In the public rumpus that preceded the opening of the Dawson, one image remains embedded in the collective memory of the city’s twitchy restaurant stalkers: a slab of nearly raw high-grade beef jacketed in a thick, batter-fried shell.
The money that went into this project is hard to fathom, judging not just from the two-story, 400-seat refurbishment with upper and lower outdoor patios, but also from each and every little detail, like the animal-embossed vintage cocktail glassware and the disposable bar napkins and taco wrappers printed with the image of the Dawson’s mascot, a bident-wielding satyr.
Russ has recently added a pair of crispy crab cakes with mustard sauce, and he’s changed up Deleon’s country-fried rib-eye. Now it’s a New York strip, and there’s little mystery as to how it’s made: the beef is cooked sous vide, battered, and then quickly deep-fried, allowing no time for the interior to overcook (unless you want it that way). But you miss out on one of the greatest pleasures of eating steak: instead of the charred crust formed from a direct sear, you get a rapidly disintegrating battered crust that becomes wet with juice, breaks apart, and sloughs off as soon as it’s touched.
730 W. Grand 312-243-8955the-dawson.com
