Steak in Your Heart: David Burke's Primehouse

When we stayed at The James Hotel, we received two free $25 gift cards that we could use for either parking or the hotel restaurant, David Burke's Primehouse. We decided to spend our first $25 gift card on a Valentine's Day brunch.

The place is sleek but warm and inviting -- not stodgy like the restaurant the night before. But, like Chef Rick Tramonto, Chef David Burke was also a contestant on the second season of Top Chef Masters. He appeared as a guest judge on a recent episode of Top Chef: All-Stars as well.

Power Driver -- orange, carrot, ginger ($5); Very Berry Smoothie -- raspberry, blueberry, strawberry, cherry ($7).

The fresh juices and smoothies rock. Definitely order one.

Primehouse features brunch bentos on the weekend. The lacquered plastic compartmentalized boxes and a bit of tempura are the most Japanese parts of these brunches. The rest is pure beefy Americana.

Mystery Box of the Day -- slider with cheddar cheese, steak tips and whipped potatoes, lobster scrambled eggs with crème fraiche and caviar, tempura ($35).

The Mystery Box changes all the time and is composed of whatever the chef feels like doing that day. When our server listed the items for us, we were sold. Everything in this box was excellent.

Little Bull -- 207L beef tips, arugula, bleu cheese, vinaigrette; grilled steak, mushrooms, onions, whipped potato; short rib dumplings, horseradish, cheddar cheese, BBQ sauce; tempura green beans ($21).

How much awesomeness can you pack in a box? When it's the Little Bull, a whole lot! The meat at Primehouse is superb. High quality. Well prepared. Adorably assembled.

Lollipop Tree -- cheesecake lollipops, raspberry cream ($14).

It's a tree! With lollipops! Made of cheesecake! With a pot of cream! There are not enough exclamations to convey how fun this was!

After our tasty Valentine's Day brunch, we decided to use our other $25 card at the restaurant again the next day. Hey, Chicago is really cold in February. It was so convenient to walk downstairs to discounted deliciousness.

Complimentary popover.

Bravo, beautiful bread!

Pastrami Burker -- bacon mustard, Swiss cheese, rye bun, truffle Asiago fries ($10).


Oh, man. Good. Really good.

40-Day Dry-Aged Prime Steak Burker -- garlic spinach, crispy shallots, bacon mayonnaise, toasted potato bun, truffle Asiago fries ($12).


Oh, man. Good. Really good. Yeah, I just said the same thing for both burgers.

Mini ice cream cones -- nine mini sugar cones with assorted ice creams and sorbets ($10).


Squeeeee! The whimsy! The wonder! We loved the desserts here!

We thoroughly enjoyed our absolutely delightful meals at David Burke's Primehouse. They were made even better with a $50 discount!