In a place that is one number short of 7-11, I spent my 30th birthday dinner with my wife. That missing number was 7, and restaurant was called Eleven. Now, Eleven is known to have one of the better burgers in the ‘burgh, but it’s not on the dinner menu, so I made do with all the other goodies that were available for the ordering.
We started out with their Jumbo Lump Crab Cake appetizer, which was at least in the same shape as a burger. Served with fingerling potatoes, aioli and chimichurri, this was one delicious crab cake. It was nicely breaded and crispy on the outside with perfectly creamy crab on the inside. The fingerling potatoes made for a great side, which was kind of interesting considering appetizers don’t typically have sides, but I liked it.
As for my main course, I went with the Prime Strip Steak. This came with parmesan tots, pickled peppers, cornichons and green peppercorn. Some of these sounded dangerous to an unvegan like me, but I was assured that my wife would eat those that I could not. I ordered the steak medium-rare and it sort of came out that way. Half the steak was medium-rare, while the rest was somewhere between well and medium. Even so, it was pretty tasty, if not spectacular. The tots were definitely great though.
I also got the opportunity to try out the Pork Chop that my lovely wife ordered. It was another good menu item, but as I’m connoisseur of pork chops, I can’t really say how good it was in a relative way.
In all, Eleven was a wonderful way to enter my fourth decade. The food was tasty, our waiter was incredibly friendly and while it may not be a place I’d rush back to, I wouldn’t mind seeing how they can handle a burger.
