Monterey Peninsula: Whaling Station

While Kirk and Cathy are no doubt eating well and will soon share their experiences with you, this is ed from Yuma again. This time I am writing about a scrumptious meal I had while on vacation in Monterey.

We all know (or have heard of) someone who is a fanatic about his/her barbecue. It has to be beef (or pork), it has to be ribs (or brisket), you have to use oak (or hickory or applewood), it has to be smoked  for 8 hours (or 12), the dry rub has to be composed of the following spices (what ever) , the sauce must be based on tomato or molasses or mustard, and it has to be sour or sweet or spicy hot or etc. etc. Well, I like barbecue in general, but don't care that much about how it is prepared, as long as it tastes good. On the other hand, I am a fanatic about prime rib because there really is only one right way to prepare it. And today, almost all restaurant "prime rib" is crap.

First, prime rib needs to be made with prime or higher grade beef. That's what the term prime rib originally meant. However, these days, a restaurateur may legally call any standing rib roast a "prime rib." Calling it that does not make it really prime rib, no matter what the law says. Second, a serving of prime rib needs to be cut off an actual roast in an oven. Today, the vast majority of restaurant prime rib is roasted to very rare and then pulled out of the oven and left to cool. When a customer orders prime rib, the waitperson will ask, "how do you want that done?" As soon as you hear those words, you should get up and run out of the restaurant as fast as you can. What those words mean is that they will cut your slab of beef off a cooled roast and then reheat it to the degree of doneness that you specify. Sorry folks, that is not prime rib; that is LEFTOVERS! Reheating a piece of prime rib ruins it for human consumption (or at least, my consumption). It muddies the taste and destroys the texture of the meat. It becomes chewy, not silken tender. Third, a prime rib needs to be very slowly roasted at a low temperature. As most barbecue fanatics are aware, long cooking at low temperatures causes the fat cells to melt into the flesh and makes all of the meat very tender. This is what real prime rib should look like:

Because I am such a fanatic about prime rib, I have largely given up ordering it when I go out to eat. My life has been full of enough disappointments without more lousy prime rib. So why were Steve and I walking into the Whaling Station, John Pisto's flagship restaurant in the Cannery Row area of New Monterey, looking for prime rib? There are two simple answers. First, Helen had had an early dinner because she had to work the next morning, so Steve and I were free to go out, be manly, and gorge ourselves on meat. More importantly, the previous year as I was walking around reading menus (doesn't everyone walk around and read menus?), a sign next to the Whaling Station's menu proclaimed that each night the restaurant had one slowly roasted prime rib roast, and when that roast was consumed there was no more prime rib that evening. As I read that, my heart skipped a beat (I'm sure it had nothing to do with the projected cholesterol). It sounded like the prime rib at the Whaling Station was worth a try.

After we sat down, we made sure the prime rib was available, and then I asked the question, "how is the prime rib done this evening?" The waiter responded that the roast had already been cooked 12 hours and that it would be rare to medium rare at this time. Exactly what I wanted to hear. We placed our orders, and it was all I could do to keep from drooling onto the table in anticipation.

Soon a small basket of good bread and the bottle of 2002 St Supery Cabernet Sauvignon ($39) that we had ordered showed up at the table:

While not as good as the bread at Passionfish, this was excellent Monterey Peninsula bread. We actually ate very little of the bread because our first courses showed up soon afterwards.

Steve had ordered a bowl of clam chowder ($6.95):

Like prime rib, I have been eating clam chowder virtually all of my life, and I know how it should taste. As soon as I took this picture, I quickly dipped a spoon in and savored the soup. The broth was rich with clam flavor and smooth and creamy to the tongue. No gloppy, floury paste here. Most clam chowders get their texture from potatoes and/or celery. In this chowder, while potatoes were present, the main textural elements were the numerous pieces of chewy clam. This was certainly one of the clammiest chowders I can remember eating - or, rather, tasting, as Steve inhaled the bowl so fast that I couldn't slide another spoon into it.

I ordered a wedge salad with blue cheese dressing ($7.95):

In general, I eat iceberg lettuce rarely as it has very little flavor and provides only crunch in a salad. However, its nearly flavorless crunch is a perfect foil for an excellent blue cheese dressing, which this was. The wedge of crispy fresh lettuce was totally covered in dressing, which also pooled around the lettuce on the bottom of the plate. Served with a steak knife, the salad seemed to expand as I cut into it, pieces of lettuce and chunks of cheese tumbling down onto the plate. It was rich and heavenly. Like prime rib and clam chowder, blue cheese dressing is another childhood favorite. My mother cooked in and managed a basic blue collar American food restaurant when I was growing up, but she used to brag that her blue cheese dressing was better than that served at the country club in town. This dressing would've made my mother proud. It had a a creamy richness, great flavor, and numerous chunks of blue cheese.

There was more to the salad than just the lettuce and dressing as you can see in the picture. Radish slices, cucumber slices, thin ribbons of carrot, and chopped green onion provided nice color contrasts. The accompanying garlic bread was equally outstanding - crunchy, buttery, and full of garlic flavor.

Nonetheless, no matter how good the soup, salad, and wine, they were merely the opening act at this culinary concert. The headliner arrived next:

As high as my expectations were, this piece of rare prime rib exceeded them. Since Steve and I had ordered the smaller prime ribs ($29.95), I was pleasantly surprised to see an attached rib bone. The beef was fork tender, richly flavored, and wonderfully juicy. As I write this, I am starting to drool again as the memory of the meal comes back to me.

While the prime rib was the star of the show, the rest of the plate made a contribution to the wonderful meal as well:

The spinach was just barely wilted and full of green spinach flavors. The few bits of bacon in the spinach were overwhelmed by the leafy goodness of the vegetable, but the chef's careful touch showed off in the freshness and intensity of the spinach taste. In my picture, it is hard to see the rich and creamy mashed potatoes, bursting with buttery goodness, because they are hidden under thin shards of deep-fried potato. Those shards added a nice textural contrast with their thin strips of crunch to the creamy goodness underneath. In the background, there is a ramekin of beefy and slightly salty au jus, just in case the prime rib was not rich enough in flavor, and another ramekin with two preparations of horseradish, if one wanted a spicy touch to the meal. While I tried both horseradishes and the au jus, the prime rib was good enough by itself.

For dessert, Steve wanted chocolate decadence ($7):

The triangle of super chocolatey cake was decadent indeed, and the presentation was very pretty, but I found it the least impressive part of the entire meal. I am not saying that this was a bad dessert, but it is a desert that I have had equally well prepared in several other places. Of course, it is just slightly possible that I was so stuffed and satiated and delighted and satisfied and happy with the savory courses that no dessert could have made me feel any better.

Although this post has been focused on prime rib, I should point out that The Whaling Station also serves a large variety of prime steaks and seafood dishes. The tuxedoed service was attentive and inobtrusive. While definitely not an inexpensive dining option (though not as expensive as the neighboring Sardine Factory), I suspect that anyone looking for an upscale meal in the Cannery Row area would do well at The Whaling Station.

After looking at an early draft of this post, Kirk called me "a prime rib Nazi." Maybe he's right. Nonetheless, most of the time that I mention prime rib to my friends who care about food, they often ask why I waste my time on such a meal. What has happened to these people (I think) is that they have gone their entire lives without ever once having had real prime rib. After eating lousy "prime rib" a few times, most people with functioning taste buds stop ordering it - and for good reason. But I think that if you experience the sinful goodness of outstanding real prime rib, you might well become a prime rib Nazi too.

Whaling Station, 763 Wave St, Monterey CA 93940, (831) 373-2460.

Comments

[nhbilly]

OMG a nice succulent slice of porn in your mouth! I mean the rare piece of prime rib.

[Carol]

Ed, you are right on! I have always loved prime rib over any other cut but like you, just restaurants just can't get it right. I don't even bother anymore. So once a year, usually around Christmas or New Year, I slow cook a 3-4 bone rib roast for the family to enjoy. Thanks for the review; another restaurant to add for when I get up there.

[Nate]

That could be the most beautiful prime rib I have ever seen! I enjoy prime rib more than any other meat.

[Rob]

In the background, there is a ramekin of beefy and slightly salty au jus.

It's just 'jus' not 'au jus'.

Compare with:

In the background, there is a ramekin of beefy and slightly salty with gravy

Makes no sense.

[ed (from Yuma)]

Carol, billy, Nate, thanks for the comments. It really was good. I'm glad I'm not alone.

Rob, thanks for the French lesson. I will correct the post. I still have memories of being laughed at in grad school after pronouncing a French word. I much prefer French cuisine to the French language.

[Fred]

Ed, I am also a fan of prime rib, though my most recent experiences with prime rib were at such establishments as Outback and Black Angus. Do you know of any places in San Diego that have quality prime rib?

[howie]

I think you should be proud of being a prime rib nazi. Prime rib is so incredibly good when done right, but it can be downright nasty when not.

[rooney]

just one question: is there a higher grade of beef than prime?

[Kim]

Ed - I always enjoy your posts, but my friend, you REALLY need to take some simple lessons in photography! I normally would not be bothered by a slightly-unfocused picture, but when you talk about what Prime Rib should look like, I want to be able to see exactly what you're talking about.

What do you think of Lawry's? I used to go to the one in L.A. for my prime rib fix, and I always loved it there. As I remember, they actually sliced it off the roast directly in front of your table.

[ed (from yuma)]

Fred, I would call the high-end steak houses and ask if they do prime rib and how they do it to see if any of them does it right.

rooney, I was thinking about wagyu beef and some of those really marbled meats I see in places like Zion Market. Don't really know if there is technically a higher grade.

Sorry about my photographic skills, Kim, I probably should take a class - or at least read a photographer's manual. In my defense, you should have seen the first food pics I took when I got a digital camera two years ago. I really have improved. To be honest, I haven't tried Lawry's. I had largely given up on prime rib in restaurants. Normally when I'm in larger cities, I seek out Asian or other non-American cuisines. But Monterey lacks any large Asian communities - Korean food (or Indian with the coming of Ambrosia) are probably the best non-American dining options. Thus, I eat at places like Passionfish, Whaling Station, etc.

[clayfu]

Lawry's is a prime rib tradition.
you must go.

[Jo]

Ed, if prime rib is your delight, I would love to hear your thought on a San Francisco restaurant, The House of Prime Rib. http://houseofprimerib.ypguides.net/

The first time I went there was in the 70s as a teenager. Through the years I've had the pleasure of visiting occasionally.

Living in NC, I may never get that chance again, but I wouldn't mind living it vicariously through you. Email me if you decide to make the trip!!!!

[Cathy]

It is so cool that I get to blog with you. This is a perfect meal.

[ed (from Yuma)]

Cathy - Thanks - it's great to blog with you (and Kirk, of course). So nice of him to let us play in his sandbox.

Thanks for the rec, Jo. It has been over 10 years since I was in SF. My expectations for prime rib were established when I was a kid and two refugees from SF established a restaurant in a country estate 15 miles from my hometown and served the same meal every night - French onion soup, caesar salad, small cup of seashell pasta with sauce, prime rib, baked potato w/sour cream etc, and flaming ice cream for desert. So a meal like the one at WS was, in many ways, a return to a childhood favorite.

[Captain Jack]

I am glad you took up the prime rib cause Ed. I feel as if I am constantly explaining that a standing rib roast is only prime rib if is USDA prime. Remember, the meat is even better if it is dry aged for 30 days in your butchers meat locker. This alows the muscle tissue to begin to break down (basicaly a controlled rot) making it even more tender. For those of you in San Diego, you can buy USDA Prime standing rib roasts at Seisels on Morena Blvd (I buy the whole sub primal) and they will dry age it for you for free. Make sure you have them show it to you after the 30 days before they clean it up, it is quite a sight. I call it the hairy monster. I am totaly down with low and slow heating for prime rib because it provides a larger center sweet spot of medium-rare meat. I just like to sear mine first to get a nice caramalized exterior.

[Captain Jack]

To respond to the person asking about grades higher than USDA Prime, here is the deal. About 2% of all beef is graded prime by the USDA. Premium butcher houses like Lobel's in New York have in house inspectors that examine that 2% (Prime) and then select the top 2% of of that subsequently marketing it as "High Prime." The meat is then Dry aged up to six weeks. The resulting product is fabulous, but comes at a dear price.

[ed (from Yuma)]

Doggone, Jack, I thought I was a prime rib fanatic - you win the prize!

[Captain Jack]

Hee hee, thanks Ed, I am a fanatic, dry aged prime beef = good eats if cooked properly.

Cheers

P.S. Great Post