Oswego Grill

Bridget needed to get out. I needed to have a break from life in general. So we went out. We had a little bit unexpected money come our way, so we went out on the town...or at least as out on the town as a married couple with 3 kids and limited time with a babysitter tend to go.

We did dress up, and if I had been thinking I would have taken pictures of us, because we (and when I say we, I mean she) looked mahvahlous. Not that one needs to dress up to go to the Oswego Grill, but sometimes it is just nice to look good. We were going to take advantage of a special deal at Morton's Steakhouse, but Bridget talked me into trying this place.

The food is sort of like Stanford's restaurant/steakhouse but probably a little cheaper. Or maybe about the same, it has been a long time since I ate at Stanfords. I guess the guy that started the Oswego Grill used to be the head chef or something at Stanfords. Oh, and Stanfords is just across the street. Talking about giving your former employer the finger...

Anyway, I was determined to keep the damage to my gut to a minimum. I had a wedge salad with the salad dressing on the side. I probably only used about 2 table spoons of the dressing, but ate every speck of blue cheese and bacon that came with the salad. Bridget had a spinach artichoke dip appetizer instead of a salad. I had a taste of that and it was amazingly good. I don't normally like those dips--they are usually too mayo-ee or something. This wasn't and it was great, luckily my salad was good enough to keep me from chowing in to that fat bomb. Bridget can handle it, she is looking great and has room to spare. Me...not so much.

Here is a nice grainy picture of our starters. It was dark and when the lighting is poor, my iPhone camera has issues.



Next came the main dish. I had the New York 12 oz cut. The beef was USDA Choice. That was the only new york cut that they offered. No size differences or anything. Notice that the cut is not particularly thick, I would rather have had it shorter and thicker than the way this was presented. Nevertheless, it did have very good flavor. I would have liked a better crust on the outside of the meat, but what can I expect for less than half the price of Morton's.

My steak was supposed to come with Buttermilk mashed potatoes, but that would have been a really been a gut bomb, so I replaced it with some asparagus. I didn't know that the deep fried onion wedges were included, I ate a bite of one and then stripped it of its batter and ate it with my steak. It was very good and I would have eaten all of them had I not been trying to be leaner tonight.


Bridget had some sort of asian flavored salad with steak strips. It was pretty good. It had noodles and some veggies. I had one bite, thought is was good and went back to savoring my steak.


We wavered on dessert or not. I caved and felt bad about it afterwards. We both thought our selections were ok, but not great. Bridget has some banana cake, chocolate mousse and vanilla ice cream deal.


I ended up with a molten chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream thing. It was ok, but not worth the guilt I felt eating it.


Overall, I thought that the place had good value. We ate for about 30 per person, not including tip. It was probably worth it.

Food: B+
Value: B
Service: B
Overall: B

I would go back if I wanted something more than a Chili's/Olive Garden or whatever restaurant, but didn't want to pay for something like, the Ringside, Morton's or the similar ilk. I think part of the reason I didn't enjoy it more was that I was trying to thread the line between total gluttony and healthiness. What happens is that you get neither and aren't really satisfied either--I didn't eat healthy enough to feel good about my willpower, but neither did I let it go enough to enjoy the food like I would have liked to. I ended up not totally satisfied and that is not the restaurant's fault. I will say that eating light is not exactly easy at the Oswego Grill.