[Radar] Pinnacle Peak

 

Area: Pinnacle Peak is centrally located on the 5th floor of the City Hotel, which is 5 Shanxi Lu, just south of Yan'an Lu. Jinxian Lu is right around the corner, and other notables nearby are Citizen Café, Maya, and Osteria.

What is it: Pinnacle Peak is an Old West-themed steakhouse chain from the States, specializing in big steak portions at workin' man's prices. Their signature dish is "The Cowboy Steak," which is a 21oz monster, grilled over mesquite charcoal.

A significantly smaller chain than the globally dominating fast food joints, Pinnacle Peak only has a few restaurants in sleepy west coast towns, and now this one in Shanghai.

It opened six months ago, so it's not exactly new, but it's recently come under the reigns of new management -- a San Fran native called Steve Smith, who's revamped the wine list among other things. They've also managed to secure a chef who cut his teeth at Finestre. Say what you will about the club portion of that operation (Attica), I personally quite enjoyed Finestre. Also, despite offering only one type of burger on the menu, they also won a recent burger crawl competition, which I was clandestinely keeping tabs on.

Have a look at the Shanghai Expat thread here.

Pinnacle Peak had a re-launch party last Saturday, and talking to Steve, they've adjusted prices to suit a more frugal dining market (economic crisis, you know) they're looking to develop their nightlife events, and they've tweaked the menu here and there (including the addition of imported tilapia dish, which sounds quite nice)...

Atmosphere: Inside Pinnacle Peak, it's all country... basically Pinnacle Peak is divided into a restaurant area and a bar area. The restaurant area is actually quite nice, and more tastefully done that as you would expect from a themed restaurant. A homey and comfortable environment, it looks ideal for eating a finely done steak while enjoying a bottle of Californian wine. The bar is all Old West with 19th Century photographs on the wall, wood everything, and swing saloon doors everywhere (including in front of the elevators).

Impressed with: The menu. It's one of the most mouth-watering menus I've perused in a while, and I imagine I would be making repeat trips to try a few different things. A tasty set of sides (corn on the cob, Sliders, Burgundy wine mushrooms) complements their array of steak offerings (9, 10, 14, 16, and 21 oz.), and they've also got a few non-steak offerings which look real good too: "Half a Hen," that tilapia dish, and, of course, the "best burger in Shanghai." The Californian vintages on their wine menu look good too, but I don't know my wines very well...

Damage: Steak is the main thing you're getting from Pinnacle Peak and they go from 150rmb to 350rmb for the main event ("The Cowboy Steak"). Sides are in the 30-50rmb range, and non-steak mains are more moderately priced at around 60 or 70rmb. Drinks and market standard prices. They've got good prices on bourbon (Jim Beam and Wild Turkey), jugs for 70rmb, and, interestingly enough, Cutty Sark for 40rmb.

Whose going: Americans, obviously. Or I suppose anyone with a fondness for Old West-style dining and drinking. Anyone looking for a moderately priced steak and a nice bottle of wine.

Anyone looking for a free mechanical bull ride as well (2 speeds apparently: easy and impossible).