Name:El Gaucho Bellevue
Address:450 108th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA 98004, USA
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El Gaucho

12/8/2011
Very fine roast beef dip at a fancy, nice place.
Not my car.
The nice menu with The Brazilian Cowboy.
The view from our table.
Another view.
This was a special. Roast Beef Dip. au jus and fries (I got a salad instead) $15
The menu and ice water.
Beer tastes good.
Tasty cheesy, buttery, garlic bread as a free starter.
The plate: pretty big sized sandwich (I'd guess 8" long), au jus that looked a bit "low" yet was enough, and a side Caesar salad. Note the overflowing roast beef!!!
Very nicely toasted. Fancy-looking bread, lots of roast beef. No other flash and flair makes it what I would call a "Gourmet Classic".
Dark au jus with visible fat in it.
Place
El Gaucho, Bellevue, WA.
Type
Fancy steakhouse.
Smell
Good and smokey, meat smelling like a nice steakhouse.
Ambiance
Nice, formal, lunchtime, good music playing (first Jazz, then switched to Sinatra-style crooning).
Table settings
Very nice linens, well kept, fancy.
Meal
Lunch on a Thursday.
Background
My buddy Ben D. recommended this dip so I went to get it!
Service
Water delivery speed
Had some nice tasty ice water pretty much as soon as we sat.
Waiter
Very friendly and helpful. He recommended a beer and listed a lot of beverage choices and ultimately sold me on the beer. Well done, sir! Also, my date was wanting tea and he brought out all of the tea options so she could assess and choose.
Beverages
Beer
Good but could have been slightly colder. It was a "Christmas Ale" from Jolly Roger. Was sweet and full bodied but good and drinkable.
Food
Free appetizers
They started us with free and very tasty cheesy garlic bread that was really good.
French Dip
This is a very good "Gourmet Classic" dip in the sense that it is a basic dip (no cheese, onions, etc.) yet has fancier-than-average roast beef and nice homemade-looking bread that was really well toasted.
Sandwich
Meat
Really good, very tender roast beef that kind of melted in your mouth. Flavor wasn't to die for and was served medium. Very good overall.
Quantity
Lots!!
Bread
Very nice looking, homemade-style bread that was well toasted.
Texture
Very good. Crunchy on the toasting yet soft and absorbent.
No flash or flair on this basic dip besides its very nice, tender meat and it's toasted homestyle bread
Size
This was quite large. I'd guess like an 8" sandwich overflowing with beef.
Jus
Nice, dark, semi-sweet with visible fat in the au jus. I feel like people should heat the ramekin so the au jus stays hot for a long time!
Amount
Looked like not enough but turned out being just fine: I ate a lot of the first half without it because it was pretty good and then got into it.
Salad and things
I ordered a Caesar that was pretty good but nothing to write home about. Jessica did not love her side salad or her onion-fig-jam flatbread.
Other nice things
The served us three (small but really good, buttery, crispy) chocolate chip walnut cookies for free for dessert.
Nice place in downtown Bellevue.