Since our first meal of the trip was the "bonus", I am beginning the report with it! The meal was very long, so I'm breaking the review down in to several parts!
Our trip began with a pre-Disney stopover in the Tampa Bay area. I have some friends, Caitlin and Jun, who are from Clearwater. Earlier in the year, Caitlin and I concocted the idea that we should go to dinner at Bern's, one of the top steakhouses in the country. She and Jun had had their wedding dinner there in April 2008, and have been talking about it ever since! I had actually been there a few times before when I was young, so I was familiar with it, but didn't have any appreciation for it. I didn't even like red meat back then.
Oh my, how my tastes have changed!
My travel buddy, Mark, is at heart a meat and potatoes guy, so he was very excited about a steakhouse stop-over!
We were joined by Caitlin's friends, Laura and Joey. So we were a party of 6.
Unfortunately, I did not take any food photos at Bern's.
I know, I know, what is wrong with me? I felt a little funny about taking food photos there, but I promise the rest of reviews will have plenty of visual stimuli!
Bern's is housed in this plain white, boxy, non-descript building. There is just a small sign out front. Not a place you would look twice at when driving by. But once you step inside, the 'plain' description no longer applies. The place is decorated rather sumptuously. I'd call it Baroque-light.
The waiters wear black tuxedos and they have an actual dress code for the customers.
To get an idea of the inside, here is a photo I took while we waited for Joey and Laura to arrive:
That's Caitlin, her husband Jun, and Mark.
Once Laura and Joey got there, were were seated. Bern's is quite the affair, so unless you're a regular, you have to get a Bern's menu 101 from your server before you can even think about placing an order. I was a good student and studied with Caitlin beforehand...ok, well, for almost 2 months before.
Here is your Bern's menu Cliff Notes (concerning the steaks....there are pages and pages of other items too!):
First you choose your cut - Filet Mignon, Chateaubriand, Strip Sirloin (NY Strip), DelMonico (Rib-Eye), Porterhouse, and T-Bone.
All the steaks are dry-aged and cut to order.
Then you have to consider how much steak you want, how you want it cooked, and how must of a crust you want on it.
Dry-aged meats are tender and not bloody like fresh meat, so Bern's does not recommend getting their steaks cooked more than Medium because they will become tough.
If you want fresh steak, they have that too though.
There are EIGHT levels of doneness to choose from, depending on the color, temperatue, and crust you'd like.
The steaks come in various sizes. After so many ounces of a certain cut, it's considered enough to serve two people. I'm told that it's best to order a larger steak and serve many people from it because you get more of the inside that way.
You also have the option of adding a sauce or topping to your steak at an additional price.
All of Bern's steaks come with the follwing sides, included in the price:
French Onion Soup au Gratin served with Garlic and Spelt Toasts
Steakhouse Salad with your choice of house-made dressing
Steakhouse Baked Potato with Butter, Sour Cream, Chives, and Crumbled Bacon
Steakhouse Onion Rings
Bern's Farm Vegetable Tasting
You can order other side items a la carte, but they do not do substitutions, you just have to pay for the item(s). You are still welcome to have the included sides as well though.
I decided to forgo wine with my dinner in hopes of having Champagne with dessert, so Caitlin and I shared a bottle of Pellegrino.
I do have the mention the wine at Bern's though. 'Wine list' is a bit of a misnomer here - on every table there is a wine texbook! They have over 6,800 selections. The server said it is the largest privately-owned wine list in the world. There are 3 in-house Sommeliers that you can call to discuss wine selections with before your meal.
Mark ordered a Bordeaux by the glass at dinner. I don't recall what it was, but it sure tasted good to me. Apparently Mark reaaaallly liked it - he had 3 glasses!
Laura ordered a glass of some sort of white wine, but I don't remember what it was.
Laura and Joey are actually vegetarians.
Why they agreed to come to an expensive steak house with us I don't know. But I will say, their food looked delicious!
Laura had a Goat Cheese Ravioli and Joey had the Vegetarian Special of the Day - a GORGEOUS looking stuffed Acorn Squash.
So what did I get? Steak of course! But to find out which kind, you'll have to wait!
Part 2 coming soon!
The souffle with the creme anglaise was just perfect. The ice cream was good, but I didn't think it matched well with the souffle. I ate it, of course, since it was yummy, but I would have been very happy with just the souffle and creme anglaise. 
