This week, my sweet husband took me to celebrate my birthday at The Peddler Steak House in Boone, North Carolina.  I usually like to ignore my birthday, but I agreed to go because he told me I was in for a really fabulous meal.  We’ve been to Boone many times, but I’d never eaten at The Peddler.

The restaurant is housed in a dark-ish looking building right in the heart of Boone’s business district.  It’s across the street from the Holiday Inn Express. If you ever find yourself staying there, at least you know you’ll have food nearby.

Upon entering, we were given the choice to sit inside the restaurant, or in the lovely atrium area.  This wasn’t date night since we had the kids, so I wanted the bright and sunny area.  There are some partitioned-off tables in the sunlit room, which was nice.  We selected a table by the window.  Given the high price point of the menu items, I expected the decor and atmosphere to be a little more sophisticated.  It’s clear that the focus is on the food.

The whole family enjoyed a delicious dinner in this beautiful sunshine! My son complained a little about being right in the direct sunlight, but he survived.

Soon after being seated, we were visited by the actual steak peddler.  He carved the steak right in front of us!  We ordered some fried mozzarella sticks as appetizers, and we all visited the salad bar — which is included with the meal.

The salad bar is pretty limited to, well, salad.  There were some unique offerings on it, though.  My son thought the caviar was a bowl of blackberries.  Guess we don’t get out much, at least to fancy places! They also had french onion soup available, with fresh hot rolls.  I really liked the soup and rolls!

My husband has been to The Peddler restaurant in Gatlinburg, TN.  He was surprised that the Boone location was, apparently, much smaller than the one in Gatlinburg. He promises to take me to that one sometime.  I’m holding him to it!

The servers at The Peddler are super attentive.  We had at least 3 ladies looking out for our table, and I mean literally looking out.  Someone walked by our table at least once every 3 or 4 minutes.

Our meals arrived just as we finished our salads.  Perfect timing!
Both my husband and daughter ordered ribeye steaks.  No one in my family likes it when I take pictures of their food, so I have to be as quick as a ninja. Apologies for the less than stellar photography.

My son really wanted the crab leg meal, but it was $35 and….well, it was $35.  I was afraid he would waste about $20 worth.  So, we got a side of crab legs added to my husband’s meal for $12.  It was a half-portion of crab legs…whatever that equals to.  He also got the kid’s chicken nugget meal.

I ordered the filet mignon with a side of crab legs.   So yes, mine cost more than $35.  It’s okay because I was the birthday girl, and I definitely wasn’t going to waste any crab legs.

So here’s how the whole thing went down.  The steaks were divine — so tender and full of flavor.  Seriously, I’m not even a steak-loving girl, and I knew this was heaven.  As you can see, the “half portion” side of crab legs turned out to be two giant sea creature legs.  Holy smokes, these were phenomenal.   And that little melty pot of clarified butter you see there…pure bliss.  We all agreed this was probably our best meal since forever.

I know you’re concerned about the little boy I love.  Yes, he had enough to eat. He devoured the two crab legs and shared one of mine.  I convinced him to slow down and savor the meat, not to swallow it whole like he does when we go to Captain George’s seafood buffet.  Lo and behold, the crabmeat was enough for him. He didn’t even taste one chicken nugget.   I ate the rest of the crab legs (so good) and a few bites of steak. I ended up taking the rest of the steak home for later.  The baked potato wasn’t very good, so I decided not to use up stomach space for it. Instead, my carbs were going to come from the dessert menu!

I asked the waitress if they had chocolate cake.  She said I would want the Tollhouse Cake, which comes with ice cream.  I don’t like ice cream, but I love chocolate cake — and it was my birthday, after all — so I ordered that.  Here’s what arrived on my table.

This is not chocolate cake.  This is a cookie cake with some ice cream.

Now, if you like cookie cake, you would probably LOVE this.  My son inhaled it.  I’m not a fan of cookies, or ice cream, plus I wanted chocolate cake.  Yes, I’m typing that in a whiny voice.  I took one bite and pushed the rest toward the 9 year old eating machine. Big bummer.

My daughter ordered cheesecake, and loved what she got.  It was light, cool, and refreshing.  Just delicious!  She only ate a few bites because, like the rest of us, she was stuffed!

Our meal at The Peddler Steak House was tasty!  The next time we’re craving a good steak, it’s definitely going to be a top choice.  I also hope to visit the one in Gatlinburg soon, so that I can compare the two.

What’s your favorite birthday meal?