Dan's Papers - September 21, 2007 - Boulder Creek Steahouse

About twelve years ago, three well-respected figures in the Long Island catering business saw the need for a family friendly and moderately priced steakhouse. Today there are ten restaurants in this corporate chain, based on Long Island, Queens, Brooklyn, Yonkers and New Jersey.

The Riverhead restaurant is just a stone's throw east of Tanger Mall and, as you would expect from the name, is very Western oriented with appropriate décor and booth seats that offer a good degree of privacy even when the restaurant is busy. Greg Morlino, the Managing Partner, explained to us that they use all fresh food, make all of their dips, sauces and soups on site and set out to offer a very friendly welcome and good service to their customers. Certainly Lisa, who looked after us, was very helpful at explaining all of the options the menu offers. Boulder Creek has its main menu but also has a Sunset Menu available on weekdays until 6 p.m. offering three courses for just $12.95. They currently have a Fall Combo Feast menu as well with a wide variety of steak and chicken, steak and shrimp and similar combinations.

We decided to try the Boulder sampler and a half rack of ribs as appetizers. The sampler was a very nicely presented platter with a great array of very meaty wings, addictive stuffed potato skins, excellent moist coconut shrimp and a very different spinach and artichoke dip that came with home baked tortilla chips that were about the best we have eaten. The baby back ribs are hickory smoked in-house and the flavorful meat fell off the bone. All of the dipping sauces were well balanced. This combination of dishes was a great and very ample way to start our meal.

The list of steaks makes for some fascinating reading. All of their steaks come from grain fed premium meat aged for a minimum of 28 days, seasoned with their own special blend of spices. When we ordered, we really appreciated that Lisa not only asked how we wanted it cooked, but also explained what medium rare meant there in terms of being slightly pink in the middle, etc. This is something other steakhouses could well emulate to avoid trying to guess whether your interpretation of degree of cooking is the same as the chef's! Anyway, you can choose from a modest 7 oz filet mignon all the way up to the dish called 'The Outlaw', a massive 32oz Porterhouse with all the trimmings that we were assured is regularly ordered and totally consumed by single diners. We settled for the 'Mountaineer' a 20oz Porterhouse that came with an excellent crisp Caesar salad and a selection of side dishes all for $24.99. The main thing though was that everything was exactly as described, good very tasty honest food.

We also tasted and I mean just tasted the pork chops that Greg said was one of their specialties. When you get a pair of juicy 10oz chops served with a tasty, tangy marmalade and horse radish sauce that was a very good alternative to the ubiquitous apple sauce, plus a side dish for just $14.99, you can readily understand its popularity.

If meat is not your scene, Boulder Creek offers a good selection of fish, seafood and pasta dishes and the catch of the day is served flame broiled. For lighter fare there are many sandwich combinations to choose from and kids also have their own special dishes, fromcheese to chicken or a burger.

If you manage to leave room for dessert because the portions really are large, the carrot cake was good, moist and covered with walnuts and the coffee strong and hot.

They offer a good range of beers, as you would expect, plus wines mainly from California although Greg explained that they have featured Long Island wines in the past and are hoping to be able to do this again in the near future, because they want to work with local purveyors wherever possible.

One of the beauties of eating out is that there are so many choices to fit mood, appetite and pocket. There are times when a fine dining restaurant is perfect for the occasion but more often the choice comes down to a restaurant where one can be certain to find a nice relaxing atmosphere with good, well prepared food at reasonable prices. Boulder Creek, based on our visit, is certainly a place that meets these criteria and one that we have put on our list of places to come back to.