Bailey's - Revisit

Bailey's Restaurant & Lounge
185 Lombard Ave
204-944-1180
feedback@baileysprimedining.ca
Facebook:  @ Bailey's Restaurant & Lounge
Twitter:  @ LoungeBaileys

Insta:  @baileysrestaurantandlounge

August, 2024

I haven't visited Bailey's Restaurant & Lounge in over a decade because, frankly, every visit at that time was garbage.  

Check out my review from then:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/4134702149128973436/4338807855143662196

Now 13 years later, I decided it was time for a revisit.  Why?  It's sad but if you take away the chains and transnational corporations, how many true steakhouses do we have in Winnipeg?  Rae & Jerry's?  529 Wellington?  Silver Heights?  Anything else?

Incredibly after all this time, the decor hasn't changed at all.  The entry and dining rooms still look grand and elegant, reminiscent of the continental restaurants of yesteryear.

If you prefer, they have a "sun room," open to the south, although your only view finds the windows of the adjacent Richardson Building.

Part of my distaste in the past came from the insufferable pomposity of the servers.  Our server (and the ones around us, from what I can hear), have the same sassiness but less annoyance, thank goodness.  Our server opens with,

"Our soup special is gazpacho.  Do you know what that is?"

"Yes."

"Oh, really?  Tell me."

Is this a test?  If you don't believe that I know, why did you ask?

"It's a cold vegetable soup in a tomato base," I answer.

"Oh, you really do know!"

??????????????????????

"It's a cold soup, like vichyssoise, which is a creamy leek soup," he adds.

Uh yeah, I know what vichyssoise is too--you forgot potato.

"Would you like a soup or appetiser for starters?"

"Yes, I would like the vichyssoise," I reply.

"Oh, uh, no, we don't have vichyssoise.  It just mentioned it because it's cold like gazpacho."

"I guess I'll have gazpacho."

This is already getting weird.

I love gazpacho on a hot day when you're sitting on a patio.  On a cool evening inside air conditioning?  It's not as suitable but heck, I'll try it.

The broth tastes rich and full, like ripe tomatoes off the vine in your own garden.  The bits of zucchini are raw, which gives loud crunches on the texture.  I probably would have flash-fried or at least blanched the vegetables before cooling them down, but it's a fine start.

The bread comes warm and straight out of the oven.

Today's restaurants feature all sorts of interesting, seedy, oaty and wheaty breads but these buns are regular white rolls, baked to perfection.  The crust crumbles with crunchiness and the dough almost floats in its lightness.

All meals come with either soup of the day or mixed field greens, starch and vegetable of the day.  This is great.  It really irks me that so many restaurants today are pricing "a la carte," which translates to cheap and gouging.  I can buy potatoes for $10/100-pound bag or rice for $20/100-pound bag wholesale.  For literally pennies, a la carte wants you to pay $8 for a side of starch and more for vegetables.  I'm paying $60 for my steak; shouldn't the sides come without a premium?  It's criminal.  

The field greens come with a default dressing, which is a creamy cucumber, with a sweet edge, maybe honey?

The fresh vegetables have a wonderful crisp but the croutons taste somewhat soft.  The tomatoes have full rich flavour, and could have come out of my own yard--likely sourced from the same place as the soup.  They're somewhat over-ripe, meaning they have no texture except mush.  I'm fine with that but it may not be everyone's thing.

From the Charbroiler, the New York Cut Steak (striploin) comes in either 10-ounce or 14-ounce options.  

As you can see, the grill marks aren't perfect.  It does not affect the taste at all, still leaning with the char-flavour.  However, part of steak presentation is the appearance and I want to see the perfect cross pattern, either at 90 degrees or a tad slanted at 60 degrees.  This was turned at 90 degrees, then again at 50 degrees, leaving a messy look.

The look does not take away from the doneness, which is a perfect medium-rare, just as we ordered.  Our server highly propounds the lemon-roasted potatoes, which I find quite bland.  The shredded vegetables retain their firmness but aside from a bit of acidity, there isn't a lot of support.

We ask for Prime Rib of Beef, which has no conditions on the menu, but apparently it's not always available.  It's getting progressively difficult to find prime rib in restaurants.

The Medallions of Beef Marchand de Vin bases on a red wine sauce, and the Pepper Beef Sautee comes in a "creamy red wine demi-glace."  I ask our server if the sauces are the same and he boldly responds,

"Don't even look at the Pepper Beef--it's terrible.  In fact, all our pasta is awful."

Well, I certainly appreciate the candor.

The Marchand de Vin is a staple French sauce, which tastes full and velvety.  While it looks like there's a lot in the photo, I would like to see more, and especially more mushrooms.  The fungi are slightly overcooked, taking away any texture.  They're also sliced very thinly, leaving a void when searching for the earthy flavour.

You get two slices of tenderloin, which is one of the leanest cuts of beef; that also means they're not very flavourful, thus needing the sauce.  They're cooked rare, rather than the  medium-rare I ordered, but I can live with that.  Many may not be able to.

The fries have a bit of crisp and they cry out for more sauce, which runs out very quickly.  I originally asked for the Rice Pilaf side, which the server quickly dismissed as "boring white rice."  

"So it's not 'pilaf' then?"  

"Just get the roasted potatoes."

We compromise on the fries.

As I said at the beginning, the attitude of the servers was a primary factor that drove me away 13 years ago.  Judging by today's experience, the cheekiness remains, but it's not enough to scare me off from coming again.  The food was generally good enough to get me to return.  In this day with the paucity of local steakhouses, it's nice to see Bailey's is earning their spot and pedigree to continue as one of the long-standing meat-and-potato outlets.

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As usual, thanks for reading and good food to you!

Ray Yuen, Pit Master / Grill Master
Certified Kansas City Barbecue Society Judge – Badge #97736
Certified Steak Cook-off Association Judge – Badge #7788
Canadian Barbecue Society Member