Jak's (SEA)

[lala]

I was inspired by the Met Grill thread: Friend wanted steak, so we went to Jak's for the first time tonight. It's in the 4500 block of California, same block as Lee's Chinese place, with the fabulous 7 spice beef dish.

Having been to Daniels and other high end steak houses, I was nervous (pretentious, overpriced, don't need a stage show with raw meat), but I'd heard that Jak's is a more diner-friendly, casual place, and it is. Very cozy booths, interesting space with upper floor seating in front and back.

Your entree comes with a salad and sides, so the prices are actually quite good (from $15 for fish to $16 for pork and $18 to $36 for beef). They had about 5 cuts of beef, lamb, chicken, salmon and a couple of pork chop preparations. I went for the NY strip, ordered Black and Blue, salad with bleu cheese dressing and baked potato with the works. Friend had same, with viniagrette on the salad. We each had a glass of wine. Basic wine list, but good wines to match the menu. I had a glass of Echelon Cabernet, friend had Ravenswood Zin.

The salads were quite large, all romaine, all inner leaves, which I appreciated. Very fresh and crisp. My bleu cheese dressing was lovely, very light, with a buttermilk base. A few sprinkles of a mild bleu cheese finished it off. The bread was sourdough (a minus, in my book), and served with whipped margerine (a definate minus!).

My steak was mostly done to specification- not black (seared to a lovely crispiness), but quite blue (rare). Friend's "just short of medium, still very pink in the middle" was perfectly done. I'm going to think that they just don't have a hot enough spot on the grill to do the "black" part of my order. The baked potatoes were properly baked, not microwaved, and huge. Too big, in fact, I could only eat about a third of it. Toppings were real bacon, cheddar, sour cream and green onion. A very good potato. Green beans were properly al dente, sauteed and very nicely seasoned (just salt and pepper, but you know when it's done right).

Service was friendly and professional, and they seemed genuinely pleased by our happiness with the meal. We skipped dessert - even though we got the smaller options of meat (you can get 10 oz or 16 oz on the NY strip), we were totally stuffed. Their dessert options were a couple of chocolatey cakes and cheesecake.

Total cost per person was $36.00, with wine and tip, and I think it was well worth it. While I certainly enjoy more complex food in my dining mix, this is a great place to go if you're just hankering for that piece of meat. Very fresh, well prepared food (so difficult to get your steak done the way you like it in most places!), good service, comfortable atmosphere. And of course, a walk on Alki beach afterwards is the pefect end to the evening!

[Blue Heron]

Thanks for this detailed report, lala. I like Jak's too. It's *the* place to go for steak in W. Seattle... good and very reasonable for the quality and amount. I order my steak on the rare side of MR, and they turn out just great. Last time I went they still weren't taking reservations, and this place can get busy, so we tend to go early. I'm also a fan of Lee's (for Asian cuisine) too, and Mashiko's sushi/Japanese cuisine is also on this street!

[girl chow]

Here is an old thread where we discuss Jak's (the Issaquah location), The Met, Fleming's (now defunct) and Spencer's Steakhouse in SeaTac... and then a meandering conversation about bbq.

This topic and the recent Met thread reminded me of this thread, which has some useful information on it.

I head to Jak's whenever an affordable steak is in order. My only "beef" (harharhar) with them is they take no reservations... but the prices are right and the steaks are a great value.

[SeaGal]

There's also a Jak's down where 45th Street NE turns into Sandpoint Way NE--whatever neighborhood that is. We've enjoyed the occasional steak there and find the food good and the service excellent. It's a great place to take "meat and potatoes" relatives from out of town. They're also very accomodating with dietary preferences, such as steamed veggies w/ no butter, substituting extra veggies for the carbs etc. There can be a short wait on Friday and Saturday evenings, but week nights are never a problem.

Jan

*edited to make street names more precise.

Edited April 21, 2004 by SeaGal (log)

[kiliki]

Do you happen to know if they dry age their beef, like the Met and El Gaucho?

[Blue Heron]

Local cookbook author and food editor Cynthia Nims chose Jak's as her favorite place to get a steak in Seattle on Evening Magazine's Best of the Northwest this evening. A couple of Jak's steaks are Prime, and for the quality, very reasonably priced.

(other restaurants getting a favorite mention by the trio of Cynthia Nims, Tom Douglas, and Hsiao-Ching Chou (Seattle PI food writer) ... favorite Italian: Cafe Juanita; Favorite Chinese: Seven Stars Pepper; Favorite Mexican: La Carta de Oaxaca, Favorite Cheap place w/ decent food: Wellington. Kingfish Cafe was also mentioned as a favorite.)