Staking Out a New Eatery in Gaslamp Quarter

The new Kansas City Steakhouse held its grand opening in mid-June but delayed its actual opening until the final days of 1989. The hiatus whetted appetites already salivating over the prospect of a prime beef house in the heart of San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter.

But now that the kitchen’s wood-fired grill is in full flame, the pertinent question seems to be whether management might not better have delayed the opening until its house was in order.

There are a few things to savor here, although the cooking ranks near the bottom of the list. The restaurant in one important sense stands as a symbol of the rejuvenation of the Gaslamp Quarter because it reflects the continuing gentrification of the historic district.

The building long housed one of the city’s principal “rescue” missions. The emphasis now is on approximations of the hearty steak dinners as served in the vicinity of the Kansas City stockyards, and, more generally, throughout the Midwest.

Kansas City Steakhouse serves a septet of cuts, described by the menu as aged Midwestern beef and available, in most cases, in 8- or 12-ounce portions. The choice includes rib eye, tri-tip, top sirloin and, of course, boneless Kansas City strip steaks.

But, although the selection is more than adequate, the results tend to be rather dull. The restaurant may have put itself in a bind by offering 8-ounce cuts. This certainly is in recognition of the fact that many now restrict their consumption of red meat. But the result is that they are sliced so thin that they cook up dry and seem, on the whole, un-steak-like. A steak really has to be thick to be a steak, at least in the classic definition.

The filet mignon comes in 6 and 10-ounce cuts, and, although filet may not be a real steak eater’s first choice, the larger portion seemed one of the more successful offerings here. The meat had that fine, matured flavor that comes from aging, and was quite tender, a comment that in no way could be applied to one visit’s rib-eye, which was so thin and so riddled with veins of gristle and fat that it hardly seemed worthy of being called a steak. A Kansas City strip was a better choice, although the meat was rather chewy and, once again, the thinness of the cut seemed to rob it of its essence. The menu also offers a T-bone and, for dedicated meat-eaters, a 22-ounce Porterhouse. Prices generally are low, with most steaks priced at $10.95 for the modest cut and $13.95 for the large; the Porterhouse costs $17.95.

There is a certain, almost ritual importance to the items that complete a steak dinner. In the Midwest, shrimp cocktail typically is offered, although the menu here avoids the issue. An iceberg lettuce salad dressed with blue cheese or Thousand Island dressing almost always is part of the proceedings, but Kansas City Steakhouse offers the pleasant alternative of a spinach salad finished with fresh mushrooms, chopped egg, crumbled bacon and a sweet dressing. The meal also includes decent steak fries, baked potato or the remorselessly cheesy “au gratin” potatoes.

The classic steak dinner does not require vegetables, but this restaurant serves broccoli in a thin cheese sauce not unlike the one in the “au gratin” potatoes, and the broccoli is good when freshly cooked (one night’s offering had waited in the wings far too long). A tangy corn relish, spiked with minced onion and red and green bell peppers, adds a welcome and piquant, down-home touch to the plate. Steak sauce remains very much a matter of personal taste, but for those who like it, the kitchen bottles its own fairly spicy blend.

The menu also offers grilled pork tenderloin, which a couple of servers did not recommend, as well as chicken breast, shark and swordfish, items that did gain the staff’s approval. Frills are few, and include the seasonably available “mountain” oysters, stuffed potato skins and Buffalo-style chicken wings, as well as crisply battered onion rings that are served in abundance and go very well with these meat-and-potatoes meals.

The restaurant is an offshoot of Kansas City Barbecue, the funky, endearing and no-frills establishment on Market Street that requires patrons to accept it on its own terms and rewards them with fine, unpretentious and inexpensive meals. Kansas City Steakhouse offers a few more frills, but not really enough, and the decor budget does not seem to have stretched very far. A more serious consideration arises from the thick wood smoke that permeated the air one night. The display-style kitchen is partly glassed-in, but a good deal of smoke escapes into the dining rooms, so much that, at least on busy nights, a haze hangs in the air and the eyes begin to burn.

A six-piece Dixieland band roars in the bar on weekends. On other nights, tapes feature offbeat hits from the 1940s like “We Got Fish for Supper” and “Cow-Cow Boogie,” and provide a welcome change from the elevator music offered by most restaurants.

KANSAS CITY STEAKHOUSE

535 5th Ave.

557-0525

Lunch and dinner daily.

Credit cards accepted.

Dinner for two, including a glass of wine each, tax and tip, $35 to $50.