Medium Rare

Everybody loves going out for a big steak dinner, but you probably don't like paying the big price tag. This is a different kind of steakhouse. We are at Arsenal Yards in Watertown, Massachusetts, at a hot new concept called Medium Rare. The first Medium Rare opened up in Washington, DC in 2011 and since then, they've opened up locations across the country, from Texas to New York to this one here in Watertown, their first New England location. 

The concept here is definitely different. It's a prefix menu. So a set four course dinner, you get bread, salad, steak and fries, all for one set price. This is what everyone gets, because it's the only thing you can get. 

The specialty of the house here is steak frites, and it is different, and it is delicious. The cut they use here is culotte steak. Culotte is basically a top sirloin cap. It has the flavor of a sirloin, the tenderness and the butteriness and fattiness of a ribeye. It is cooked however you like it. But of course, you gotta get it medium rare at Medium Rare. They slice it for you nice and thin. They even take the time to fan it out across the plate so it's laid out perfectly, beautifully symmetrical. Then the plate is just loaded up with a big old pile of their signature hand cut fries, and most importantly, then in comes the famous Medium Rare secret sauce. And this truly is a secret. The only two people in the world who know the actual recipe are the two founders of this company. It's peppery, it's creamy, it's savory, and this sauce goes with everything. 

The steak is nice and thin, nice and tender. You can see that beautiful, shimmering, shiny sauce coating it. That is intensely beefy. My mouth is salivating like I can't stop myself right now, once you take a bite, you can't stop. The best is you got a little bite with some steak, with some sauce and some fries all together. That is magic. That is steak magic, my friends. 

So when your server comes to your table, you basically have one choice, which is the prefix meal. The only decision you have to make is what temperature you want your steak to be. I mean, you can decide the temperature, but just get it medium rare. Instead of tablecloths, they put down paper across the table, and then your waiter will actually just write down the temperature you want right on the table. 

The first food that comes out is the bread. And this ain't any old regular bread basket. This is a rustic Italian style bread. It is very, very crispy on the outside with a great crust. Inside, it's super fluffy, nice and airy, even the butter is awesome. It's served at room temperature. You have a little bit of sea salt on top. Smear it all over that beautiful rustic bread, and that gets you ready for a serious meal. 

The next course is the salad course. This is a nice, fresh, mixed green salad. You have a few different types of lettuce, some nice cherry tomatoes and the dressing, it's light, it's bright, has a nice citrusy kick. 

So obviously the food is really good, and what really puts this place over the top is the value. You get a full four course meal, your bread, your salad, your steak, your fries and that famous sauce, and the whole meal costs less than $35 per person. And by the way, that's not just for one portion of steak and fries. You get two. As you're sitting down and you're eating and enjoying your meal, just as you're about to finish your plate, the server will come back to your table and will just dump some more steak and more fries right onto your plate. Yes, you get two servings of steak and fries, whether you like them or not. Actually, if you don't want another portion of steak and fries, they'll pack it up and give it to you to go.

But you don't want to go before you have dessert. The number one selling dessert is the ice cream sundae. You have two big scoops of vanilla bean ice cream, some syrup soaked walnuts, nice chocolate crispies, homemade hot fudge, and then comes the whipped cream, and they top it with a generous amount of sprinkles. And of course, you gotta have a cherry on top. Honestly, does life get any better than that? 

Medium Rare is open for dinner every night, but on the weekends, they're open for brunch. You can get a traditional steak and eggs, the culotte steak, poached eggs. You can get a kill or steak and egg sandwich. But since this is a French inspired restaurant, their number one selling dish at brunch is the French toast. I have never seen or tasted French toast quite like this one. This French toast is deep fried. It comes out ridiculously crispy on the outside, nice soft, fluffy and moist on the inside, plated up with some chorizo sausage, sprinkled with a generous amount of powdered sugar, and of course, it comes with some warm maple syrup on the side. It is decadent. It is luxurious. It is delicious. It's impossible to stop eating. 

So the next time you're craving steak, you don't have to spend a fortune at one of the downtown steakhouses. You can come right here to Watertown and get a great steak dinner for a fraction of the price, and it's always served Medium Rare.