Not Quite Valentine's Day Dinner at Fleming's Steakhouse
I don't really care for cell phone photography, particularly in a tough lighting situation, like in a slightly darkened restaurant. But often I have to work with what is available. So, please forgive the poor lighting and angle in the photo below. In the future I will be carrying my Nikon to dinner.
In this case, it's our Valentine's Day dinner at Fleming's Steakhouse in Greensboro.
Valentine's Day came a few days late due to circumstances (no reservations available before 9:30 PM) and foul weather, but we finally made it to Flemings on February 16th. Flemings is very nice, but very expensive. If you go, expect a sumptuous meal and good service at a very high price.
Fleming's is located in a far corner of Friendly Shopping Center, near P.F. Chang's. I won't give you any more directions. Finding it will be part of your adventure through the back maze of Friendly.
I will warn you Greensboro is not like Reidsville at night. In Greensboro people shop and dine at night. There is a bit of traffic. After 8 PM there were probably 25 people shopping in a nearby Apple Computer store. Greensboro people do not hide after dusk.
Two days after Valentine's is a good day to eat at Flemings. The place is not crowded. The noise level is tolerably low.
We made our selections from the Small Plate Menu. I call it the Poor Man's Menu. Dinner for two still cost us more than $100. Hey. it was Valentine's Day or rather two days after Valentine's. We've spent as much as $175 on a meal at Fleming's, so to get off for $100 was a bargain.
As we were leaving the restaurant, we both remarked it was best meal we've ever had at Fleming's. We weren't overstuffed. The food still tasted delicious on our palettes. My wallet was not totally deflated.
It's not shown in this photograph, but we split an appetizer. It was Pan-Seared Pork Belly on goat cheese grits with a cherry and onion sauce. Allow me to translate that for you...it was really thick bacon served over grits. The bacon was fatty and tasty and grits were awesome. Goat cheese must do something special for grits.
I've pulled all the other main dishes together for this photo. On the left is Braised Short Ribs of Beef with savory arugula, spinach, and natural au jus. Lower center is Gulf Shrimp and Sea Scallops on squash vermicelli.
Let me say at this point I hate squash, but this was totally awesome. The vermicelli (squash pasta) may have been the best dish on the table. It was fabulous, only rivaled by the scallops. The shrimp were a tad rubbery (I had to cut them with a knife), but still excellent.
The Braised Short Ribs were outstanding, but, as my date suggested to the waiter, they would have been killer served over the goat cheese grits that came with the Pork Belly. The waiter noted they used to be served that way.
In the center of the photo is a bowl of Sauteed Mushrooms. We shared the mushrooms. We've had them before, but this time they were sliced. The last time they were whole. Slicing didn't seem to hurt them. They were still an excellent accompaniment to both the ribs and seafood.
In the upper right hand corner is a small loaf of sliced bread. I'm guessing it's made at Fleming's, but who knows for sure. It's served with a small bowl of Chardonnay Brie and a small bowl of Champagne Cheddar (I think that's what the waiter said). We ordered a second loaf after the first one was eaten. That should tell you something about the bread and cheese course. My date liked the Chardonnay Brie and I preferred the Champagne Cheddar. I encouraged my date to sop up her Braised Ribs with the bread, but she wouldn't do it. I had no shame, I sopped up my seafood juices with the bread with both fork and fingers. I don't think anyone saw me do it, but the waiter was probably very suspicious after he saw my shiny clean plate. By the way, the bread and cheese were complimentary.
I had a bottle of Aqua Panna to drink. It's an Italian water. My date ordered a glass of 14 Hands, a California red wine. They both were excellent.
We skipped the dessert because we had a homemade chocolate cake waiting on us at home.
Above is a slightly better photo of my Shrimp and Scallops dish with mushrooms and bread.
Fleming's is highly recommended.
Visit, but be sure to be packing some dollars and an appetite.
Here is a link to Fleming's.
* Click the images for a larger view
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