SILICON VALLEY STEAK MASTERS

3rd Quarter 2017 - Arcadia Modern American Steakhouse, San Jose

July 27, 2017  |  Bill Baron "The Chairman"

 

 

OVERALL RATINGS​

• Bill Baron "The Chairman" - 4/5

• Ron Zraick "RonZ" - 4/5

• Mike Preston "Ditch Digger" - 3/5

• Mike Johnson "MJ" - 3/5

• Michael Mulcahy "Lord Mayor" - 3.5/5

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Bill Baron "Chairman"

 

Overall Experience:  4/5

• The restaurant has a nice feel and good, clean look and although associated with the Marriott Hotel in downtown San Jose, it doesn’t feel like a hotel restaurant, much like it’s competitor Grill on the Alley at the Fairmont doesn’t either.  Our group was greeted a couple of weeks prior with a terrific welcome note from Virginia “Gigi” Santa Ines, and she was there last night to personally greet us—which was very nice.  There was also a terrific team assigned to our happiness and each were very good.  The food was, for me, good.  Not great.  And I so wished for something a bit more.  I would recommend an experience at Arcadia as the list of steaks is robust.  I prefer a bit more “sizzle” to my steak with a little char and/or crust element that I find frequently when visiting steakhouses in Chicago. 

 

Food:  4/5

• We started with a very nice complimentary oyster in shell.  Very nice approach and appearance, but it lacked any real flavor.  I would have preferred it to be a more lasting impression.  Next was a steak tartar that was very nice.  While the tartar could have also been a bit more flavored, the crusted garlic grilled bread slice that was used for the tartar was a perfect fit.  Several of the SVSM ordered salads and although I didn’t, they looked very nice. In particular is Arcadia’s Wedge. A very nice presentation and the gentlemen who ordered it wolfed it down. Then on to the main course. The chef and sous chef visited us at least 4 times when presenting the courses which was awesome.  The chef educated us on the cuts of meat available and where they source it.  I went with the Wagyu-style New York. It was VERY tender and good. Cooked perfectly to a medium temperature.  It tasted and its texture was like butter.  Again, though, it lacked a bit of “pop” relative to flavor. I can’t really fault Arcadia for my selection of beef. I am not traditionally a Wagyu guy and not sure why I ordered it—but won’t next time.  Just too buttery a texture for me. The sides we enjoyed were sautéed spinach, whipped potatoes and also the lobster pot pie for table sharing. They were all generally good, but for the spinach which to me was very good.  The lobster pot pie was underwhelming, unfortunately.

 

Bar/Wine List:  4/5

• The bar service was good. There was one bartender behind and we all congregated at what otherwise was a generally quiet evening in the bar area with a couple of other patrons.  The server was attentive.  My only beef here is that the martinis are served in a rather dainty glass—and is smaller than others.  The wine list was good and complete, though not overwhelming.  Pricing is generally consistent, and if anything, a bit on the high side comparatively speaking.  

 

Service:  4/5

• The team was very good. 

 

Ambiance:  4/5

• It’s good.  Nice colors, nice setting.  The vibe was a bit slow as we have experienced a time or two in downtown San Jose.  A Thursday night in a high-end Chicago steakhouse would be jumpin’ but we’re not in Chicago!  We enjoyed our experience in the Wine Room, which allowed the SVSM to hear each other and engage well.

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Ron Zraick "RonZ"

 

Overall Experience:  4/5

• Arcadia is a highly acclaimed Michael Mina restaurant located in the Marriot Hotel in Downtown San Jose.  The overall experience was good, made great as usual by being in the company of fellow Steak Masters.  I give it a 4.  Because of its stellar reputation, my expectations were very high (too high?) and Arcadia came up a bit short.  Still very good, and I will continue to frequent the restaurant, but just a little.      

 

Food:  4/5

• While we were in the bar before dinner enjoying cocktails we had delicious appetizers of arancini and ahi tuna on a rice cake patty.  I didn’t try the arancini but the ahi was really fresh and well seasoned and presented on a warm rice cake.  Very good.  After we sat down were presented with 2 amuse bouche plates of a very fresh oyster and a beef tartar with shaved truffles.  Chef Paul Rohadfox visited our table and did a great job explaining the cuts of beef on the menu.  They had a special NY Strip of Japanese Beef, at about 14 oz, very heavily marbled, that Lord Mayor and I decided to split. We chose to have medium rare. Before the steak came out I ordered a wedge salad.  It was so big Mozyington and I ended up splitting the salad.  It was a good wedge but what gave it a little additional flavor was a pureed avocado garnishing the plate: a nice addition.   The steak was served and although it was delicious, the flavor profile was very different from a typical wet aged or dry aged cut.  The intense marbling was so rich that next time I would order it closer to medium rather than medium rare. The sides were good, not outstanding, whipped potatoes and sautéed spinach.  Dessert was three refreshing fruit sorbet scoops of lemon, mango and raspberry.  And single malt scotch.

 

Bar/Wine List:  4/5 

• I never met a bar I didn’t like.  The Marriot has two bars and since I was a little early I stopped at Tanq, adjacent to Arcadia and had a jack on the rocks.  I loved the one big cube!  When the rest of the Steak Masters arrived we had drinks in the Arcadia Bar.  Good, strong pours of Jack Daniels and the appetizers made for a great bar experience. Gigi Santa Ines, Catering Executive extraordinaire met us in the bar and joined us for a drink. The Chairman was kind enough to pick up the bar and wine tab.  Thanks Bill…the Silver Oak was perfect with the meal; but next time let’s bring wine from our respective collections. A glass of Balvenie 12 year old scotch, neat, finished the meal.

 

Service:  4/5

• Our server was good.  I never felt like anything was missing but he was not as engaging as some servers have been.  Gigi did a very nice job welc’soming us and setting up the dinner.  The bartender was very attentive and the Chef spent a lot of time with us talking about the restaurant and the cuts of beef.   

 

Ambiance:  4/5

• I like the ambiance at Arcadia.  Since the restaurant is located on the ground floor at the exterior of the hotel there are lot of windows.  The décor is “modern steakhouse” with woods mixed with medium textures and colors.  We were served in a separate dining room off of the main dining room.  We would have preferred being in the main dining room. Thank you to Mr. Chairman for arranging another memorable Steakmasters outing!!!

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Mike Preston "Ditch Digger"

 

Overall Experience:  3/5

• I was really excited about the opportunity to have a Steakmaster dinner at Arcadia. I have had some fantastic meals at Michael Mina restaurants so I was really looking forward to this evening. So I was not surprised when greeted by an absolutely wonderful hostess, in fact “Gigi” is the Event Coordinator Executive for the restaurant and is truly warm and welcoming. We were welcomed to the bar and served drinks promptly by another outstanding member of their team, their bartender. As usual the Steakmaster men are quite fun and the smiles and stories abound early (some even true). I was surprised however that in looking around the dining room from the attached bar there were very few customers, which was weird for a Thursday night at 7 PM. Isn’t thursday the big party night in downtown? Having fun with the gang and the service so this thought melted away quickly, especially when we were ushered into our own beautiful private dining room, with flowers on the table and special name tags locating our individual seats. And better yet, not only our given names but our Steakmaster titles. “Ditchdigger” in my case. Gigi introduced us to the room, made sure we were comfortable and introduced our service staff. She was great. But from that point things dropped off a little. Not from lack of effort on the staff’s part, maybe just lack of experience or training. The Arcadia is worth another try. I wish them the best of luck improving their service and delivery. A really good group of people.

 

Food:  4/5

• I think my experience with the food was better than some others of our group. I enjoyed all of my items. I thought the appetizers were real yummy though I cant remember the names or the specifics of them. Staff started serving those before we were seated at our table and really enjoyed them. Too much probably. I wish I could share with you the names or descriptions as they are very enjoyable. I do remember one was the Tuna Tartare. Excellent. 5 of 5 on that item. Fresh and high quality tuna that melted in my mouth.

• After seated at our table were served the Michael Mina standard French Fries and 3 sauces.  I could make a full meal of this item. The fries are crispy, tasty morsels that become even more irresistible when dipped in the variety of sweet to spicy sauces. Excellent.

• On to the salad. I don’t think a fresh tomato salad this time of year can be wrecked.  And I was not disappointed.  Ripe tasty delicious tomatoes with fresh mozzarella cheese.  Really enjoyed this summertime favorite. Very well done.

• Now the main course.  I was very happy with my selection.  I ordered the petite fillet.  I do get grief for this from my fellow masters but I always order my fillet butterflied.  I like that little rascal split in the middle and cooked medium so that the spices and cooking flavor gets all the way through the meat and I don’t end up with a big think chunk of red meat.   The chefs did a good job meeting my needs here.  And then in this serving the flavor was enhanced with fresh crab and a delicious polenta bedding. I think the combination of all flavors and the moisture of all combined made my main course a very enjoyable experience.

 

Bar/Wine List:  4/5

• As I mentioned above the bar service was excellent.  Very nice, polite, and prompt bartending.  We all arrived at once and all wanted our drink immediately so the bartender was tested and passed. The cocktails were very good. When we moved to dinner we were graced by our chairman ordering a few bottles of Silver Oak Cabernet.  Very hard to beat that experience.  So the beverages were excellent.  I didn’t see the wine list but am going to assume it was more than adequate.  

 

Service:  3/5

• This is an area where the experience dropped off a bit. Having such an outstanding welcome by Gigi, and prompt service at the bar before dinner the expectation for the night was set high.  I am actually a little confused by what happened. The right attitude was there but for some reason service just started to drag.  Cocktail refills were few and far between.  Dinner orders took a very long time. We had long delays between courses that made me uneasy as I observed my colleagues looking around for service. Which takes a bit because everyone was having fun talking and tasting wine so these delays were unusually long, dragging dinner out for hours. Perhaps this was the staff’s intention, to let us have a very long nice relaxing dinner. Unfortunately there is a limit to how long is a comfortable wait. Especially for water and cocktail refills. The head chef did come out and took a great deal of time with us explaining the different steak cuts and discussing the method of cooking each.  This was really nice and appreciated and again showed that the staff had interest in making a really special effort to make our experience a wonderful one. I thank them for that, but they cant leave people unattended in a private room too long. 

 

Ambiance:  4/5

• The ambiance of the main dining room and bar are pretty nice.   It gives a little upscale modern cafeteria style vibe to me which is ok but to me doesn’t have the warmth required for an upscale intimate meal.  On the other hand the private room we were seated in was excellent.  Great size for our group with windows that opened to the facility keeping the room from feeling confined. Really liked the private room. A 5 of 5.

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Mike Johnson "MJ"

 

Overall Experience:  3/5

• Upon arrival, we were greeted very nicely and felt very welcome. We all received a welcome email that was certainly a nice touch. Our table was set up in a private dining area which was very appropriate for the size of our group but for our purposes it probably would’ve been better to sit in the main dining area.   They go for a “modern” steakhouse look and although I’m not exactly sure what that means, I do think the interior and the layout were very clean and produced a comfortable feeling. The restaurant didn’t look too busy. I did like this restaurant; the staff were very friendly and the food was certainly good but I’m more of a traditional steakhouse guy so it’s not on the top of my list.

 

Food:  4/5

• Appetizers were served in the bar as we arrived. I only had a chance to eat was an arancini which were hot out of the kitchen and were very good with the marinara style dipping sauce. There was another appetizer served but I didn’t get a chance to try it. At the table, we had oysters and the Ahi Tuna Tartare. The oyster was very clean and crisp tasting with a nice firm texture and was survived with a very nice mignonette. The tartare was very good as well, again very fresh tasting and very good with the toasted bread.  At dinner, I ordered the Wedge “chopped and tossed” per my normal request. Very simple to achieve but many times the kitchen somehow doesn’t get it. These guys were on it and as requested my Wedge was completely chopped and tossed. The ranch dressing was light and not over bearing and the salad had plenty of blue cheese and bacon. Off to a very good start. For dinner, I ordered the Dry Aged Bone In New York Strip. At 18oz, this is a very good-sized steak even considered the weight of the bone. While I didn’t try all the steaks at the table, I did try a few and shared some of mine. I can safely say I certainly thought mine was the best best and I had others that agreed as well. I also got a chance to try the scallops, short ribs and Lobsterpot pie. All were very good but my steak beat them all. There were a few different deserts served but I only tried the sorbet I ordered. It’s a great go to for soothing the stomach after a large meal and I very much enjoyed it.

 

Bar/Wine List:  3/5

• They have a couple of beers on tap and happened to have North Coast Brewing’s Scrimshaw which happens to currently be my new favorite beer. A couple of those and we were off to the table for some very nice Silver Oak Nap Cabernet. I did take a look at their wine list and they seemed to have a very good selection of red wines, I’m not as familiar with white wines but there looked to be a good number of them as well.

 

Service:  3/5

•  The service was good. We did have a nice visit with the chef where he explained some of the cuts of meats they have. It is always very nice to hear the chef explain his thoughts and the methods used in the kitchen.

 

Ambiance:  3/5

• As I said earlier, this is a “Modern Steakhouse” and it certainly has that feel. It’s in the right area to have that feel as you’re in major hotel in downtown San Jose. I would think the clientele desires a more modern than traditional feel.

 

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Michael Mulcahy "Lord Mayor"

 

Overall Experience:  3.5/5

• Arcadia has built itself (with a couple of reimagining’s over the years) into a Downtown San Jose mainstay. It serves as both the all-around food venue for a successful hotel and its guests as well as a fine dining destination for the broader community. Set next door – connected in fact – to the San Jose McEnery Convention Center and a quick walk to all the important arts and festival venues in town, Arcadia is as central as it gets. With the renowned Michael Mina affiliation, the restaurant has many of his unique and reputable twists. But current and past GMs – and a plethora of ownership changes of the hotel – have brought their own twists and modifications to the restaurant and its affiliated bar next door, Tanq. A big thanks to our host The Chairman, Bill Baron, who set out to create a very San Jose experience by his choice of Arcadia. Bill has worked closely with the hotel and its great staff, specifically Gigi Santalnez and GM John Southwell, on a fantastic charity event, so his contacts were great to make this a special evening. We allowed Gigi to set the stage and she always does a fantastic job. My review below will provide a bit more detail in what led to my overall score of 3.5.

 

Food:  3.5/5

• I have eaten at Arcadia over thirty times (not including Tanq) during its reign in San Jose. The food has never disappointed, but there have been some hits and misses over the years. Our dinner on this great Thursday night had a bit of that imbalance. A visit by the chef is always nice and prior to our order, Chef Paul Rohadfox, greeted our table and gave us a deep-dive into the steak choices in front of us, and literally walked us through the varied cuts of beef with real-life props…not really alive, but you know what I mean.

• As soon as we heard it, Ron Z and I decided to split the mouth-watering NY Strip of Japanese Kobe Beef. The name sold us and at 14 oz. the cut turned out to be just enough, especially considering how rich it was. I really enjoyed mine, it was perfectly prepared, simple, the correct medium rare temp and just the beef. This beef was intended to go it alone. I prepped for my steak with a few samplings of the oysters and amuse bouche, tasty, good starters. I then went for the Caesar Salad. It was served long-ways, forcing several knife cuts, which is fine, but I was underwhelmed by the flavor of the dressing, disappointed that the anchovy didn’t get my attention with any flavor and the lettuce was limp’ish. Then the steak arrived, along with sides that included sautéed spinach, whipped potatoes and the Michael Mina signature, lobster pot pie. I’ve reported about the steak and I will say that the steak is what saved the 3.5 ranking. The spinach was ordinary, the potatoes were dry. My favorite part of any pot pie is the pastry going from hot, flaky, crust to a more creamy, soft once the interior gets sopped up in the crust. The crust seemed wet from the start, so I never got those juxtaposing textures of the dish.

 

Bar/Wine List:  4/5

• Arcadia’s bar is very nice, but it’s more a pre-dinner lounge area than bar. If you want a bar, and the scene that goes with it, hit Tanq next door. Affiliated with Arcadia, the great small plate menu comes from Arcadia’s kitchen, and they have table service (unlike Arcadia’s bar which in my view is a mistake to grow that part of their business). Thanks to the Chairman for picking up the bar tab, which I wasn’t aware of until now. No problem with the quality of the booze or how it was served. The bartender was engaged and relatively speedy event though he was tending solo.

 

Service:  4/5

• Being greeted by Gigi upon arrival, meeting the chef and sous chef, and being managed over dinner by a capable staff was very nice. I would encourage our waiter to have been a bit more engaged with us, but I have no complaints about the quality of their work. 

 

Ambiance:  3.5/5

• One of my own rules, and it is actually a rule for SVSM, is that we don’t go into private rooms. While the restaurant was doing its best to make this a special event for us, our judgement is about the whole experience and private rooms are not the best test for an overall experience. So SVSM needs to stand firm moving forward. As a result, while the room is at the main entry of the restaurant, it feels disconnected from the restaurant’s vibe. There was no music, it was a bit hollow for me. The main restaurant is open, airy and has great lighting, but on this night, I didn’t get to experience that part of the scene.

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