Living High on the Hog

Living High on the Hog is an American expression for living or eating luxuriously or you might say expensively. Well, High on the Hog so to speak was what we did last night.

I wanted beef, not just any beef but the choice of the choice, corn-fed beef. We can get a pretty good filete de res in San Miguel, but we don't get heavy, aged, corn-fed beef. Houston has a number of speciality steak houses.....Ruth Chris, Mortons, Pappas, Flemings, eXhibit, Capitol Grill, Vic & Anthony's and I'm sure there are some other high end steak houses. We chose Flemings because it was close by some shopping we were doing.

From the minute you go through the door you feel pampered. And not that false bouncy, Cheerleader kind of greeting, "Hi, I'm Christy and I'll be your waitperson tonight." It is in an adult voice.....more like, "Welcome to Flemings."

The decor was clubby. Lots of mahogany woods with black, white tablecloths, candles, low lights, gleaming crystal. Oh, yes it all said luxurious. We were quickly whisked to a table and the person who seated us had already noticed that I had on black slacks. She had a black napkin to offer rather than the white one on the table so I wouldn't stand up later with white lint on my slacks. That was just the beginning to an evening of superb attention to detail and faultless service.

All the waiters were in black slacks and impeccable white shirts with ties. There were no long recitals of specials with complex sauces. Just a few simple explanations of what was on the mixed grill. We asked about sharing some side dishes. That was perfectly acceptable. The wine list was rather long but we decided on a merlot. It was quickly brought to the table and decanted.

I wanted the petite filet mignon and Ned had a prime rib. We shared a salad and a side dish of creamed spinach. The salad was split in the kitchen and plated beautifully. The steak was simply done with salt and pepper and it was cooked perfectly. I savored every mouthful. Water glasses were refilled without notice, plates were whisked away, wine was poured. The service was impeccable.

By the time we left the restaurant was full and the noise level had gone up but you could still talk across the table which is more than I can say for some Houston restaurants. As we were leaving, I told the manager at the front that the dinner had been lovely but was there a problem if sometimes we just wanted to come in for a lighter meal and split orders. She said absolutely not. That they were in the service business and they wanted our business. That sounded good but now that I think about it, I'm not sure that I could pass up a whole petite filet mignon. Besides, living high on the hog isn't something we can do often but it sure was delicious last night.