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View
the Edward's Steak House menu
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Restaurant: Edward’s Steakhouse
Where: 9600 Flair Drive, El Monte
Phone: (626) 442-2400
Reservations: Not necessary
Cocktails: Yes
Service: Full wait service
Atmosphere: Casual to nice
Outdoor Dining: No
Credit Cards: MC, Visa, American Express,
Discover, Diner’s Club, Debit w/logo
Kid’s Menu: Yes
Senior Discount: Yes, with membership and
almost seniors, too!
Food to Go: Yes
Catering Menu: Yes and Banquets, too
Price Range: $4.95 – $23.95 |
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Right
as you walk in, there's a cubby with family heirlooms (and some customer
contributions) from "Grandma's Attic" |
Ricky
decorates for all the holidays |
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 |
 |
|
 |
Wings
appetizer |
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Bread
and salad |
Salad |
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Clam
chowder |
New
York steak with baked potatoes and chile |
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Filet
Mignon with steamed vegetables and wedges of cheese |
Caramel Pecan Passion Friazo |
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Homemade potato chips with salsa |
Kid's
meal sirloin steak |
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Under
all those grilled onions is a great big hamburger steak |
Prime
rib sandwich |
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Double Fudge Frenzy Friazo |
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A Look At San
Gabriel Valley Restaurants by SanGabrielValleyMenus.com
Edward’s Steakhouse Family
Tradition Moves Toward 60th Anniversary
By Bill Coburn
Every once in a
while, I go to a restaurant that makes me sit up and take notice, and say, wow,
that was really something. Edward’s Steak House in El Monte is one of those
places.
It opened in Los
Angeles in 1946, and opened a second store in El Monte some time later. It is
run today by Ken and Olga Rausch, of the same family that opened the Los Angeles
store. The atmosphere is comfortable, and as Katie pointed out to me, it’s the
kind of place where people in a suit and tie feel perfectly comfortable, yet
people with jeans or shorts and a tee-shirt feel just as much at home. Lots of
dark wood and diamond tuck chairs that came to the store from Los Angeles when
it closed in 1990. And sawdust on the floor, just like in the old days. I had
actually gone there back in the early eighties, and was curious to see how it it
would compare two decades later.
We enjoyed our first
visit so much, and were so impressed with everything they had to offer, that we
decided to make a second trip so that we could write about more of the items,
because with all they have to offer, just writing up the two meals Katie and I
had on our first visit couldn’t do it justice.
Edward’s has a Big
Eaters menu and a Little Eaters Menu. The Big Eaters menu comes with two sides
and a bowl of soup or a salad, the Little Eaters menu comes with a cup of soup
or a salad and one side.
Edward’s rewards its
regular customers in the 35 and up age group. Tuesday nights, the 55 and over
crowd receives 20% off upon joining the club, which requires only that you fill
out an information card. As a member of the club, each thirteenth meal is on
the house. Thursday nights, the same benefits are available to those who’ve
joined the 35- 54 club.
Each holiday, the
entire establishment is decorated by one of the waiters, (I think Ken said his
name was Ricky? Good job Ricky!). The Halloween decorations were stellar, and
contributed to the fun atmosphere.
On our first visit,
Katie and I went without Keelan, and we started with the chicken wings for an
appetizer. These wings came with the sauce on the side (a plus in my opinion),
and it was kind of a sweet and spicy sauce, not too vinegary like I find most
wings sauces to be. I ordered the ½ pound Angus Filet Mignon (a weekly
special), which was part of the Big Eaters menu, and got a bowl of Clam Chowder
to start, and for sides I had fresh steamed vegetables and a wedge of American
Cheese. That’s an item I’ve never seen on any restaurant menu before, and it
was quite good. The clam chowder was delicious, thick and creamy, with lots of
clams. The Filet came out cooked exactly as I’d ordered it, and was nice and
tender, one of the better steaks I’ve had in a while. There were plenty of
steamed veggies in the side order, as well, cooked just right. Katie ordered
the New York steak, with a baked potato and chili. Her steak was also cooked as
requested, and was, to use her word “yummy.” I tried a bite, and she was
right. It was quite yummy. The chili was also quite good, with lots of chunks
of beef in it. For dessert, we split a Caramel Pecan Passion Friazo, which
consists of caramel iced cream, with caramel mouse, a rich caramel sauce, and
crunchy glazed pecans. Outstanding!
On our second visit,
we had cocktails to start with and the lemon-drop martini Katie ordered and the
chilled vodka straight up that I ordered were brought to our table in the
shaker, and shaken and poured by our waitress. Definitely not something you see
every day. We tried the homemade potato chips as our appetizer, which are
served with salsa, and requested some ranch dressing on the side. I’ve never
had fresh, homemade potato chips before, that I recall, and while I love potato
chips out of a bag (I’ve been known to eat a whole family-sized bag), these were
even better. Definitely worth a try. For dinner, Keelan ordered the Sirloin
Steak off the Kid’s Meal (at under $6, a heck of a deal) which is
served with Shoestring French-Fries, Fresh Vegetable
or Fresh Fruit plus your choice of Milk, Soda or Orange Juice. He chose the
fries and the soda. He enjoyed his steak, and had to take a little home.
Katie ordered the
Hamburger Steak off the Big Eater’s menu, with steak fries, and spinach. Ken
tells me that the Hamburger Steak is one of their big sellers, and having tasted
Katie’s, which was smothered with grilled onions, I can see why. Back in the
late seventies, when I broke into the restaurant business at Marie Callender’s,
we had a good hamburger steak, but it wasn’t as good as Edward’s, and it was
removed from the menu not long after I started there. You don’t see it on many
menus, so I’m glad Edward’s is keeping it around. I’m probably going to have
that on our next visit. A word to the wise, though, if you are ordering fries,
you might want to order them on a separate plate, unless you like them dipped in
your steak juices, (which we don’t). Both Keelan and Katie’s “steaks” were so
juicy that the fries got soggy. The
spinach, by the way, is not the “creamed spinach” many places serve, it’s just
spinach, but enhanced by garlic and other seasonings, and it, too was “yummy.”
I decided I wanted to
try their prime rib sandwich, served on a french roll with au jus and creamy
horseradish sauce, and a choice of sides. I chose fresh fruit. The sandwich
was piled high with thinly sliced prime rib. I don’t know why more restaurants
don’t offer that. When you do find a prime rib sandwich, it’s usually an
open-faced version with a single thicker slice. I don’t think of a sandwich as
something I should need a steak knifed to cut through. Well, at Edward’s, you
don’t, it’s thin sliced, and tender and tasty.
For dessert, we tried
the Double Fudge Frenzy Friazo, rich chocolate ice cream blended with brownies,
topped with chocolate mousse, chocolate fudge sauce, and more brownies. Out of
this world. We have added Edward’s to our list of places to go just for
dessert, too.
One of the reasons
Edward’s has hung in for nearly sixty years, is that they have stuck with their
original philosophy, which is to provide top quality, fresh meals,
prepared from their own original recipes and served in a professional, courteous
manner. To this day, they still cut all of their steaks and fresh fish, in
addition to preparing all of their soups, sauces and dressings on the premises
daily. Speaking of which, Katie wanted me to be sure to mention that their
ranch dressing is excellent, with a little bit of a lemon taste to it, it’s not
just your standard ranch dressing. And also that she really enjoyed their house
dressing, which is their version of a Russian dressing.
You can view Edward’s
menu by going to the San Gabriel Valley Menus.com website and clicking on their
link on the “Steak Houses” page, or go directly to their site at
www.Edwards-Steakhouse.com. I heartily endorse this restaurant, and
encourage you to stop by for a top notch meal.
Bill Coburn is
owner of SanGabrielValleyMenus.com, a restaurant website featuring more than 150
restaurant’s menus, as well as downloadable coupons. He has nearly 20 years
experience in the restaurant business, and has been eating for much longer
than that. |
