There’s always fun to be had when Columbo gets invited to a posh restaurant. Sometimes he offends the suited and booted waiters by asking for a bowl of chili,
but sometimes he enters into the spirit of the thing by ordering vast amounts of fancy food.
Such is the case in the episode Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star where the Lieutenant is invited to the fancypants Daryl Club.
Hugh Creighton (played by Dabney Coleman) is having a light lunch of chicken noodle soup, as he’s not very hungry. Columbo hesitates for a moment, saying he’s not very hungry either, then proceeds to order New York Steak (medium rare), asparagus with hollandaise sauce, roast potatoes, a shrimp cocktail to start with, a Caesar salad and a piece of sweetcorn.
What a feast! Now, there is a restaurant in Los Angeles called Dan Tana’s that has a steak on the menu called, “New York Steak Dabney Coleman.” It’s been on my to-do list for about a million years to write them a letter asking about the origin of the name of the dish. It HAS to be related to this episode of Columbo surely?!
Yes, that’s $68 – which is around £50 at today’s exchange rate, CRIKEY!
As I live far from Hollywood and would have to sell the only thing of value I own to be able to afford to eat at Dan Tana’s…
..I have not partaken of this steak. But here’s what I can tell you about it from extensive Googling.
It is 20 oz (about 560g – that is a whopper!). The restaurant has their steak sent to Los Angeles from Kansas City. You can have spaghetti or fettuccine on the side, or as someone who’s been there and done that says: “if you’d rather go healthy you can get it with sliced tomatoes.”
So if you are planning to watch this episode why not get yourself the fanciest steak you can afford – a New York strip steak (also known as a Kansas City strip steak), or if you are in the UK or Australia, a sirloin or porterhouse steak respectively. A frequent visitor to Dan Tana’s says that the steak is served, “very basic, no potatoes or anything, just seared with some salt/pepper and oil with a little fresh parsley and a small order of pasta.”
As a Brit, the idea of pasta with steak is alien to me (as I hear from Greg Swenson serving chili with rice is to most Americans). So when I had myself a fancy steak the other day, I served it with tomatoes and pretended I was at Dan Tana’s.
One day soon I’m going to do the whole Columbo kit and kaboodle and have a shrimp cocktail to start, then steak with roast potatoes, asparagus with hollandaise, a Ceasar salad and corn on the cob which I will cook Pearl Bailey style.
Finally, I just wanted to say a HUGE THANK-YOU to a new blogging chum in the USA called Annette who invited me to write a guest post for her blog. It turned into my life story, it’s a bit like being on “This Is Your Life”!
So if you want to know more about my manic movie star recipe collecting habit, and stuff about why I’ve written a Columbo cookbook, do skip over to Annette’s blog and check it out.
Don’t forget folks, the Columbo Chili Cook-along is underway and there are fab prizes to be won – do join in the fun! Click on this link for the recipe (meat and veggie versions).
12 responses
What do Americans eat with their chilli?! I’d never noticed that they didn’t have rice! And pasta with steak is a bit weird… I’d definitely have potatoes of some description. Or possibly a baguette but probably potatoes, especially now I’ve seen that picture of your jacket potatoes.
What do Americans eat with their chilli?! I’d never noticed that they didn’t have rice! And pasta with steak is a bit weird… I’d definitely have potatoes of some description. Or possibly a baguette but probably potatoes, especially now I’ve seen that picture of your jacket potatoes.
Mmmmm -YES! Gotta be jacket potatoes! It dawned on me fairly recently, that you could bake smallish potatoes in the same way as massive ones in a much shorter time! Doh! I’m always chucking a couple in the oven.
I think Americans tend to have cornbread or tortilla chips or even (if you are Columbo himself) saltines!
I’ll be reporting back on all these variations soon after the 20th – getting so many fab photos of the Johnny Cash Chili folks are making for the cook-along… Hope you are joining in…
Mmmmm -YES! Gotta be jacket potatoes! It dawned on me fairly recently, that you could bake smallish potatoes in the same way as massive ones in a much shorter time! Doh! I’m always chucking a couple in the oven.
I think Americans tend to have cornbread or tortilla chips or even (if you are Columbo himself) saltines!
I’ll be reporting back on all these variations soon after the 20th – getting so many fab photos of the Johnny Cash Chili folks are making for the cook-along… Hope you are joining in…
Of course cornbread! I did know that, but I suppose I always assumed there’d be rice too!
And yes, planning to make my chili before I run out of February…
Of course cornbread! I did know that, but I suppose I always assumed there’d be rice too!
And yes, planning to make my chili before I run out of February…
Yay! Get that chili a’bubblin!
I’m planning to make a big batch of Johnny Cash chili on book launch day (next Tuesday) and am going to make Greg’s cornbread to go with it…
His recipe is here… http://www.recipes4rebels.com/?page_id=3852
Yay! Get that chili a’bubblin!
I’m planning to make a big batch of Johnny Cash chili on book launch day (next Tuesday) and am going to make Greg’s cornbread to go with it…
His recipe is here… http://www.recipes4rebels.com/?page_id=3852
Just FYI… steak with pasta is by no means a quintessentially American pairing, rather it’s the standard at Italian eateries in America. And Dan Tana’s named their flagship steak after Dabney Coleman because Coleman was a regular of 20 years at the place, holding court at the same table multiple times per week and always ordering that particular meal.
Ah Peter, thanks so much for dropping by with that info. I love the idea of Dabney Coleman “holding court”!
Just FYI… steak with pasta is by no means a quintessentially American pairing, rather it’s the standard at Italian eateries in America. And Dan Tana’s named their flagship steak after Dabney Coleman because Coleman was a regular of 20 years at the place, holding court at the same table multiple times per week and always ordering that particular meal.
Ah Peter, thanks so much for dropping by with that info. I love the idea of Dabney Coleman “holding court”!