Pinkys Steakhouse – The Review
Finally, after some early coverage of Pinkys Steakhouse (or what some might call Pinky’s Steakhouse), I’ve made it out to their Yaletown location for a treat and must say I’m duly impressed.
Upon entry, I was immediately seated and throughout the dinner, my server was attentive to my needs, knowledgeable about the menu and chock full of good suggestions.
For dinner, I indulged in a full offering, a sampling of drinks from the bar, an appy, a main course and dessert.
Some photos of the menu and drink menu:
My previous blog posting and camera work at the table did get me noticed – director of operations Carl McCreath and I had a good discussion about the finer points of steak and various forms of ageing the product. Exec Chef Brian Orange from Browns Social House (the company which owns Pinkys) stopped by to see how things were going and so did Pinkys Exec Chef, Frank Lu.
Some cool tidbits:
- Pinkys has two rib steaks on the menu, the standard wet aged ribeye and an organic, dry aged product
I had a chance to try both on the night of my visit and enjoyed almost every last bite. The organic dry aged product is a denser steak and completely different products – definitely worth a try although my tastes definitely favour the standard ribeye.
Another bonus was that the steaks I enjoyed came with a creamy horseradish sauce. Something I tend to neglect when ordering a steak but something truly appreciated and definitely used if it shows up.
- Pinkys uses an infrared broiler to cook the meat
Smart move on their part – the steaks that I enjoyed were juicy, tasty and the second steak I got to try was ready within four minutes of ordering.
- If you don’t finish your steak, for a small charge, they’ll make a steak sandwich out of your steak
The next day was as exciting as the initial visit. I took two steak sandwiches home that night and enjoyed both with the wife.
If I was keeping score, I’d say they get extra points for the sandwich option.
In terms of items that didn’t suit my taste, I’d say the cheese toast made that list. I’ve been spoiled by Hy’s cheese toast and can’t say much compares to the deep cheddar flavour that accompanies. In Pinky’s defense, I don’t think they were trying to duplicate the product – it’s something altogether different.
For dessert, I enjoyed the deconstructed black forest cake.
The drinks:
Hollywood Martini – Muddled Kiwi, Peach Vodka, Cointreau, Citrus & Bubbly
El Diablo Martini – Raspberry Vodka, Alize Red Citrus, Cranberry and Bellini Slush
Pomegranate Martini – Smirnoff Vodka, Pomegranate Juice & Fresh Lime
Yakuza Martini – Sake, Sour Raspberry, Lychee and White Grape Juice
Final comment: I love what they’ve done with the decor. The interior looks great, there’s now an additional bathroom upstairs where the office used to be and overall, everything looks clean and finished.
Pinkys Steakhouse 8/10. See my original notes about Pinkys Steakhouse, HERE.
Location
1265 Hamilton Street, Yaletown (Between Davie and Drake)
Vancouver, BC V6B 6K3
604-732-9545 (1/16/2008) ooops, that was the Kitsilano location.. actual phone number is 604-637-3135
www.pinkyssteakhouse.com
info@pinkyssteakhouse.com
Hours
7 days a week 4:00 pm – 12:00 midnight
Friday only lunch 11:30pm – 4:00 pm
Available for private events daytime Saturday – Thursday
Bonus: here’s what Sweet Spot had to say about Pinkys in their December 21st edition:
Pinkys Swear
We like to cut into a juicy steak once in a while. But there’s not much out there in restaurant-land between the high-priced boy’s clubs and the, well, low-priced boy’s clubs.Enter Pinkys Steakhouse and Cocktail Bar, tongue-in-cheekily referred to as ‘a woman’s steakhouse’ by the owners (who also brought us Brown’s Social Houses). Think leather banquettes and club chairs meet discreet splashes of hot pink in the damask wallpaper and pink-pony-upholstered retro chairs.
The menu is old-school made new, centered around certified Angus Beef steaks like the New York (10oz/$29 and 14oz/$33), Millionaires Filet (8oz/$29 and 12oz/$37), or for serious meatlovers, the Porterhouse (22oz/$45). Our favourite sides? Creamy scalloped potatoes and spicy-hot mashed potatoes with horseradish (both are included options; other choices are pasta, fries or baked spud). We also loved sharing a broccoli au gratin ($7) that didn’t scrimp on the cheddar.
And don’t think we forgot the appetizers: Start with either the chilled jumbo prawn cocktail ($18) or the memories-of-childhood iceberg lettuce wedge with 1000 Island dressing ($8), served crunchy and icy cold.
When, not surprisingly, we were too full to finish, the kitchen sent us home with lunch for tomorrow: A steak sandwich whipped up from what’s left on a fresh baguette ($3). Now that’s the sort of detail we’d expect from a woman’s steakhouse.
Pinkys
www.pinkyssteakhouse.com
1265 Hamilton St.
604-637-3135
Comments
Comment from Julia Doty
Time January 16, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Hello, and thanks for the review! I just wanted to let you know that you actually have the Kitsilano location phone number (not yet open) listed under the Yaletown address. Later on, you have the correct phone number, but could you please change the top one? It should be 604-637-3135. Thank you very much,
Julia Doty
Marketing and Events Planning
Pinkys Steakhouse
Comment from raj
Time January 16, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Hey Julia,
Thanks for the correction – I think I should get more sleep!
Regards,
RT
Pingback from raj » Blog Archive » PINKYS Steakhouse and Cocktail Lounge
Time January 21, 2008 at 5:38 pm
[...] UPDATE (1/2/2008): I’ve posted my review of PINKYS HERE. [...]
Pingback from Kitsilano.ca » Culinary Tidbits
Time February 9, 2008 at 10:16 am
[...] Morrison (in the WE) is not excited, a reader of The Vancouverite calls it a douche-a-palooza, Raj is impressed, and reviewers on both DineHere and urbanspoon give it high marks. I guess we’ll [...]
Comment from raj
Time January 11, 2008 at 7:03 am
Here’s the latest from Martiniboys. Something that our friend, Cassandra Anderton penned for them…
Well, actually, Cassandra penned the meat then the Martini Boys people in Toronto, never having visited the restaurant here in Vancouver, did the right thing – or should I say the usual thing and added what they thought was their input. Well, it turned out to be a pile of horseshit (as most of their ‘content’ is based on vast speculation) – it caught everyone’s attention including the marketing people at Pinkys … and they eventually changed it…. here’s the ORIGINAL that they published:
The sad thing here is that when Cassandra brought the vast discrepancies to their attention, she essentially got the middle finger from the MBO people. Way to move, folks!
Fact: The restaurant is NOT pink to the hilt. You can see photos on flickr, HERE.
Fact: PINKYS doesn’t use Angus beef… sorry, guys, you added that – Cassandra would know better.
That’s enough from me…