POPPING OFF 

Serious steaks. A new slate of limited time specials. And one fearless new champagne. Let’s put it this way: Perry’s in Oak Brook is committed to rewriting your end-of-the year dining plans.

If you’re interested in stunning your in-laws over the holidays—or at least buying yourself a few blessed minutes of shocked silence—here’s your best move. Start by booking a table at Perry’s Steakhouse in Oak Brook, which recently rolled out a smart series of limited-time specials that feel like they were designed to defrost holiday tensions. There’s a hearty chili studded with chunks of pork. A honey-kissed butternut squash gratin that will end your obsession with mashed sweet potatoes. And an uber-creamy pumpkin-spice cheesecake crusted with gingersnap crumbles.

Then turn to your experiment. After everyone orders, wave your server over and do something that almost no self-respecting Cabernet-swilling Midwest carnivore ever does: Order a few flutes, maybe even a bottle, of Perry’s new Reserve Premiere Cru Champagne. It’s Perry’s first proprietary champagne. It’s lean, bright and crisp, with a faint whisper of toasted brioche at the close. Which is another way of saying it’s an extremely versatile pour. There’s enough minerality to use it as a chaser with oysters. It’s full bodied enough to sip with any steak. And there’s enough acidity in there to cut through the decadence that is Perry’s signature four-finger-tall pork chop.

Yes, I am arguing that we should all enjoy champagne with our steaks—not only because it’s the holiday season and you deserve it but because it can be a supremely elegant pairing.

For years, Perry’s corporate beverage team has been an outspoken proponent of pairing champagnes—especially toasted full bodied, richly acidic ones—with their offerings. Luckily for us, they recently doubled down on that philosophy by offering their own bottles of bubbly. They could have taken a shortcut and simply brokered a deal with a domestic sparkling wine producer in, say, the Russian River Valley or Los Carneros, but they wanted to produce an actual champagne. So they flew across the Atlantic in what became an almost two-year journey to create their definition of a true steakhouse champagne, one that cuts through proteins instead of clashes with them—and flirts with fat instead of fights it.

Perry’s tasked Beverage Director Paige Stroud and Chief Strategy Officer/Chief Marketing Officer Lesa Sorrentino with the enviable assignment of flying to France to play champagne scouts. The minute the duo visited Maurice Philippart Champagne House, an eighth-generation champagne producer in Chigny-les-Roses, near Reims, they knew they’d clinked flutes with a champagne maker up to the challenge.

Philippart produced different assemblages to showcase different flavor profiles, then asked the duo to conduct blind taste tests. Stroud and Sorrentino picked their favorites and shipped them back to see how they paired with Perry’s offerings. Everyone agreed: Here was a champagne worthy of a Perry’s label. They’ve wrapped it with a white wrap with full gold stenciled letterings—rather than your traditional dark and brooding champagne sticker—and sent bottles to all of their locations.

If you want to know why Perry’s been Oak Brook’s steakhouse anchor since 2013, consider all the time and trouble went into that champagne. !at’s simply the Perry’s way. 

After all, Perry’s began its life as a butcher shop in Houston, a heritage that everyone seems intent on protecting rather than exploiting. Giant slabs of beef are still shipped to all of Perry’s locations, where they are broken down by hand by area butchers. Their steaks are seasoned with restraint, slid beneath a 2,000-degree broiler until they develop a mahogany crust, before they are lacquered in a proprietary steak butter. Our particular ribeye arrived as advertised: matted with flavor, glistening in its own juices. It was unapologetically decadent.

When you serve as many steaks as Perry’s does, you can strike deals with respected cattlemen. Perry’s Reserve Akashi Wagyu are sourced from Beeman Family Ranch in Texas, while their A5 Wagyu is imported from Japan. Before anything reaches your plate, corporate chef Daniel DeLorensi makes sure to visit farms and ranches across the country, scouting the country for top-quality beef and trusted partners.

Eagle-eyed guests who visit Oak Brook will notice that camouflaged somewhere within the sleek décor—complete with gleaming chandeliers and oversized black-and-white portraits of cattle—is a butcher’s cleaver. Every time a new location is opened, Perry’s christens the new shop by cutting it with a cleaver. That ceremonial cleaver is then hung on one of the restaurant’s walls as a physical reminder of the chain’s commitment to sourcing, butchering and preparing steaks the way that founder Bob Perry did it back in Houston over four decades ago.

Their effort to create their own champagne was inspired by the same ethos: find the best, respect the craft and make it feel modern. When Stroud and Sorrentino returned from their trip, they didn’t just bring back their favorite bubbly; they imported a sweet tradition from France’s storied champagne region: the twice-baked French biscuits served in cafés across the area.

These pink biscuits have been enjoyed in the region since the 1600s. They were named biscuits in honor of the French term “bis cuites,” which means twice cooked. Since Reims acted as a coronation site for French monarchs, legend has it future kings and queens used to dip these biscuits in their champagne on the eve of their coronation. If they stayed whole, it foretold a peaceful reign.

Which is why every glass and bottle of Perry’s Premiere Grand Cru comes with an Americanized version of that biscuit. Dunk it once, dunk it twice. If your dinner (or holiday) ends in peace, don’t question the tradition. Just keep sipping.

This blend of quality and whimsy is one of the chief ways Perry’s separates itself from the typical “leather-and-bourbon” machismo of so many other steakhouses. Dinner here isn’t just a meal—it also comes with a side of theater. Cocktails arrive adorned with gold accoutrements, shrouded in veils of smoke and topped with ornate garnishes. Whenever one of Perry’s signature pork chops appears, looking gargantuan enough to wonder if the chain has a secret supplier in Jurassic Park, newbies tend to gasp with delight.

There’s a certain playfulness to the way Perry’s remixes classic dishes. You can order slices of that same pork chop served hors d’oeuvre style, skewered like smoke-glazed lollipops. The best seasonal offering on the menu, one I hope will become a fixture, is a classic beef Wellington. It’s enveloped in a wild mushroom duxelles, liberally seasoned with pepper and sealed within a perfectly baked puff pastry armor. Even some of the sides come bearing surprises, including breaded asparagus topped with jumbo crab meat.

You go to Perry’s knowing you’re going to eat well, to enjoy a Texas-sized meal wrapped up nicely in Oak Brook elegance. But you’re likely to return because Perry’s keeps tinkering, always eager to slip new surprises into the menu—some seasonal, some downright effervescent.

Which brings us back to the bubbles. There’s a good chance, by the end of your meal, that you’ll feel the urge to raise another glass, feeling vaguely aristocratic, slightly rebellious and very well-fed. And if you find yourself asking who really rules Oak Brook tonight, you may already know the answer.

Perry’s Steakhouse is located at 5 Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook. Call 630.571.1808 or visit perryssteakhouse.com.

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COCKTAILS

There is a welcome dose of magic to be found Perry’s cocktail list, which glints, glows and smokes in the most unexpected ways

 

FASHIONED FIRST
If you like the smoky notes that comes from making an old fashioned with Elijah Craig small batch bourbon, consider the advantages of sipping one that arrives haloed by a cloud of vanilla-scented smoke. Add some cocoa bitters and a touch of French vanilla and you have yourself an old fashioned tailored for our blustery Midwestern winters. 

DRAGON RITA
This creative play on a classic margarita literally glitters, due to a sparkling gold ice cube. The addition of an agave nectar offers a sweet counterbalance to the natural smoke