Country Living

The Crazy Horse Steak House opened during the Urban Cowboy craze of the ‘70s and soon became something of an Orange County institution. Over the years any number of country stars have performed there, making it the Hard Rock Cafe of the tears ‘n’ beers set.

But country music audiences are a different breed than they were 20 years ago, and Crazy Horse has changed with the times. It’s now located in the imposing, neon-girded Irvine Spectrum--but don’t worry. The quietly masculine decor is homey and unexpectedly soothing, and the upholstered booths are quite comfortable. The restaurant is separate from the concert hall, so you can eat in peace and quiet.

Most diners are just eating before a show, but the menu, recently revamped by chef Eugene Guazzo (formerly of Anaheim’s Hop City Steak House & Blues), offers considerably more than line-dancing fuel. Though Crazy Horse certainly delivers on steakhouse fundamentals with high-quality Angus beef, aged for 35 days, some of its best items veer well away from the cow path.

I’m thinking particularly about the seared peppered ahi appetizer. Its teriyaki dipping sauce had a nice zing of ginger, and the red onion and cucumber salad could hold its own in any Japanese restaurant.

There are mushrooms with a fresh crab filling, drizzled with bearnaise sauce. Texas barbecued shrimp are plump, juicy, wrapped in bacon and dipped in an excellent garlic-flecked chipotle sauce, tangy and fresh, with an inspired balance of sweet, sour and hot.

If you’ve brought kids along, order the chicken tenderloin strips. They’re pleasing finger food, served with honey mustard and barbecue sauce. Despite the fact that we had another dose of the sauce with the baby back pork ribs, my guest asked for an additional side of it to go with his steak. The ribs are slow-cooked until they’re so tender that the meat just about falls off the bone.

You could quite happily make a meal out of appetizers here. My only complaint was that on our first visit, they arrived at our table a bit tepid. The salads were a letdown. The Crazy Horse salad was your basic, uninspired dinner salad, and the promised warm bacon vinaigrette on the spinach salad was half-congealed. The vegetable soup, though, brought redemption. This medley of fresh vegetables in a mildly peppery beef stock had a hearty, home-cooked flavor. Contrary to what you’d expect in a beef palace like this, the Texas chili con queso was a broken promise. The chewy beans that snuggled into the ground sirloin gave the dish a nice texture, but someone was asleep at the switch in the seasoning department, and the topping of melted cheese and onions wasn’t enough to lift it out of the doldrums.

Now for the main course. Strictly for investigative purposes, I ordered the Garth Brooks Steak. Or make that “Girth” Brooks. What can you say faced with a 28-ounce slab of mesquite-grilled prime rib but “Yabba-dabba-doo”?

But this Flintstones-size hunk of meat turned out to be beautifully marbled and perfectly medium-rare, and it came with thin-cut onion rings and a delightfully pungent horseradish sauce. The Prime New York steak (served bone-in) and bacon-wrapped filet mignon basted in shallot butter were similarly first rate, with, it must be said, prices to match.

Most entrees come with a generous portion of steamed vegetables and a choice of baked or mashed garlic potatoes, fries, onion rings or rice pilaf. The garlic mashed potatoes were a bit dry and could have used a dose of butter. The baked potatoes, by contrast, were pockets of buttery goodness.

Dining as high on the cow as we were, ordering the country-style meatloaf at first seemed more a duty than a pleasure, but what a surprise. It was moist and subtly aromatic with herbs and cinnamon.

Also excellent was the double-bone pork chop stuffed with onion, bacon and apple. The only out-and-out dud was the lemon chicken pasta, a dim, one-note dish. We were more successful in the seafood department. The butterflied halibut, for example, was moist and flaky beneath a crust of macadamia nuts finished with a topping of sauteed bell peppers and pineapple that imparted a beautiful melange of flavors.

The desserts at Crazy Horse are not made on the premises. The best was the brownie sundae, made with vanilla ice cream. There was also a so-so Snickers cake and a chocolate fudge layer cake that was only slightly better than supermarket quality. The white chocolate cheesecake sounded promising, but possibly for that very reason it had sold out. We were more impressed with the new list of bracing after-dinner drinks, especially the coffee spiked with Kahlua and tequila.

BE THERE

Crazy Horse Steak House, Irvine Spectrum, 71 Fortune Drive, Suite 864. (949) 585-9000. Open Sunday through Thursday 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Entrees $11.95-$31.95 . Appetizers $5.95-$16.95. Full bar.