At the end of March, José Andrés opened the doors to his newest restaurant, conveniently located on GW’s campus. A far cry from the meaty offerings at his other culinary hot spots like Jaleo and Oyamel, his most recent brainchild, Beefsteak, presents an almost exclusively vegetable-based menu, with a few options for “protein,” sprinkled in.
In the style of a fast food joint, Beefsteak is set up with a long counter and a cafeteria line. Customers make their way down the counter, first choosing their favorite veggies to be flash-steamed right before their eyes, then moving on to selecting a grain. Besides the basic white rice option, trendier grains like bulgur and quinoa are also in the offing for all the foodies out there.
After your choose a grain, the next step is the optional protein. Toppings here include herb-crusted smoked salmon, raw avocado, poached egg, balls of fresh mozzarella cheese, and the only actual meat on the menu: chicken. Keep in mind, though, that if you choose one of these toppings, the prices are sky-high. You’re probably looking at an additional $3-4 on top of the $7.99 base price of the “Make Your Own” bowl. (The menu also features four “Favorite” bowls, pre-designed with specific ingredients).
The bowl with seaweed salad is the first bowl I ever got, with a little of everything. It was good, but a weird mix. The other bowl was my boyfriend’s order last night, which he loved – he’s cracked the code on his perfect order, I think.
I’ve now been to Beefsteak three times, but I’ve never once seen anyone order a pre-made bowl. Every time, the line inches along painfully slowly, as people try to decide which assortment of veggies and toppings they want to order. At first, you might feel like a kid in a candy shop – minus the sugar and fat content, of course. It can be hard to finesse your order; for example, you might really want mushrooms, but they may not taste so good with that spicy tomato sauce and dried seaweed topping you ordered.
In my opinion, that’s the main problem at Beefsteak. The obvious complaint some people may have is that the meals aren’t filling, or satisfying, without a heartier meat element. However, all three times I went, I left full and happy. The real issue, which you might not initially realize, is that you have to be able to tell what will taste good all mixed together, and what won’t. Sadly, though, we can’t all be flavor masters like José Andrés, and this can be easier said than done.
Yesterday, for example, was my worst experience at Beefsteak. My boyfriend Sam and I went, and I had been excited all day – one bonus of eating an all-veggie dinner, besides the lower calorie count, is the great feeling that what you’re eating is actually good for you; there’s definitely a positive mental side effect. But when I finally made it through the first part of the line and up to the counter, I found that they were all out of mushrooms.
In my past two trips to Beefsteak, I had taken it upon myself to figure out my ideal order. I thought of it as a challenge, experimenting with different combinations to see what flavors and textures blended the best. Well, from my research so far, my perfect Beefsteak bowl starts with a double order of mushrooms. And yet, there were none to be had. So, last night, I instead substituted edamame, which I’d never tried before, and attempted to get over the loss. But in my confusion, I also forgot to order snow peas, which was upsetting all over again.
There’s definitely an art to ordering; building the perfect bowl is a trial and error process, a skill acquired with time and practice. But when you first go, the sheer volume of choice is overwhelming, not to mention the odd mix of toppings available. It’s easy to overestimate your taste for the exotic and overzealously order basic potatoes, carrots, and corn, with garlic yogurt sauce, honey lemon dressing, poached eggs, seaweed salad, kimchi, and sunflower seeds on top. Individually, all of those things might taste great. But combined? Like I said, trial and error.
But even for those not totally into the “clean eating” fad, Beefsteak is definitely worth a try.