat and lobster ($19.95).

From the seafood selections, we selected a “blackened” swordfish steak. It was actually just broiled and very lightly seasoned with a spritz of lemon and a touch of honey, and the meaty white fish was all the better for it, full of flavor and satisfyingly moist ($25.95). Dover sole is among the most overrated of dishes, but the slick tableside boning by the waiter can make it worthwhile ($31.95). For taste, however, go for the fillet of sole Oscar, the fish rolled in breadcrumbs and sautéed, festooned with crabmeat and, instead of the traditional and tired hollandaise, a lively lemon-cream sauce ($22.95). A happily simple pan-seared fillet of salmon is at one end of the seafood scale ($24.95); at the other, an elaborate split fillet of the same fish is stuffed with crabmeat and rolled in crushed almonds ($26.95).

I recommend all of the pastas. The fettuccine, beautifully tossed in a Parmesan-and-cream sauce, is an excellent side for sharing ($15.95). A sherry-cream sauce dresses linguini studded with chunks of crab, shrimp, lobster and scallops ($24.95). Xanadu’s menu also includes a dozen sides, from baked potatoes to grilled onions to asparagus hollandaise. Consider sharing these as well, because the main courses are accompanied by rather skimpy portions of vegetables (all $1.95). The salads are all ordinary, but the appetizers are diverting and enjoyable. The oozing Asiago cheese made a pleasant topping for cremini mushroom caps stuffed with crab ($8.95), and flash-fried spinach dressed up batter-fried artichokes ($8.95). If you want the whole flashback to the ’60s experience, go for the classic shrimp cocktail. The kids will think it’s trendy; for us old-timers, it’s the ketchupy taste of nostalgia ($13.95).

Several dessert offerings, which change regularly, arrive on a tray for your delectation. We were satisfied with a slice of Snickers pie, a cheesecake-like production adorned with nuts and drizzles of chocolate ($5.95). Wines include several that are well matched to the menu. The plummy, soft tannins of a careful Cabernet Sauvignon blend in the Cain Cuvée ’01 are a good complement to the beef ($48). There’s just a hint of oak in an otherwise subtle Chardonnay, the Frei Brothers Russian River ’03, which at $43 is a little overpriced but a fine selection to accompany most of Xanadu’s fish dishes.

Efficient and unobtrusive, the service here is high on polish. A piano bar, comfortable and suitably atmospheric, offers nightly entertainment featuring, when we visited, a tribute to the Carpenters that struck us as a ghoulishly ironic choice for a restaurant.

Just across the street is that beautiful and idyllic little cemetery, with plenty of graves from the Civil and Spanish-American wars and some classic headstones of the Victorian period, many inscribed in German. A stroll here is a perfect way to finish an evening of exceptional food..

XANADU

ADDRESS: 280 Long Road

PHONE: 636-532-9262

WEBSITE: www.xanaduplace.com

LUNCH: 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Mon–Fri

DINNER: 5–10 p.m. Mon–Sat

AVERAGE MAIN COURSE: $25

DRESS: As if you were an extra in the casino scenes of the original Ocean’s 11

RESERVATIONS: Absolutely

BOTTOM LINE: Very good food, with an emphasis on steak and beef, at moderately high prices in an attractive, formal West County setting