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After a week-long vacation, I am back to finish my eight week tour of steaks in Erie. Last night, Amanda and I were joined by her brother Mike for dinner at the Colony Pub & Grille. The restaurant is located at 2670 West 8th Street just east of Peninsula Drive. The parking lot was packed when we arrived, but the inside is large enough that it didn’t feel cramped. The three of us were seated with a server named Nick, who read through the featured dishes of the evening, left us to our menus, and went to fill our drink orders. The menu contains five steak dishes, as well as a few veal entrees, and there were two specials that featured steak as well, so we had a good variety of options. After a few minutes, we were all ready to order. Amanda and Mike both went with the 10oz. top sirloin and I decided to try a featured dish of Filet Mignon two ways.
All of the entrees are served with fresh bread and jalapeno/cheddar biscuits, soup or salad, and your choice of side dish. The bread was warm and fresh and the biscuits had just a little bit of bite from the jalapenos. Needless to say, we emptied the basket fairly quickly. Mike ordered chicken pesto soup while Amanda and I chose a salad to start our meals. The salad is served to the table family style, which is a nice touch as it gives guests the option of eating as much or as little as they like. A carousel of ranch, Italian, and French dressing mixed with chunks of bleu cheese was brought out with the salad. All three dressings were good, but the French/bleu combination was not only creative, it was really delicious. I could have eaten it on almost anything. Mike said the soup was good, but that it lacked the pesto flavor and tasted more like wedding soup.
Our entrees appeared from the kitchen shortly after we finished our starters. The top sirloins were thick cut and had beautiful grill marks. Mike ordered his medium and Amanda, medium-rare. Both were cooked perfectly. The meat had very little fat and marbling, but was still juicy. The steak itself was very lightly seasoned, if at all, and did require a little butter as well as salt and pepper to give the meat some flavor. For side dishes, Amanda ordered a baked potato, which came with butter and sour cream on the side. My favorite part was the potato skin, which I gladly accepted once she was done with the inside. Mike ordered the garlic rosemary mashed potatoes with a side of gravy. These were really delicious and had tons of flavor.
My dish was made up of two 4oz cuts of choice filet and a side of sautéed vegetables. One piece of filet was topped with a smoked paprika and red pepper butter while the other had garlic and leek butter. As far as temperature is concerned, the filets were both cooked to a perfect medium-rare. The color of the outside of the steaks, however, was oddly grey. The texture and the taste were good, but the color was a bit off-putting. Regardless, the steaks were both very juicy and incredibly tender. The leek butter was my personal favorite. It really got down into the meat and gave it a wonderful, rich flavor. I sopped up the rest of the butters with my side of vegetables and bread. The vegetables were a mix of broccoli, cauliflower, squash, and carrots.
The top sirloin was a choice cut and priced at $18.99. The filet cuts were also choice and priced at $29.99. I felt as though that price was high considering the portion size and cut of the filet. I was still hungry even after cleaning my plate.
Thank you to Kevin, the owner, for stopping by our table to make sure we were satisfied with everything, and to Nick for the attentive service. I would really love to come back try more from the rest of the menu. The address of the restaurant is 2670 West 8th St. and the phone number for information and reservations is 814-838-2162. They are open for lunch seven days a week opening at 11:30AM and for dinner Mon. – Thurs. 4PM – 10PM, Fri. – Sat. 4PM – 11PM, and Sun. 12PM – 9:30PM.
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Until next time,
Andrew — Beard vs. Food
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