Press

Sit at the bar and enjoy specialty cocktails like the “Some Like It Hot,” which is Level One vodka infused with Thai chilies, fresh basil, lemon and lime juice—woo that’ll open your sinuses! Bar patrons can also enjoy $10 blue plate specials three nights per week (check the website for what’s on tap).

A meal in the dining room starts off with a variety of fresh baked bread. We started our feast with raw oysters, which came with champagne/shallot mignonette (excellent) and—get this—Tabasco sorbet. It was the most interesting and fun oyster garnish I’ve experienced.

The lush green garlic soup had perfect consistency, large chunks of Maine lobster, and was garnished with chives and crème fraîche. The beet salad had several kinds of beets from owner Leslie Rudd’s garden, as well as goat cheese, candied walnuts, tart greens and tangerine segments. We enjoyed them with a crisp 2008 Beuhler Chardonnay and an elegant 2007 W.H. Smith Pinot Noir.

The Caesar salad—which anyone who knows me knows I’m very picky about—was hands-down awesome. It had lots of garlic and was truly flavorful with excellent housemade croutons.

For entrées, we had the Alaskan halibut, which had crisp outer skin and a butter-like, melt-in-your-mouth interior, served with asparagus, fresh garbanzo beans, basil and a rich butter sauce. The standout for the night, however, was the hand-cut filet mignon. Press is known for its wood-grilled steaks (cooked over almond and cherry), and has several choices including skirt steak, hanger steak, dry-aged Kansas City strip, bone-in rib eye, and American or Japanese Kobe Wagyu. You can add a variety of sauces or toppings and side dishes to each. We chose truffle butter, and the combination was amazing—one of the best cuts I’ve ever enjoyed. It barely felt like we needed a knife.

For side dishes, we had a potato garlic cake (cooked in duck fat—wow!), which had golden crisp edges and whole cloves of roasted garlic and fresh parsley on top; and flavorful Swiss chard with toasted pine nuts.

We had dessert outside next to the fireplace. First came a large slice of creamy New York style cheesecake with huckleberry compote (wonderful). The homemade ice cream of the night (three large scoops) included vanilla with caramel and chocolate ribbons and whole macadamia nuts; espresso (which was like eating chocolate covered espresso beans, but as an ice cream); and a lovely pistachio with whole nuts and delicious flavor.

Press, we were absolutely impressed.