An Over-the-Top Dinner at Gotham Steak

Gotham Steak

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The waiter places a sliced strip steak resting in a cast iron pan accompanied by a cone stuffed with Parmesan truffle fries on the table. The meat is seasoned with salt, pepper and savory herb butter. It’s perfect. If you’re like me — and most Americans — a good steakhouse is where you go when you’re on the hunt for a hunger-pleasing meal. That’s what I found — and much more — at Miami Beach’s Gotham Steak, a pricey choice, that is by far the crown jewel in the Fontainebleau’s stellar lineup of restaurants.

Surprising diners with the unexpected has become the norm at upscale steakhouses. So we started our meal at Gotham Steak with hamachi sashimi, yellowtail served with Asian pear, and the last drops of a glass of champagne, Charles Heidsieck, brut reserve, Reims, France. We moved on to tastings of a wild mushroom risotto with black truffles and pasta with white truffles from Alba, Italy. Our main course — the Kansas City bone-in strip steak  — was served with a side dish of cream corn made with manchego cheese and a spark of jalapeño, which I would order again with absolutely no hesitation.

The wine collection, showcased in the floor-to-ceiling glass display that hugs the spiral stairs leading to the lower-level dining room, can be mind-boggling, so sommelier Blake Micheletto chooses a Sauvignon Blanc, Chateau de Sancerre, Loire Valley, France 2008 and a Meritage, Almaviva, Puente Atlo, Chile 2008 for us. Again, perfect. 

Tags: Fontainebleau | Gotham Steak | steakhouse | wine