Yes, somehow I am still getting invited to media lunches. And when there’s free food, I say, “bring it.” The latest one up is the oft–discussed Bailey’s Prime Plus Park Lane. The restaurant is enormous (12,000 square-feet). It is opening in September. It’s interior is different than the other location because it is more “female friendly,” explained Ed Bailey, who was in the house today when I was there. The colors are black, white, gold, and red, and there are trees in the middle of the dining room that have real leaves and branches but not real trunks. Yep, wrap your head around that. Or, just jump for pics of the food.
This is the shrimp cocktail. It is a nitrate and sulfite-free shrimp from the Gulf. It was served in a nifty, square-shaped chilled glass with house made c**ktail sauce and a dollup of horseradish. It tasted like shrimp cocktail. We loved it.
This is the almond crusted brie appetizer. Taste memory: mozzarella sticks from childhood, except way better. I made this comment aloud and Connie from Modern Luxury said, “well, that’s an interesting comparison.” What she was thinking was, “go back to Applebee’s, you no-palate-having pleb.” The triangle-shaped nuggets were served with strawberry/ginger/balsamic jam and marsala wine jelly. That jam was to die.
Salad time. This one is called “That Salad.” For real. It has blue cheese, Michigan cherries, and candied pistachios. The salad was created around the nuts because during tastings everyone would say “gimme gimme more of those nuts,” meaning the pistachios. So, they called it That Salad, because of “those nuts.” Got it? No? Moving on.
This is a little sampler plate of mains and sides. We tried the cowboy rib-eye, the filet, the jalapeno-crusted striped bass, oven-roasted taters, creamed spinach and creamed corn. The meat served at BPPPL is from Allan Brothers. It is wet-aged for 21–35 days. The corn was my favorite because they added some polenta, which made it creamier and fantastic.
This dish may or may not be on the menu when/if you eat at BPPPL. It is a purple Peruvian potato mash with a blue cheese cream sauce. They aren’t sure if it will sell. We all thought it was good but look at it–richer than Mr. Bailey himself. And oh yes, they will have baked potatoes, so LB will be happy.
For dessert, we tried the Bailey’s Boozy Hot Fudge Sundae, with Bailey’s ice cream, Belgian hot chocolate, Heath Bar crumbles, cherries, and almonds. It tasted good. Real good.
Here are the toppings, served on the side, so that I could dump a whole bunch of chocolate and Heath Bar on there and make it more like eating a chocolate-covered Heath Bar with a side of ice cream than an ice cream sundae.
Last thoughts: The high ceilings, gold accents, and fake/real trees reminded me of Vegas, which is where Bailey got some of his inspiration. They are catering to ladies who lunch, they said, and I can see that crowd enjoying the lofty space (and it doesn’t hurt that the rest is right across the street from NorthPark). That is all.
