Craig LaBan and Rick Nichols look back at the last ten years of the local dining scene, a vibrant and varied time. Among the bold text highlights:

• BYO Boom
• Beer
• Gastropubs
• Farm market revival
• Food bloggers
• New dining destinations
• Decline of fine dining and Walnut Street
• Steak-house explosion
• Changing of the guard
• Starr’s rise
• Garces and Vetri
• Comfort food

Changing Tastes [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Craig LaBan delivers one last steak house review for 2009 and after several of these reviews this year we can say for sure that LaBan sure doesn’t like swarmy, upselling steakhouse waiters. This weekend he targeted the staff and steak at Parker’s Prime in Newtown Square.

One Bell – Hit or Miss

Parker’s Prime [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Parker’s Prime [Official Site]

If you’re like it’s just sinking in that there will be no baseball game tonight. Soothe those competitive juices by playing a few rounds of Steak House or Gay Bar? There’s at least one Philadelphia reference in the quiz.

Steak House or Gay Bar? [Official Site via Boing Boing]

The steakhouse craze hasn’t been confined to Center City Philadelphia. Firecreek seeks to bring the steakhouse blitz to Downingtown. Craig LaBan finds food and service both need some help.

When things go right, I see Firecreek’s appeal. The N.Y. strip, at $34 the most expensive entrée, was perfectly cooked and tender, with a hearty smoked-bacon and potato hash and a traditional red-wine gravy. A New Orleans-style “BBQ” shrimp was also satisfying, its buttery Worcestershire-tanged sauce and summer succotash of corn and limas hitting the spot. The seared tuna steak with mango salsa over bok choy was perfectly fine in a 1990s-fusion kind of way.

But this kitchen needed far too many tweaks – big and small – to make these dinners work.

One Bell – Hit or Miss

Firecreek [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Firecreek [Official Site]

Tomato Station? An unsuccessful early 90s super group? Nope, it’s the heirloom tomato station at Barclay Prime. And color us intrigued, because we really love tomatoes when they’re in season and we haven’t really had any awesome ones yet.

Starting this evening, a display table is being set up in Barclay’s dining room filled with bowls of heirloom tomatoes with fun names like Sicilian Plums, Green Zebra, Pineapple, Purple Cherokee, Sun Gold and Tiger Striped. For $20 (more than a Butcher & Singer rib-eye) diners will receive 3 varieties which are cut, plated and served to the guest in the dining room with their choice of salt (Hawaiian lava, Adler Wood Smoke Salt from Washington, or Maldon salt from England) [Editor's Note: Foobooz's mother is going to be thrilled when she hears about this. Seriously, she has at least three types of salt on her kitchen table. Seriously!] and extra virgin olive oil (Olio Verde or Frantoio Della Rocca, both from Sicily).

The tomato station is available Thursday, Friday or Saturday night. The tomatoes have been freshly picked from Branch Creek Farms in Perkasie, Pa.

Stephen Starr’s $5.95 burger deal has been going gangbusters at Butcher & Singer. The Illadelph reports that lunch is doing 1,500 covers a week with 90% ordering the burger.

Now Starr has a dinner equivalent. Starting tonight, you can order the 24oz bone-in rib eye for just $18.

Stephen Starr Ups The Ante, Offers A 24 oz. Rib Eye For $18 At Butcher & Singer [The Illadelph]

The Illadelph turns us on tips us off to to Del Frisco’s “Get Friscy” ad campaign that embraces the restaurant’s reputation for the provocative.

Del Frisco’s Stays With The “Sex Sells” Theme, May Have Graduated From Strippers To Escorts [The Illadelph]
Del Frisco’s [Official Site]

Craig LaBan finally makes it to Union Trust to give the oppulent steakhouse the once over. What he finds is a restaurant that has come back to Earth from its heady opening in February but one that does at least deliver where it matters most.

When it comes to the main event – the steaks – Union Trust more than holds its own. The wet-aged prime chops were simply spectacular, from a “rib eye filet mignon” cut two inches thick from the eye of a rib steak that tasted like filet injected with butter to a Kansas City strip wrapped in an L-shaped bone that sang brightly with well-peppered complexity. A thick mallet of 14-ounce, grass-fed veal chop was among the most flavorful veal chops I’ve had. Even the steak sandwich at lunch, a half-inch pad of rib eye layered with spicy fried onion laces and blue cheese, was memorable.

Two Bells – Very Good

Union Trust [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Union Trust [Official Site]

But how far are you willing to go for it?

Starting at noon today, the first 350 people to show up at the Fleming’s in Marlton will receive a free mini-cheesesteak sandwich. The giveaway lasts until 2pm or till sandwiches run out.

The sandwiches will be grilled to order in front of the restaurant and will include Fleming’s prime steak, sauteed onions and red bell peppers, and melted Swiss cheese on a homemade potato roll.

The first 200 hungry lunchers to arrive will also receive a gift card for a complimentary selection from Fleming’s new 5 for 6 til 7 menu (which is a selection of 5 cocktails, 5 wines by the glass and 5 appetizers each priced at $6 at served nightly at the bar until 7pm).

This week in Philadelphia Magazine’s Restaurant Club Newsletter.

• Our Favorite Local Chinese Spots
• First Peek Photos: Savona Goes Casual
• Food for Thought: Don’t Drink the Kobe Kool-Aid
• Free Lunch at Union Trust!

Restaurant Club Newsletter [Philadelphia Magazine]