Cameron and Courtney's Outback Adventure

In case I have failed to mention him before, Cameron is my little brother. By little brother I mean, he is 6'5'', but three years younger than me. It's unfortunate. I was large and in charge until he turned 13. He then transformed into a mutantly large human being, which is lucky for him because it offsets the sheer wingspan of those ears. (Gimme a break, he's my little brother. I gotta bust his chops.)

Cameron and I get together for dinner about once a week. We like food, books, and hanging out for short periods of time. Last night, I was craving some beef. We discussed Longhorn Steakhouse, Cody's, and Sam Seltzer's, but Cam wanted to go to Outback Steakhouse. I missed the turn lane for my choice so we headed for Outback.

We went to the Outback Steakhouse in Largo located at 3690 E Bay Drive. We found an excellent parking space and headed in. We arrived at about 7:50pm and were seated immediately. Our server was Sarah. She had the patience of a saint. Cameron and I took our time ordering and attempting to plan out the meal. We lamented the complete and utter lack of Spinach dip on the menu (to ourselves). We settled on the Bloomin' Onion. I realize it has enough calories and fat to feed a small country for a few days, but it's delicious and we don't worry about our weight. (Cam has to support those ears, after all.) You can never go wrong with a Bloomin' Onion and even though we only ate half of it, it was so worth it. I love the horseradish sauce that comes with it. I could eat that on almost anything.

I always forget to take the pictures before I eat.

For our main course, we ordered the Outback Special. I got the 9oz and Cam got the 12oz. (He is a growing boy afterall. I mean, man. Very manly man. The manliest of men. Moving on...)

The Outback Special is described on their website as follows: "Our signature sirloin is seasoned with bold spices and seared just right." It is served with a salad and a side. It comes with a Blue Cheese Wedge salad, but I don't like them so I asked for a house salad with blue cheese dressing instead. Cameron stuck with the Wedge. He doesn't like to rock the boat or give the server a hard time. (NOTE: Cam is a server too at a different restaurant.) For my side item I chose the seasonal vegetables and Cam got the potatoes. (I told you, very manly.)

My untouched food as it was given to me.

Here's my take on the steak. I found it to be kind of gritty. It was flavored appropriately, but it just had a strange mouth feel this time. I still ate it and enjoyed it though. Cameron said his was good. My only real problem with my meal was the seasonal vegetables. I love vegetables and no matter what they would have been I would have been fine, except for the fact that they were overcooked and mushy. This kind of made them flavorless. Cameron said that his garlic mashed potatoes were killer.

This was on the table and also repeated on the website. While I can't agree with it because I think that Tampa Bay has several places in the same price range that are better for steak, I enjoyed my meal. I'd also like to say that our server was wonderful and she timed everything perfectly. That always makes me very happy.