Big Sky Steak House

Some readers may already know that I am spending the month of May at Coushatta Casino and Resort in Kinder, Louisiana, performing with Ryan Pelton & the Difference. There are several restaurants in the complex, and last night we all visited the top tier Big Sky.

We were celebrating the first full week of our month-long run, and we wanted to make it special. I dressed in my Blues finest and prepared for a culinary treat. Big Sky is the fanciest, and most expensive, restaurant at Coushatta. It’s well appointed, and the staff is excellent. But what brings people to the tables are the excellent beef and seafood. The short version is this: I was not disappointed.

Having already studied the menu, I knew what I was going to have. My appetizer was Barbecued Shrimp with a spicy Asian-influenced sauce. The shrimp were huge and tasted wonderful, even without the accompanying sauce. By the way, their bread basket offerings – white and multigrain rolls and sweet corn muffins – were all scrumptious!

For the main event, I chose the 22 ounce bone-in Ribeye, or Cowboy steak. Now those who know me are well aware that I prefer my steaks exceedingly rare. They also know that I have trouble getting my steak as ordered, even at steak houses. I am thrilled to report that Big Sky did not fail me. You can see from the photo that they did a very quick sear and left it at that… which is exactly as it should be. I could tell it was perfect before I even cut into it. (You can tell the approximate temperature/done-ness of a steak by pressing on the meat, which I did with a knife.) For my sides, I had the sauteed button mushrooms and onions and a baked potato.

Big Sky really does know what RARE means.

I was in heaven. The steak was extremely flavorful and had not been hidden beneath an overload of spices. It was as tender as you’d expect a Prime cut of Ribeye to be and then some. In fact, I was actually able to cut it with the back of the knife!

After we let our dinners settle for several minutes, we were ready for dessert. I chose the cheesecake with chocolate drizzle. Again, I was not disappointed. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that you could enjoy a bite that was both dense (as you’d expect from a New York cheesecake), yet light. There was enough chocolate drizzled over the top to add to the experience without burying the cheesecake.

A small slice of heaven.

One very nice touch was to serve coffee in individual French Press pots. This allowed each of the coffee drinkers to enjoy three cups without waiting for the server to return with refills. As I said, a nice touch.

As I tweeted during the meal, I can sum up the experience in one word: NumNumNumNum! And while you should expect a hefty bill for this type of meal, it wasn’t half as much as I’ve paid elsewhere for comparable fare. My total was just a shade over $60, albeit with no alcohol.

If you visit Coushatta, I highly recommend that you spend one evening pampering yourself at Big Sky. Don’t worry if you don’t care for beef; the seafood was just as remarkable. All who ordered it were very satisfied. We all have agreed that we need to visit again soon.

Until next time, remember to play with your food!

Lane