My husband and I just got back from a long weekend in New York City. We saw the Yankees play before they tear down their old stadium and we met a group of our college friends there.

Since NYC is the unofficial steakhouse capital of the world, one night we went to Sparks Steak House. The ambience is amazing and if you know your mob history you know that mafia boss Paul Castellano was murdered out front in the mid-’80s.

We tried not to think about the murder part but we figured if it was good enough for mob bosses who could go anywhere they wanted it was good enough for us.

The meal was, indeed, great, but it’s the little things that make or break the experience for me. And I gotta tell you, no matter where I go I always end up wishing I had cooked my own steak meal at home.

First of all, they do not have bacon for your baked potato. I’m sorry, that’s a must for me. Where I come from, EVERYONE puts bacon on their baked potato.  And, considering that and butter is all I like on my potato, mine was pretty boring.

Then we get to the steak. The quality of the meat is wonderful. This is NYC for Pete’s sake! But I like mine done medium well. And that apparently means different things to different people.

To me, that means very little pink.

On a really thick steak that’s hard to do. And, frankly, they just don’t wanna.

I’m not big on sending stuff back to the kitchen because I’m always afraid it will come back with invisible spit on it. So, I just eat it as is. Even if it’s not exactly the way I want it.

That’s disappointing.

Then, if you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time you know I prefer Teriyaki sauce on my steak. Gee, do ya think they’re going to have that? They’d laugh in my face.

So I suffer through.

I figure they can at least fix the bacon thing before I go there next. But, wow, do you think they have a Suggestion Box at the front?

Heck no.

And if they did here’s what they would do to my little suggestion . . .

So, as we were eating, a little phrase I tell my kids all the time kept running through my head, “You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit.”

My husband wouldn’t mind putting my steak back on the grill until it was perfectly done. And I’m sure he would buy me bacon for my potato (that is, if he EVER went grocery shopping).

But my husband doesn’t work at Sparks. So since he works for me, I think I’ll put him to work on our own grill pretty soon . . .

Okay, so that’s from the 1989 Batman movie. I’m a geek. Are YOU going to see The Dark Knight?

I want to but it’s definitely not for kids my little guys’ ages so it would have to be a Mommy/Daddy thing. Those times are hard to come by. We will move heaven and earth to get there, though.

But, if you are a Batman fan, like me, there are other ways to enjoy His Batness other than trotting out to the local AMC.

Check out the graphic novel Batman: Broken City. In it, you’ll be happy to read that Bruce Wayne is a steak enthusiast. (All the cool dudes are.)

Here’s how one reviewer at Amazon.com describes the scene:

Bruce Wayne grilling a steak while talking on the phone with the Gotham PD detective [says], “Grilling relaxes me.”  [That] has to be a new classic and provides a refreshing take of the tired old scenes from the batcave with Alfred making goofy remarks in the background.

So I’ve decided the next time I’m grilling steaks I’m going to slip on my kids’ Batman mask and purr, “Grilling relaxes me” while I turn my ribeyes over a hot flame.

It’s all in the presentation, right people? Who better to kick steak’s cool factor up a notch than the Dark Knight?

Be sure to check out that graphic novel here. And grill a steak in honor of your ol’ Bat Buddy.

The following blog post explains how to get kids to eat their steak by tricking them into thinking it’s an ice cream sundae. Hence, the photo below.

Not sure of the ethical implications here. But the picture sure is purdy! (That’s steak and potatoes, by the way.)

Read more — if you dare (courtesy of AgWired.com) . . .

Have a Steak Sundae

I just had to post this because of the picture. We just sent out a Talking News Release for long time client, the Missouri Beef Industry Council on the steak sundae. It had me fooled when I first looked at it. I was wondering how beef would go with ice cream. But read on:

April is the “Month of the Young Child” and anyone who has children knows how difficult it can be to get them to eat nutritious foods. To make it a little easier, the Missouri Beef Industry Council (MBIC) offers a fun idea for even the pickiest eaters – the Steak Sundae. According to MBIC marketing director Dawn Thurnau, the treat can be made by alternating layers of mashed potatoes and chunks of steak with warm barbeque sauce or gravy in a sundae dish.

“Then on the top you put your chunks of steak with another little dollop of mashed potatoes and then a cherry tomato on the very top with some green onions. So it looks just like a chocolate sundae, but tastes like an open-face roast beef sandwich,” said Thurnau.