Restaurant Review: Fleming's

Restaurant: Fleming's Steakhouse
Location: 217 Stuart Street, Boston (locations nationwide)
Website: www.flemingssteakhouse.com
Rating: A

Even in a down economy, upscale steak houses like Fleming's are still the perfect way to celebrate a birthday, special occassion, or merely serve as an excuse to have a great meal. Though I wouldn't categorize myself as a hard-core carnivore, I do enjoy noshing on the sporadic $40 steak. Over the years I've done Abe & Louie's, Capitol Grille (horrendous), Ruths Chris, etc. My favorite thus far is Fleming's for one simple reason: Beef Flemington.

(Ok, I'm not going to lie - the fact that my buddy Hockey P knows the staff and therefore half my meal was comped is another big reason to like Fleming's.) Yet I'll digress and start with the dirty deets.

Since I didn't want anything to do with Hockey P's fried calamari appetizer (which he talked non-stop about during the car ride to the restaurant), I went for the seared ahi tuna, one of my all-time favorites. Seared tuna is supposed to be a light, flavorful appetizer and I was thrilled to no end when I discovered that Fleming's hadn't overloaded the tuna with seasame seeds or mayo garnish. It's the type of appetizer I could see myself ordering as an after work pick-me-up.

Truthfully I generally like fish more than I like beef. However, since it's wrong on so many levels to order a piece of salmon in a place like Fleming's, I decided to go with the Beef Flemington, Fleming's take on the classic Beef Wellington. Fleming's version wraps a 6 oz filet and mushroom madeira sauce into a pastry puff and cooks it to your preferred temperature (I had mine medium). The Beef Flemington didn't restore my unwavering faith in humanity, but it came pretty damn close.

Figuring that vegetables only ruin a good meal, Hockey P and I wisely skipped the side dishes.

It turned out to be a good thing that we didn't fill up on brocolli and asparagus, or else we may not have had room for the chocolate lava cake. We split a large piece of chocolate cake with chocolate lava center, accompanied by a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream. I can personally vouch for the fact that it's as mouth-watering (and fattening) as it sounds.

I stuck to merlot all night, while Hockey P sipped on sour apple martinis. (Not even my jokes about pantyhose and shaved legs could alter his drink choice.) Apparently Fleming's is famous for their wine selection, though you'll also find a good selection of beer, as well as several varieties of water.

Fleming's is located in the Back Bay, so fearless surbanites will have to search high and low to find suitable street parking. Conveniently, garage and valet parking is also available.