Prime Quarter

The local Prime Quarter closed. Thank gawd. I cannot even believe it stayed in business as long as it did. Why would I want to go to a chain restaurant, pay a premium for the food just so I could cook it myself? Is not one of the points of going to a restaurant to have professionals cook for you? It makes about as much sense as having my car that has broken down be towed to a repair shop and the mechanic hands me a bunch of tools and tells me to fix the car myself. Hmmmm…maybe I will open a coffee shop where people will pay to roast and grind their own coffee beans before getting to brew their own coffee.

[Jenise]

This chain never got as far as the west coast--fill in the blanks so those unfamiliar can be grateful we never knew the place. Did you grill your own steaks?

I see trends of "do it yourself" these days and it is very curious to me as to why it is happening. For instance, now at my dentist and ophthalmologist's offices, I am asked to fill out a post card reminder for my next visit. Can't the paid receptionist do this chore?

Once in a restaurant, I was the one sitting on the backside of the booth, the waitress handed me the place mats and eating utensils without saying a word. I was expected to set the table for her...which should have been done before we got there, as we had reservations.

At nail salons, there is a station when you enter for the women to take off their nail polish before seeing their manicurist. This I refuse to do.

Jenise,

Yeah, now that you mention it I have never seen a Prime Quarter on the West Coast. I am not sure how many are left but I recall seeing them in the Midwest. Below is an excerpt from an e-mail I sent to a friend detailing my first and last visit to PQ...

Last week, one of our vendors took me out for dinner. The gentleman took me to a steak house where the patrons cook their own steak. It seemed like a rather odd concept to me. If I am at home, I would expect to prepare my own meal. If I am going to a restaurant and paying a premium for the food, I would expect the restaurant to prepare my meal. Because I had not dined in this restaurant before, I was unfamiliar with the massive charcoal grill they had burning away indoor next to the dining room. I was kind of surprised that an indoor charcoal grill is even legal. It just sounds like a bad idea and their insurance must be sky high. My first attempt at grilling my steak resulted in something that was burned on the outside and cold purple on the inside. So, with the waitperson’s permission, I returned to the grill and tried placing my steak in a different position. I suppose the steak was not improved by the fact that they have these canisters full of, I am guessing, a mixture of oil and butter that you "paint" on the steak. Based upon the advice of the waitperson, I cooked my steak the second time and painted this mixture on my steak and slapped it back on the grill. The oil and butter mixture caused the meat to catch on fire which lead, as you can imagine, to an even more unpleasantly tasting bitter exterior crust. So not only was the inside of the steak overdone this time, but the outside was badly burned as well.

I did not notice it until I returned home that evening, but after all the time I spent standing at the indoor grill with everyone else burning their meat, my clothing smelled like I had been at a bonfire all day long. When I took my suit to the dry cleaner a couple days later they charged me extra to clean it because the owner deemed the suit "smoke damaged". A disappointing experience from start to finish that makes me wonder where is the appeal of going to a steak house and preparing your own steak on an unfamiliar grill. And what kind of moron would take someone there for a business dinner.

Sounds like a terrible concept. How such a restaurant chain ever got off the drawing board is beyond me.

You may want to warn your In-Laws. PQ has a restaurant not too far from Lambeau.

[Jenise]

Ugh, thanks for the explanation. To someone like me who thinks that salad bars are the work of the devil, this sounds like dining hell. But restaurants like this weren't invented for people like you and I for whom the words 'fine' and 'dining' are inexorably linked.

Are children allowed to cook their own there, too?

Sounds like a terrible concept. How such a restaurant chain ever got off the drawing board is beyond me.

Completely agree. It's the stupidest thing one could ever imagine. I've eaten in two of these types of restaurants, obviously not by choice. Once in Dallas, as a houseguest of a friend, and once in Florida when some friends of my family wanted to try it so we were coerced. Not only is it boring and tedious to stand there watching someone cook your food, but no one in your dining party gets to eat at the same time because some people take longer choosing their ingredients, some people like theirs more well-done, some of the "cooks" are slow, etc. The worst part about the latter experience was that there were about seven of us in one of those cozy round booths. Well, you can imagine how fun that was to keep sliding out. I think at one point, I went under the table to get out rather than having four people get out of the booth.
The worst part about the former experience was that I had flown in very early that morning, then spent all day in a very long, tiresome business meeting. Then found myself standing at a hot grill (sans drink) waiting for some moron to cook my dinner. All I wanted was a quiet glass of wine and a nibble somewhere...
All of these establishments deserve to go out of business if they haven't already. The one in FL did not survive.

There's one in Memphis called The Butcher Shop. It's busy as hell. I took my kids there so they could cook their own food. Unfortunately, the joint also has video games...so,after I cooked the steaks we all headed to the salad bar. This place does provide cooks, though. One has the option of cooking one's own steak or having the cook do it.

After reading the above posts, it reminded me of a restaurant on Lake Shasta we loved to go to. We took our kids there after a day of skiing because it is where the action was. They had all sorts of games (video was not here yet) and the food was great. They had huge backed potatoes under a warmer, all the trimmings were available, great salads were served, and once you picked out your meat, you cooked it on an open grill. The kids got a charge out of this, but I sat back and let Gene take care of our steaks. It was really fun, but I would not want to do it now. They were on the lake for years, but as times changed, they changed their way of doing things. I guess they were ahead of their time. I don't know of any other places in Redding that do that now.

You may want to warn your In-Laws. PQ has a restaurant not too far from Lambeau.

Yep, I've eaten at that one at least twice. Some of the folks at corporate HQ like it and want to go there. IIRC, the wine list was pretty awful as well.....its bad when one struggles to find a decent wine to go with steak.

But these days, I have much more influence over where we have dinner when I am up there. And PQ is not on the list. OTOH, the GB area is not exactly teeming with top-notch restaurants either.

I've been to a place like that once, in Knoxville. My boss at the time took me and 3 co-workers (all CPAs) to a Zig Ziglar 'motivational' seminar. Since I rode with the boss, and he was buying, he picked the place for supper. Since he was a firm believer in the evils of alcohol, there was no booze either. There was the option to have someone cook it for the diner, but that cost about $3/steak extra, and Boss was a penny-pincher all the way.
That was back in the days when to me a steak was well-done or it wasn't edible, so not much harm done. LOL

My multimillionaire boss in a consulting engineering firm was a penny-pincher, too. Every Xmas, he would stall long enough making restaurant reservations so we'd have to throw the party in the office--spending approx. $100 for 45 employees. And one year, spouses weren't even invited (I brought mine anyway). It was sooo much fun eating amongst the drafting tables.

One Thanksgiving he doled out frozen turkeys to the employees. I remember going to his office to thank him personally. Later, I discovered the turkeys came from a contractor who was working on the project we designed. He never 'fessed up.

He kept driving an older Mercury until somehow he was convinced to buy a BMW. Well, that lasted a week. He wanted his old car back, telling the car dealer "he was just trying it out." After some legal hassles, he finally got his Mercury back minus $1000 for "trying it out."

Finally, there was the lunch meeting with lawyers at a Burger King. What a guy.

I've been to a place like that once, in Knoxville.....

Ate at that one too, probably 20-25 years ago.

You may want to warn your In-Laws. PQ has a restaurant not too far from Lambeau.

Yep, I've eaten at that one at least twice. Some of the folks at corporate HQ like it and want to go there. IIRC, the wine list was pretty awful as well.....its bad when one struggles to find a decent wine to go with steak.

But these days, I have much more influence over where we have dinner when I am up there. And PQ is not on the list. OTOH, the GB area is not exactly teeming with top-notch restaurants either.

MikeH,

Have you tried Hinterland in GB? I have never had the pleasure of eating there, but a couple of years ago I dined at their other location and it was, quite frankly, excellent. But the GB version might be different but at least worth a try considering the GB restaurant options.

Ugh, thanks for the explanation. To someone like me who thinks that salad bars are the work of the devil, this sounds like dining hell.

They also have a salad bar AND some deal where if you can eat a 50 oz steak, the salad, a "baked" potato (it comes in tin foil, so obviously not baked but steamed) and the Texas Toast (whatever that is) in 1 hour and 15 minutes, you are awarded a large brass medallion emblazed with the statement "Prime Quarter Certified Beef Eater" that the waitress told us could be attached to a chain around the neck for us to proudly take home and wear.

48 oz mugs of cheap beer were standard as well.

All stuff I love.

You may want to warn your In-Laws. PQ has a restaurant not too far from Lambeau.

Yep, I've eaten at that one at least twice. Some of the folks at corporate HQ like it and want to go there. IIRC, the wine list was pretty awful as well.....its bad when one struggles to find a decent wine to go with steak.

But these days, I have much more influence over where we have dinner when I am up there. And PQ is not on the list. OTOH, the GB area is not exactly teeming with top-notch restaurants either.

MikeH,

Have you tried Hinterland in GB? I have never had the pleasure of eating there, but a couple of years ago I dined at their other location and it was, quite frankly, excellent. But the GB version might be different but at least worth a try considering the GB restaurant options.

Yep, I have eaten at Hinterland and enjoyed it. I suspect that over the last 20 years, I have probably hit every decent restaurant in the Green Bay/DePere area....plus some that weren't so decent!

MikeH,

If you send a PM to Mike Filigenzy he can probably recommend some good places. He has impeccable taste and spends a little time up there. I'm totally unfamiliar with the better dining in that area.

I do have four words of non-food related advice for you though next time you are in that part of the Midwest...

Whistling Straits & Blackwolf Run. Your kind of place I would imagine.

I do have four words of non-food related advice for you though next time you are in that part of the Midwest...

Whistling Straits & Blackwolf Run. Your kind of place I would imagine.

Len went to Whistling Straits on a guys trip about six years ago (and all I got was this lousy golf shirt...)
He loved the courses, but still talks (with a gleam in his eye) about the best carpaccio he's ever had in his life in a restaurant near there. He's terrible with names so he doesn't remember. I'll ask a friend who went with him who has a better memory.

Hi Carrie,

It was most likely The Immigrant Room. An exceptional restaurant in Kohler. One of the best weddings I ever went to was held up there. 36 holes at WS and BWR followed by the ceremony and dinner at The Immigrant Room.

One of the best weddings I ever went to was held up there. 36 holes at WS and BWR followed by the ceremony and dinner at The Immigrant Room.

If all weddings were like that I might consider revising my opinion of them.

Hey I know this one! Texas toast ( IIRC ) is just your old fluffy white bread toasted but cut in really, really thick slices. Maybe 2 inches? it's been awhile since we were in the USA but somehow that concept stuck in my mind. Weird huh.

I went a 'cook your own' restuarant ten or so years ago. There was a gas barbecue grill set in the middle of the table. They brought your raw meat and cooked veggies and you cooked the meat to your taste. Stupid idea, I thought. I asked them what happened if I overcooked my steak - in a normal restaurant I'd send it back and they'd cook another. The waiter grinned, didn't know...

There was a restaurant closed in the last month in Snorbens (which I didn't go to during its short life) which brought a hot lava stone to your table and you cooked your food on that.

OTOH, I l love salad bars. I love to choose my own mix of salad stuff...