It was our last night with Ms. Yoga and it was only fitting that we went back to Hyde Park for our dinner, as she had introduced it to us in the first place.  Hyde Park Prime Steakhouse is based out of Ohio, and it is a nice comfortable restaurant that fits in between the macho old-school Morton’s and the loud feminine Capital Grille (at least the one in Detroit is, which is in a shopping mall).  And they have a charming, dare I call it an “early-bird special” if you dine in the bar area, and as proud retirees, we will take advantage of such largesse.  Not to mention that I saw an old customer from my retail days, and he was the third generation of his family that I helped and it is always good to see an old familiar face.

It was actually quite an easy evening, especially for the waitstaff, as we basically all had the same meal.  We all had the Lobster Bisque, which is laced and has some poached lobster added just before serving, which is worth the price of admission.  Along with their great bread basket and crackers and a slab of butter that is seasoned on one edge and the other edge has Himalayan Pink Salt.  It is amazing that I have never have bread at home, even during the holidays, but get me in a restaurant setting and I enjoy bread.  We then enjoyed Prime Filets prepared perfectly with Bearnaise Sauce and Garlic Whipped Potatoes.  We also got a side order of classic steakhouse prepared Spinach with Garlic and butter.  There were also some desserts, but they went directly into a carry-out box, because we were full from dinner. 

We had a wine that I have read about over the years, but it was the first time I had ever encountered the wine.  We had Dave Phinney’s Locations Wine I (Italy) NV.  Dave Phinney, is the founder of Orin Swift Cellars and The Prisoner Label.  Locations Wine is an American value wine brand that blends wines from the designated country.  The wines are non-vintage-designated and have a very minimalistic label reminiscent to the old international car bumper stickers from when I was a kid (F for France, E for Spain, I for Italy etc.).  Though this must have been an old wine in their cellars, as the new designation for Italy is IT on the labels. This wine brand was purchased by Gallo in 2018, but they have retained Dave Phinney as the winemaker.   The fruits for this wine are a blend of Negroamaro and Nero d’Avola from Puglia in the Southern Region and Barbera from Piemonte in the Northern Region of Italy.  The wine is barrel aged for ten months prior to release.  A dark inky purple wine with notes of black cherry, vanilla, sandalwood and some cinnamon and nutmeg.  On the palate tones of figs, blueberry jam with soft tannins and a decent finish of wine and sea-salt.  A rather interesting little wine for one so affordable in a steakhouse setting.