Adventure 43: Tornado Steakhouse

Tornado Steakhouse (website)
116 S. Hamilton St.
3 Adjectives: Quirky, expensive, cheery.
Price: app (8-11) entree (20-42)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: yelp, kirkspicks, tripadvisor...
---

Tornado Steakhouse is one of the most unique upscale steakhouses I have eaten at. Upon being seated, a vase full of veggie kabobs was placed on the table as decoration. This proved to be fun to munch on as we perused the menu, which ironically included no non-meat dishes (unless you count the sides). Also there were several hard-to-find-elsewhere dishes like frog legs, rabbit and venison. Suddenly the odd little vase placed in front of us made sense.

As an appetizer, we ordered the Coquille Saint Jaques (left), the traditional French dish (little know fact: most of the scallops is banned in the US) of scallops and duchess potatoes in a cream sauce which turned out to be the highlight of the meal. The scallops were cooked perfectly and the sauce complemented the dish well.

For entrees, we tried the more exotic rabbit and gulf shrimp (right). These dishes tasted good but could have been better. The rabbit was interesting but could have been plated better while the gulf shrimp simply did not live up to the level of Bellini's. We ultimately decided that the dishes were probably not worth the high prices we had to pay for them.

One thing that was worth the price was a $2 side. Being a big Harry Potter fan, I almost instinctively ordered the yorkshire pudding just to try it out (above). The pudding was shockingly the size of my head but proved to be very handy in mopping up the delicious gravy the rabbit was stewed in.

Overall the meal was fun but probably not worth the hefty bill to go again. I would recommend Tornado Steakhouse for adventurous meat eaters going on a fancy date.