Milano's Steakhouse

Between us, Husband and I share a lifetime of restaurant work.  Both of us had our first jobs in restaurants, and of course our current jobs are in restaurants.  We've been bussers, foodrunners, baristas, barbacks,  bartenders, cocktailers, managers, servers, hosts, I think we've both even done a shift or two in the dishtank, and I've done my own time behind the line as well.  We've worked in a Cajun restaurant, an old-school fine dining restaurant, coffeehouses, silly Italian restaurants, French restaurants, gay bars, Americana restaurants, wine bars, fine dining restaurants, steakhouses, and Amish restaurants.  One of us even interviewed to be Les Wexner's personal server.  We've probably opened more bottles of wine and asked for more steak temperatures than either of us could ever count.  We've poured more cosmos, martinis, and scotches on the rocks than most of you will ever see in your life.  We've smiled and served you with grace through food poisoning, the flu, bronchitis, sprained body parts, hangovers and exam-cramming.  We've had knockout, drag out fights with chefs and then come out smiling to sling your calamari.  We've starched countless white button-down, 100% cotton shirts and tied even more apron strings.  We've sliced our fingers open whilst opening bottles and pretended we were fine.  We've folded enough napkins to wipe the mouths of the entire city of Columbus, thrice over.  We've rolled more silverware than mouths.  We've missed concerts, plays, opening nights, parties, anything that ever happened on a Friday or Saturday.  We've missed every major holiday.  We've missed Christmas Eves, we've missed every single New Year's Eve.  We've missed every Valentine's Day.  We've missed a lot, to serve you.  Such is the life of a restaurant worker.

While we both have had corporate jobs with 401K plans and great dental plans, we always find ourselves back in restaurants.  We both went to good high schools and have college degrees.  On some level, I occasionally think there's a parallel us - Husband went to med school as he had planned, and I went to law school.  For some reason, this parallel us lives in Worthington.  But as I've said time and again, I don't think I would be happy as a lawyer.  Certainly I'd have more money than I do now, but would I be as happy?  I just don't think so.  There's something about not being stranded behind a desk all day which I love.  And I'm selfish enough to admit that my own happiness and Husband's happiness are very important to me.

Wow.  I have seriously digressed.  (as a sidenote, this is why writing has been a challenge recently - I've been way to verbose.)  At any rate, Husband and I were recently discussing our various lives in restaurants, and at some point, we decided we should revisit our first places of employment.  Fortunately, both are still open (I can't say that for all of the places we've worked).

It was Monday night.  I had a meeting which ran late and had errands to run, and then it was dark.  I didn't want to cook.  Husband called with an idea "I don't know if you'll go for it.  I'll tell you when you get home."  And so it happened that we went to Milano's, Husband's first place of employment.  These days, Milano's is located in a less-than-stellar part of town, in a low slung brick building. 

The interior is old-school elegantish, and by the time we had arrived at 7:30, many of the clientele had come and gone (Milano's if famous for its early bird specials).  We sat in the lounge side of the restaurant, which still houses a stage and a dance floor, where the same crooner has been covering the standards since Husband was still a skinny little high school kid with a bad attitude and a brand new smoking habit.

Our bartender had been working at Milano's for around 14 years; when guests arrived, they were sometimes greeted with a hug and talk of so and so's kids or what's going on in their lives.  Most of the waitresses here (and it's waitresses only) have worked here forever. 

So, let's start with the cocktails.  There is no extensive list of vodkas & gins here, as has been de rigueur in steakhouses for decades; my request for Bombay was denied, but there was Beefeater, and our server poured the martinis at the table, which was pretty cool:

If there is one thing old school steakhouses excel at, it's shrimp cocktail.  Ours came in those fabulous tin dishes, and the shrimp were nice and crunchy and icebox cold:

Entrees include one side and a salad.  We both opted for salads, which are no-nonsense iceberg/carrot mix with exactly 2 black olives.  I can't even recall the last time I've had an iceberg salad with no sense of irony (wedge salads fall into the ironic category).  I have to admit, they did feel like something I might be served in a nursing home:

I chose the filet with a baked potato on the side.  The filet came with bacon wrapped around it, a custom I will never understand.  It adds a bizarre flavor, and it seems strange that the filet is the most expensive cut on the cow by far, and yet, because of it's low fat content, we have to give it flavor by wrapping it in bacon.  Which is why, as any chef will tell you, it's the most boring cut on the cow.  That being said, its lack of fat and excessive trimming make for easy eating.  One isn't always up to all that negotiating around fat pockets.  The fillet was around 8 ounces, judging by the amount I took home, and was properly cooked:

Husband, wiser than I, opted for the milk-fed veal parmigiano, which was enormous and very thickly coated in crumbs.  It was topped with a nicely spiced tomato sauce and a nice topping of cheese (they even still have those same 4 canned mushrooms on top, Husband said).  There was, of course, spaghetti on the side:

We were quite full by now, which I suppose is the point of dinner.  We passed on dessert.  Husband walked around the restaurant and laughed about how it hadn't changed in all these years.  Some of the line cooks were even still there - a few of them have worked in the restaurant for 30 years or so. 

I don't know how to end this - Milano's is an institution on the NE side.  And it is what it is.  It's probably a great place to take your grandparents.  There's no chance of something being on the menu you haven't heard of.  It's comfortable, and unchallenging.  The service is diner-friendly without the attitude.  If the restaurant were located in a more developed area, I could actually see young people taking a shine to the bar for happy hour; the bar chairs are deep and cushy, and I think you could engage the bartender into a serious discussion about the daytime stories; the TV was tuned to Dancing with the Stars so everyone could watch Priscilla Pressley perform.

info:  Milano's Steakhouse 3105 Westerville Rd (at Oakland Park) 614.475.9199

Comments

[Heather]

I love your site! How do you get such great food shots? Mine always end up blurry, but that could be due to the booze I'm having alongside. I too was in the biz for a really long time. I sometimes miss it, but then I remember the schedule. That said, I live vicariously through you, still livin' the dream. Thanks for all the great local suggestions!

[Heather]

I love your site! How do you get such great food shots? Mine always end up blurry, but that could be due to the booze I'm having alongside. I too was in the biz for a really long time. I sometimes miss it, but then I remember the schedule. That said, I live vicariously through you, still livin' the dream. Thanks for all the great local suggestions!

[Bear]

This is 100% unadulterated awesomeness, a joy to read. I only wish I didn't know that Les Wexner has a personal server.

[amanda Ryal-Mason]

You're an excellent writer and fun to read...verb on!

[Amy]

My husband and I actually ate at Milano's for Valentine's day a few years ago. I wanted Italian and he was boycotting Olive Garden for crappy customer service.

Milano's garlic bread was, hands down, the best damned garlic bread I have ever eaten. Anywhere.

But everything else you say, yeah. It's in there. :)

[Debbie]

I love the beginning of this post! I wish I had the guts (and lack of kids) to leave my corporate job for a more "fun" job. You have such a sincere sense of happiness when you write.

I love the site...we're in Columbus and I get so many great ideas from you! Thanks!