The Prime Rib from Gulliver's - Irvine
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Given a choice of a rib eye steak or prime rib, I'll always go for the steak--except when I'm at Gulliver's. Then it has to be the prime rib.
Gulliver's serves, in my humble opinion, the finest prime rib in OC. It's always a glorious shade of pink, a perfect medium rare, so soft, so pure, an unadulterated taste of the beast. That it lacks the crusty sear of a steak matters little when the meat is this perfect—as good as a slab of roasted cow can get.
And then there are the sides: a hollow cocoon of Yorkshire pudding, creamed spinach, and creamed corned slopped onto your plare by the waitress from a big skillet. The latter two contain as much cream as it does vegetable. The richness basically double-downs on the fact that the meal is already an over-the-top indulgence. So what's a few more calories and fat?
You pour the au jus from a miniature tea kettle. It's a little weak on flavor and the horseradish isn't very strong. But it speaks to the quality of the cut that the prime rib shines regardless.
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I’ve concluded that the appetizers here are unnecessary. The pork belly cubes are plated with unattractive glops of an unidentified substance that muddies and muffles the crispy pork.
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The crab-stuffed mushrooms swim in a superfluous cream sauce and a gob of sour cream. It all seems like overkill until you realize it's probably how they served those dishes when the place opened in 1970.
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Look around and nothing seems to have been updated since then. Gulliver’s is an old school relic cut from the same cloth as Steak and Ale and Cask N' Cleaver, a place your Baby Boomer parents went to spend their first paycheck.
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The dining rooms are darkly lit, and full of booths and fireplaces. The waitresses are dressed like wenches. It's kitschy. It's unhip. It’s a shame they don’t make places like this anymore, which is exactly why I think it is a treasure in a city like Irvine.
Gulliver's Prime Ribs of Beef
18482 MacArthur Boulevard
Irvine, CA 92612
949.833.8411
http://www.gulliversrestaurant.com
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