Madagascar shrimp/Charley's steakhouse

We were in Orlando over the weekend and ate at Charley's Steakhouse - never heard of them before, but they claim they're one of the top 10 steakhouses in the country. I was going to go with a Kansas City strip (basically a bone-in New York strip), but they had a special with an 8 oz. filet and a u2 Madagascar shrimp with a foie gras something or other (can't remember how it was described on the menu) so I decided to give that a try. I'm guessing the u2 refers to the size (2 count?). The steak was pretty good, though not as good as a Ruth's filet - I found it a tad bland. The shrimp was obviously enormous, and tasted pretty much like a very tender lobster tail - seasoned well and the topping went well with it (guessing that was the foie gras). The shrimp addition was kind of pricey - $59 for the steak and shrimp, whereas an 8 oz. filet was $39 - but I'd order it again.



Anyone been to Charley's? Their Parmesan fries are the best side dish I've ever had at a steakhouse. I don't normally get excited by fries, but these things were amazing. The only thing I can compare them to is when I make potato skins around 1/4 thick, brush them with olive oil, then broil them until they are extra crispy, but not like a normal crispy french fry. Again, I don't normally get excited over fries at a steakhouse, but these things were incredibly good.



I tried duplicating them a couple times last night, but failed miserably.

The wife and I also both had lobster bisque, and we both agreed it was the best lobster bisque we've had - more rich, more flavorful, and had much more lobster meat than I'm accustomed to. We don't eat at steakhouses very often because my wife and kid just aren't steak eaters. Ruth's is about the only other one we've frequented. While I prefer a Ruth's filet, I'd probably give Charley's the nod over Ruth's for my family because of the side dishes and the various non-steak choices on their menu.

Having enjoyed the Madagascar shrimp, I was frying shrimp last night and decided to give royal reds a try (hadn't heard about them until a few posts on this board recently). A local market had headless frozen royal reds for $7.99/lb., around 12-16 count. Fried them up in Panko bread crumbs and they were great. Very tender and flaky for jumbo shrimp, though I'm sure there are better ways than frying to truly appreciate the difference. I'd say the Madagascar shrimp was like royal reds on steroids - larger and closer to lobster in flavor, with the royal reds falling somewhere between regular shrimp and the Madagascars.

ETA: Came very close to killing someone leaving the restaurant. I let my wife drive us back to the hotel because I had a couple martinis and had a light buzz. She had just turned onto the highway and was up to around 35 mph when a woman ran across the highway right in front of us trying to catch a bus that was stopped in the far right lane. The lady was of dark complexion and wearing dark clothes, and my wife didn't see her at all. I caught her out of the corner of my eye and yelled, so my wife just reacted to me and hit the brakes. Missed the woman by literally a couple feet. If I hadn't yelled, my wife would have hit her full speed.