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When my nephew from Southern California came north to college, his culinary education fell into our sphere of influence. Here was tabula rasa. A boy going to UC-Santa Cruz who had never tasted tofu and had known few fresh vegetables. Now the graduate in June, he is ordering seafood pasta with pinot noir. At a steakhouse! Ah, sweet success. We were dining at the Hindquarter Bar & Grille "where the elite meat" on Soquel Avenue near Ocean, in Santa Cruz. Chef James Bocast, who came here a year ago from Cafe Sparrow and has worked 23 years in restaurants and hotels, is showing an especially strong hand with seafood and daily specials. Not to minimize the steaks - of which there are boneless rib-eye, top sirloin, T-bone and filet mignon - the various surf 'n' turf combos, or the prime rib. Tender hunk of rib-eye The house special pepper steak ($18.99) is a gorgeous hunk of rib-eye. Seared with cracked peppercorns, Jack Daniels and pan juices, this tender beef is accompanied by potato, baked or scalloped, and steamed cauliflower, preceded by soup or salad. The soup that night was a lively pumpkin-curry with sauteed onions. The salad is a good portion of crunchy romaine with cucumbers, beets, tomatoes and very tasty house-made croutons. The house dressing, honey Dijon, is not at all gooey, but vinaigrette-like in consistency. (One caveat on beef-ordering: The steak ordered medium-rare was delivered closer to rare, the burger ordered medium was medium-rare.) We sat in the middle of three small, dark-paneled, comfy rooms. This one had black-and-white photographs of cowboys and cowkids, strands of chili peppers hanging down, cacti jutting up. Our server couldn't have been nicer. Iced lemon water was refilled regularly, and the hostess cheerfully answered questions like: Where is this good bread from? (Golden Sheaf, of Watsonville.) From the daily specials board, I chose the halibut ($16.99). Though it was not harmed by chipotle sauce, I just prefer a straight shot of halibut. But the seafood pasta ($18.99) was a treat with tender Canadian lobster, clams, prawns in a saffron velouté buttressed by stewed tomatoes and button mushrooms and finished with Parmesan. The cheeseburger ($8.50) is a succulent half-pound with ample steak-cut fries and an excellent, tangy, not too creamy, cole slaw. The baby back ribs, basted in a honey peach glaze ($16.99 for full rack, $9.99 for half) were a little sweet for my taste, but the male teenager in our group was in hog heaven. The ribs also come with fries and cole slaw. From a very reasonable win list ('93 Caymus cabernet for $38, '93 Matanzas Creek chardonnay for $34) we went with the '95 Saintsbury pinot ($23), which covered all the seafood and rare beef bases. I like the feel of this place. In our little room, a young couple and a momentarily amiable toddler were enjoying a night out. A middle-age couple were greeting our server, and he was saying, "How nice to see you again." Three Elviras in overalls replaced a booth of senior Santa Cruzans. A nice finishing touch When our server experienced a slight delay in dessert delivery, he came by to explain: "Sorry to keep you waiting. I need to serve a couple of hot dinner platters, and I'll be right with you!" Alas, they were out of the
Hansen Ranch ollalieberry pie, but the fudgy brownie with
Marianne's delicious vanilla ice cream and fudge sauce
($4.25) satisfied all sweet teeth, and the chef's New York
cheesecake with raspberry sauce ($4.25) was no slouch
either. |
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Rated *** ½ by San Jose Mercury News 2008 Good Times Best of Santa Cruz Award for Best Steakhouse (20 Years Running) 2008 Metro Santa Cruz Award for Best Steak and Best Barbecue |
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