Having spent the last 15 years in a role where I had to travel the state for work, I have now trained myself to take day trips all over Florida AND now I know I can afford a great meal at a fancy restaurant. So I checked out the website to see how reservations were made and was both pleasantly surprised that I can make reservations online and then completely aware that the availability of good reservation times are few and far between. I scoured the three month span that was open at the time to find a date that I knew Jimmy and I could have a nice dinner together and what do you know - Memorial Day was the only day we both had off and reservation times weren't after 8pm. This was a very good indication that what I was about to embark on was going to be a really amazing meal!Our reservation time was for 5pm this is also the time they open. As is natural for Jimmy and I, we were 30 minutes early. The foyer was open for us to wait in but the restaurant doors were still closed. There was one other couple inside before us. A sign inside the foyer states the dress code for Berns- simply stating an oxford shirt and long pants are minimum and shorts are not permitted. This is similar to what they also state on their website. I saw two different couples come in where the males wore shorts and both were seated so my guess is, Berns does not enforce their dress code 💁.
Once inside you find yourself in a dimly lit atrium with painted portraits that lined the walls from top to bottom. The orange hue of the light made it feel very much like the haunted mansion at Disney. After checking in, I had to use the restroom which was upstairs. The banisters were lined with velvet and the ornate picture frames and intricate Victorian style decor was almost what I had imagined. The ceilings were not as high as I thought but nonetheless, there was a very unique atmosphere to Berns that made you feel fancy even if you're wearing shorts😏.
We were seated at our table, a quaint two top in a row that had a four top between another two top. The room that our table was in was small, maybe fitting about 40 people total. Our servers name was Lee. He was very down to earth providing us with recommendations and caution due to the amount of food that comes with the steak. We were very appreciative of all the information he provided.
First Course - French Onion Soup. Its served in a mini metal dish with four kinds of layered cheese that sealed the rim shut. The cheeses used were Asiago, Geitost, Parmesan, Fontina. The cheeses are pre-cut prior to opening in the perfect circles with the exception of the Geitost as I'm told those create the brown speckles on the top.Breaking the layers of cheese was like a French Onion Fort Knox! But once you get in its a little slice of amazingness. The broth wasn't too overwhelming in flavor as I've had in other place. It balanced well with the soaked bread and the cheese which kept its form after emerging into the broth. The Garlic toast was a nice touch of flavor to the onion soup and Jimmy tried the spelt toast with the soup. He doesn't typically like sweet with savory but he said that spelt toast enhanced the flavor. What I liked most about this soup is that it was the perfect size to start you off.
Next course was the house salad. Jimmy and I both ordered the Cleopatra dressing which was a Caesar dressing. The salad came on a smaller plate but was deceivingly in abundance of food, how much salad could fit on this small plate!? You had red peppers, avocado, onions, carrots, cucumbers, cheese, tomatoes, olives, egg, celery, romaine lettuce and croutons! It was a delicious salad! I loved the thinly sliced celery hidden under it all that when I took a bite where the celery was hidden my mouth watered a little more with that extra burst of celery flavor!
The potato was prepared for us table side. Lee expertly loaded it with sour cream, butter, bacon and chives. I strategically skipped eating this knowing that my main course AND dessert took precedence over this. I did have a taste after I ate my main course and would have loved to devour this potato but I would have done a disservice to myself if I skipped out on my favorite part of the meal - DESSERT!
My main course were the 3 lamb chops. I have a love for Lamb! And if given the choice, I've often went for the lamb over steak thus was the case on this day. There was strategy in planning as there was support for this decision. Lee suggested I get the lamb and taste Jimmy's steak so I took it and was so happy with the his suggestion.
Lamb often gets a bad rap for being gamey. It does, in most cases, have a distinct taste to it that is unique to lamb. Like celery. You know when you bite into a celery that it is celery. The same goes with lamb. However these lamb chops were not the unique taste you get from lamb but a blend of flame crusted "steakish" flavors that muted the lamb flavor in a good way. The Pinot Noir reduction served with the lamb enhanced the delicate flavors that was pure bliss. It was so good I was gnawing on the bones trying to suck out as much of that flavor as I could before letting it go. As you can see on my plate, carrots, green beans and onion straws are also served. Everything noted above are standard with each meat option! So heed the warnings of Lee and temper your appetite. The onion straws were delicious and green beans were still crisp with a smokey flavor to it. I was not a fan of the carrots. They were sweet and I don't particularly enjoy shaved carrots.Jimmy had a Delmonico steak because I asked him to order it. He wanted to order the filet mignon but instead he got what I asked of him. I love a good Rib Eye because of the marbling that creates this rich flavor within the meat and I wanted to be able to experience an aged rib eye where I know I won't be able to recreate the experience anywhere else but at Berns. Berns is known for this crusty exterior of their steaks. The crusty exterior, with a nice pink center, and the melty fatness striated between beautiful chunks of meat is what you want when you bite into a steak. And it does not let you down! We used some of the lamb sauce (pinot noir reduction) on the steak, just a drop of it create a full bodied flavor that makes a 9 steak rise its full potential -10!
We did take home part of that steak and most of our sides because we knew we wanted to experience dessert. We checked out with Lee and headed to our Tour of Berns!
Jimmy and I both worked in restaurants before and we both had the same comment about the Berns Kitchen - The floors are so clean! No grease or wet floors. Tyrone was our kitchen guide. I had no idea about Berns Farm or the extensive knowledge that everyone who works at Berns has to know before even hitting the floor to serve! It was a great experience learning from Tyrone before he handed us off to our wine tour guide!
I thought of my friend Iranys as we traveled down the wine cellar. The bottles of wines that lined endless rows made me wonder what wines she knew of and how many has she tasted? One of their bottles is a pricey $30K bottle! The cellar is kept at cool 54 degrees to account for potential power outages. The Berns collections is one of the largest private collections ever. They have over 150,000 bottles at Berns and another 600,000 (don't quote me) in a warehouse! When she asked if we wanted pictures I jumped at the opportunity! You can see Jimmy Kwong actually smiling in our photo 😍!Next we went upstairs to have our Dessert! Each Dessert room is shaped like a barrel, even the bathroom stalls upstairs are barrel shaped! Sorry for the tangent - On with desserts.
I love dessert. I can never say no to a good dessert but I do have a food allergy which consist of tree nuts, melons, and banana. Reviewing the menu made me a little sad. There was an abundance of desserts with tree nuts which limited my options. They have an extensive list of ice creams they make but I didn't want ice cream I wanted something I can't have anywhere else. The options were short so I opted for a Cafe con leche wtih the Exotic Vanilla dessert which is a sample of three different vanilla based creations - a vanilla bean cheesecake, vanilla creme brulee tart, vanilla bean mouse with fruit creme and I chose a blueberry pomegranate sorbet to go with it. The sorbet was honestly the best part of this experience but I did like the creaminess of the mouse with the fruit creme.
Jimmy had a hot fudge sundae and I, of course, stole a taste and I can say that ice cream is their specialty.All in all, Jimmy and I had a great time experiencing the flavors Berns has to offer. It is a place that Jimmy and I have already stated we want to visit again. The aged steaks and lamb, the way they are cut to order and cooked to perfection is something that isn't offered at every steakhouse. It doesn't compare to the Ruth Chris' or Flemings. Berns is in a league of its own!
