IT used to be known as Texas Roadhouse Grill. Now it goes by the name Wild West Roadhouse Grill, and with its new name comes an expanded menu that goes beyond its popular Southwestern style cuisine. It crosses culinary borders, adopting various Old Western cooking influences in its menu to give its patrons a true and extensive taste of cowboy cuisine.
Traditional Texas specialties continue to dominate the restaurant’s menu selections, and these mean hearty dishes with uncomplicated flavors just like those whipped up by cowboys who have survived long trail drives by roasting meats by the campfire. These have, however, been joined by new dishes originating from the American Southwest, which boast of that distinct blend of Southern and Western tastes infused with Mexican inspirations.
New dishes on the menu for urban cowboys – and cowgirls – with hefty appetites are Crispy Pork Bacon (lightly breaded bacon strips fried to a perfect crisp and served with garlic-vinegar sauce for dipping), Mushroom Sirloin Steak (8oz. sirloin grilled with the restaurant’s special seasoning and smothered with creamy mushroom sauce), Peppercorn Burger (seasoned with peppercorn spice, bleu cheese dressing, onion, crispy onion strings, pickles, lettuce and tomato, and served with homemade fries), Smoked Cowboy Chicken Fajita (smoked chicken served with bell pepper and onion, mixed cheese, bacon, onion strings and sliced jalapeños, and drizzled with honey chipotle glaze), and Southwestern Tuna (tuna belly with Southwestern spice, served with Wild West rice, kettle black beans, ranch dressing, pico de gallo and tortilla strips).
My husband Raff and I attended the media lunch at Wild West Roadhouse Grill on the fifth level of Shangri-La Plaza last week and had a taste of some of the restaurant’s old favorites and new offerings. We all shared orders of the restaurant’s delicious appetizers, such as Jesse James Sampler, a combination platter of Chicken Tenders, Buffalo Wings and Wild Cheese Fritters with sauces for dipping (Php470); Seafood Basket, which is breaded squid rings, shrimps and fish fillet, served with French fries and marinara sauce (Php405); Smoked Salmon Salad, crisp salad mix topped with smoked shredded Norwegian salmon, pico de gallo, candied walnuts and green onion, served with ranch dressing and lemon wedge (Php250 for the lone ranger size and Php395 for the cowboy style size); and Wild West Quesadilla, grilled chicken, fajita onion and mixed cheese in buttery toasted flour tortilla, served with salsa, sour cream and diced tomato (Php395).
The meat lovers among us ordered The Great Ribeye, Wild West Roadhouse’s most popular steak, which is a 12oz. U.S. ribeye steak seasoned with herbs and garlic and served with fresh veggies and mashed potato (Php1,450); Flat Iron Steak, which is grilled U.S. flat iron steak served with roasted herb jus, sweet corn on the cob and mashed potato (Php795); Open Range Beef Tips, which are melt-in-your-mouth steak cubes marinated and grilled, and served with fresh veggies and mashed potato (Php550); and Wrangler’s Pork Steak, consisting of two pieces of grilled pork steaks topped with melted Swiss cheese, drizzled with au jus, and served with Wild West rice and fresh veggies (Php420).
Those of us who prefer fish and seafood ordered Shrimp and Salmon Skewer, which was perfect because it consists of three skewers of juicy shrimp and salmon, grilled and seasoned with Roadhouse herbs and spices, served on a bed of Wild West rice and fresh veggies (Php495). My husband Raff and I shared a booth table with publicist Jeans Cequina of Propa Consultancy, and the three of us had similar diets that excluded red meats and concentrated on chicken and seafood.
There was also Buffalo Bill’s Prawns (Php450), a platter of four black tiger prawns grilled and smothered with Parmesan cheese, served with Wild West rice and fresh veggies. It’s part of the Summer Catch: Light & Tasty! promotion being offered by the restaurant for the season of summer. Other Summer Catch offerings include Lapu-Lapu Gratin (Php475), grilled lapu-lapu fillet with Cajun seasoning topped with Alfredo sauce, mixed cheese and diced tomatoes, served with mushroom rice and fresh veggies, and Seafood Roll (Php295), which is a generous portion of fish fillet, squid and shrimps wrapped in flour tortilla and deep-fried until crisp, served with kettle black beans and Wild West rice.
My personal choices were the Seafood Basket, Smoked Salmon Salad and Shrimp and Salmon Skewer.
As for dessert, which is a lot of people’s favorite part of a meal, choices were Cowboy Chocolate Cake (Php275), most decadent, rich and moist chocolate cake in the West; Mighty Oreo Mud Pie (Php285), layers of rich coffee and chocolate ice cream with Snickers candy pieces atop a crushed Oreo cookie crust, drizzled with chocolate sauce; Brownie Bars (Php250), a brownie bar drizzled with hot fudge and caramel sauce, topped with whipped cream and cherry, which diners can enjoy a la mode by adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top; Apple Crumble (Php195), apple chunks with cinnamon crumble topping, served with vanilla ice cream and topped with caramel sauce; and Mocha Almond Sans Rival (Php265), mocha sans rival with caramel sauce and walnuts, topped with mint leaves and crispy cinnamon tortilla tuille.
We opted for the Mighty Oreo Mud Pie.
(Wild West Roadhouse Grill has two branches: Bonifacio High Street, with telephone number 856-1547; and Shangri-La Plaza, with telephone number 655-3023.)
