Restaurant Review - Prime example

When the region becomes one big suburb, there’ll be a Morton’s of Chicago on every busy corner. Meanwhile, Alpharetta is sitting pretty. Partners Tim Hazelman and Mike Burdick, with help from former Lobster Bar chef Richard Holley, have opened a spectacular intown-style steakhouse on Office Park Row. Conveniently located right beside Georgia 400, the upscale, independent replica is named Cabernet. Thank you, Jesus, Cabernet is not a literal Morton’s clone. Raw meat isn’t wheeled around the dining room on trolleys. Waiters don’t shout at customers. The bread assortment (from Buckhead Bread Co.) is a thousand times better than Morton’s specialty loaf, scorched-onion boule.

More to the point, the aged beef is USDA prime. The crab cakes contain sweet lump meat, not filler. The cold, crisp Caesar salad with shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano is among the best versions in town — in metro Atlanta that is, not just Alpharetta.

Valet parkers trot. Computerized reservations are made and kept. Waiters whisper soothingly. Bus boys set tables as if preparing for high mass — with heavy glass tumblers, glossy linen and oversized, silver-plated flatware. Big-shouldered section captains and managers, clad in non-threatening, medium-shade suits, patrol the dining rooms like Marines stalking insurgents. The exhibition kitchen is visible, not intrusive. The noise level, though high, is less than unbearable.

Like its nearby neighbor, Vinny’s on Windward, Cabernet is laid out like a cathedral. The large, two-story central nave (main dining area) is buttressed by transepts (bar and kitchen), a central portal beneath a choir loft (foyer and semi-private dining) and a high altar (an elevated banquet table surrounded by banquette seating and smaller tables). Cell phones are more common than neckties. The considerable investment and conceptual grandiosity promise much in the way of fine dining, memorable wining and expense-account high times. The promises are mostly kept.

The customer base appears to be drawn from the office parks, low-rise business stacks and newfangled Parthenons that line Ga. 400. A building labeled Compaq, for instance, is just next door. As at Morton’s, Ruth’s Chris or the Palm, patrons are typically big, wide guys in their 30s and 40s who once spent two hours a day on the football field or in the gym. Most of them still need oversized shirts to accommodate their size 18 necks. But their chests have begun the long slide toward waist level, and their once-tight jowls are following the same track.

These guys want hunks of prime meat and no nonsense. Evidently, they don’t mind a lot of salt as an embellishment. A 16-ounce ribeye, ordered medium rare, cooked over a wood fire and thus — I was warned beforehand — char-crusty around the edges, was tender, delicious and very, very salty ($28.95). Whether this resulted from seasonings rubbed on the steak, salt shaken over it during the cooking process or salt incorporated into the jus in which it was served, I can’t say. I do know that I went home with a dry throat, parched mouth and heightened pulse.

A stale-tasting baked potato that was hard inside rather than steamy-fluffy — perhaps it waited too long in the kitchen — didn’t help matters ($5.25). When I handed the dud spud back to the waiter, a better-than-acceptable potato gratin was quickly substituted ($5.50). Neither appeared on the bill. No fuss was made.

Next trip, I chose beef and spuds prepared differently, under strict instructions. An onion-Gruyere-focaccia steak sandwich with creamy horseradish sauce, leaf lettuce and ripe tomato was made with beef tenderloin that had been grilled and sliced naked ($13.95). Served with crisp shoestring fries, the delicious, messy two-hander provided a first-rate lunch. Hot, moist hand towels were provided for cleanup. I went back to the office smiling, not panting with thirst.

Salt is piled up in unexpected places all over the menu, though, so ask before you order. Herb-seared tuna steak, though tasty and very fresh, was also oversalted ($23.95). The cushion on which it rested, stir-fried bok choy, snow peas, peppers and red onion in soy ginger vinaigrette, may have been partly to blame.

A lump crab cake appetizer with grain mustard beurre blanc was perfectly balanced ($10.95) as was the aforementioned, slightly wet Caesar with large croutons and shaved cheese ($5.75). But, but, but ... the big guy at the next table asked for extra anchovies on his salad. The waiter had to tell him there wasn’t an anchovy in the house. So much for meeting all reasonable requests.

Peeled, jumbo asparagus with a boat of hollandaise sauce may have been cooked 20 seconds too long, but the spears were still stiff enough to eat by hand ($6.25). Maine lobster bisque with lump crab and creamy-tangy Vidalia onion soup with cheese-topped croutons were equally fine starters.

A Granny Smith apple tart with cinnamon ice cream and vanilla creme anglaise tasted like the sort of thing that comes off a truck — a Mercedes Benz truck to be sure. It might have worked better had the tart been warmed ($5.95). But hey, a woman I met on a plane last week praised Cabernet’s creme brulée as the best she’s had in the area ($5.95). Cabernet is definitely a place to be pampered, she added. I’ll try the creme brulee next time. The pampering I already know about.

As usual, neither my guests nor I dipped deeply into the wine supply. The list is notably pricey. Shelling out almost $10 for seven ounces of Ravenswood zinfandel isn’t my idea of a good time. Still, if the company is paying or it’s deductible, a wine like that, or a prime, $30 steak with minimal salt, is worth considering. Cheers.

?Cabernet, 5575 Windward Parkway, Alpharetta. 770-777-5955. Mon.-Fri. 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.-11 p.m., Sat. 5:30 p.m.-midnight. Entrées range in price from $17.50-$34.50. Cash and credit cards accepted.