To celebrate our eleventh anniversary last night, my wife and I took in a movie and then went to dinner at Bud’s Aged Steaks, formerly VOP (Vonachen’s Old Place). We made reservations, fortunately, because it was a busy night. Even though we got there at 7:30 (a late dinner in my book), there was still a 30- to 35-minute wait for a table if you didn’t have a reservation. We got right in, of course.
The first things we noted were the changes to the decor. Gone are the train depot benches and large scale in the lobby. Now there are some apholstered chairs around a coffee table with a copy of Wine Spectator magazine to peruse while you wait. Also gone are the wood-fired pizza oven and pizza bar near the hostess stand. Instead, large wine racks partition the dining area from the hostess stand and waiting area. Also, directly across from the hostess stand, there is a small refrigerator case with various cuts of meat on display. The large historical photos that VOP had on the walls are still there. However, the O-guage train and track above the kitchen entrance are gone. The walls have new wood paneling on the lower half of the wall, with the upper half painted taupe, and lots of track lighting has been added, making for a warm atmosphere. They use real linen tablecloths and napkins, but they put white paper on top of the tablecloth, I guess to protect it (which makes one wonder why they use linen tablecloths at all).
The wait staff was dressed professionally in black pants and white shirts with white aprons. Our waiter was very courteous and attentive. Our drinks, water for my wife and iced tea ($1.79) for me, were kept filled. My wife ordered the filet ($24.95) and I ordered the New York Strip ($27.95). The steaks came with a house salad in a red wine vinagrette dressing, choice of potato (we both got baked), and some freshly baked bread with real butter. The bread was the same as Vonachen’s used to serve — warm and not too crusty. The salad dressing was delicious, and the salad sizes were reasonable. The salad included a couple different kinds of lettuce, small slices of red onion, thin slices of radish and provolone cheese, some diced tomatoes, one large chunk each of carrot and celery. It’s pretty hard to screw up a baked potato, but for the record, the baked potatoes were very good and just the right size. The steaks were tender and juicy and mine was cooked to perfection (medium). My wife ordered hers medium-rare and found that it was a little redder than she prefers. But that was probably because of the thickness of the filet. Both our steaks were very flavorable.
My wife and I aren’t wine drinkers, which makes this review a bit incomplete since Bud’s is very proud of their wine selection. So, for what it’s worth, the couple at the table next to us raved about the bottle of wine they had, telling the waiter it had excellent body.
We got a complimentary slice of cheesecake since it was our anniversary. It had a graham-cracker crust and was served with a few red raspberries on top and two forks. It was very creamy and delicious.
Overall, my take is that it’s a nice upscale restaurant, but I would have preferred it stay the old VOP. We have plenty of upscale places to go in Peoria (Jim’s Steakhouse, Jim’s Bistro, Carnegie’s, Lindsay’s, Jill’s, Seven, French Toast, Red Zin, F. Scott’s, etc., etc.) but not so many local (non-chain) casual or family places. I’m not sure why they felt the need to get into the oversaturated upscale market, but that’s their choice. If you have the money, it’s not a bad place to get a steak. Our bill, including that wonderful 10% Peoria tax but not including the tip, came to $60.16. At those prices, we won’t be able to afford going there again anytime soon. With the tip, that was almost a week’s worth of groceries. Worth it for our anniversary and maybe a few other special occasions, but that’s it.
