22-oz prime rib served with garlic mashed potatoes asparagus, homemade au jus and creamy horseradish. $32 First come, first served!

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PRIME TIME
Culinary greatness? Maybe not in this era of modern cooking, but it sure tastes good.

360 West Magazine | December 2010
by Judy Wiley | Photos by Ralph Lauer

Mom put on her best dress and Dad got out his best boots every Friday night to dine in style, and in the 60′s — it went without saying — that meant roast prime rib.

Whether the occasion was a special meal out or a Sunday dinner at home, most of us remember when prime rib was king: rich and juicy with its rim of tasty fat — yes, we at the fat — and little cups of jus and horseradish.

The accompanying sides — rolls, foil-baked potato and a green veggie — were simple, since the meat was the star.

But somewhere in the ’80s or ’90s, the first choice in decadent dinners or lavish buffets — and on some tables, the meal of choice at Christmastime — went out of style and practically disappeared from restaurants.

But we’ve noticed the juicy slab of slow-roasted tenderness popping up on menus at new and established restaurants, and it’s a sellout at institutions that held onto the cut through the years.

In the ’50s and ’60s “the hungry-man meal was the prime rib and potato,” says Jerrett Joslin, who offers a prime-rib special on Fridays at his Wild Mushroom Steak House and Lounge in Weatherford. “It went away, it wasn’t sexy anymore, it was a blue-collar thing. We’re trying to bring sexy back.”

To that end, Joslin takes great care with the 20-pound roasts during the four-hour preparation from refrigerator to plate. First, the meat sits to reach room temperature and gets a traditional rub of kosher salt with several different peppers. Next comes searing in a 500-degree oven for 10-15 minutes before the temperature is turned down to 325 degrees. When the roast reaches 115-120 degrees, it’s rare and ready to come out. The meat sits again, and then each order is cooked to temperature if necessary. Some of the fat is rendered down for the jus, made with a mirepoix base.

Lou Lambert, who owns namesake restaurants in Fort Worth and Austin, says lack of careful preparation and top-quality beef also caused prime rib’s decline. He blames big-chain buffets. “Everybody kind of jumped on the prime-rib bandwagon. People got greedy,” he says. “They bought meat on the low end of choice and then you wind up with a tough cut of meat without a lot of flavor.”

That melt-in-your mouth quality was lost, and diners moved on to steaks for their beef fix.

At Lambert’s in Fort Worth, top-quality prim rib gets a hint of smoky flavor from wood roasting early in the process, and then gains more flavor and tenderness from long, slow cooking. Once plated, it’s served with horseradish and a Jezebel sauce.

In Dallas, prime rib has stayed on the menu at Al Biernat’s over the years. “It’s been a big seller for us, and since it takes two and a half to three hours to slow roast, we put ‘limited availability’ for when it does run out,” says general manager Brad Miller. Both Lambert’s and Al’s offer it for brunch and dinner.

For us, it’s a guilty pleasure but when confronted with a well-cooked piece of meat — and, oh my, that aroma — it’s pretty easy to put aside all thoughts of cholesterol count and culinary hipness. We’re more than happy to dig in and enjoy. Maybe Joslin’s right; maybe it is sexy time.