Finally, a carpaccio!

Mired in a food slump, ESPN colleague Amy K. Nelson (as opposed to Craig T. Nelson) invited me to Modern Steak for lunch. Lunch in a mall rarely bodes well unless Johnny Rockets is your idea of fine dining.

Nevertheless, Modern Streak was sleek and comfortable, attempting an airy country club feel, replete with plush, wicker seating and shade umbrellas all designed to give an afternoon cocktail a breezy, carefree edge. Contained withing the encroaching and antiseptic indoors of the mall, it achieved the faux version of its goal perfectly. Call it the Las Vegas of lunching...

I had been down all weekend, so imagine my optimism when I saw a beef carpaccio on the menu. I leapt, adding a refreshing margarita to it (it came in a martini glass, with floating cucumber slice - a nice touch) and the slump seemed to be ending.

But the carpaccio was awful. The beef was fresh, sliced thinly enough, but it tasted unseasoned and weak. A generous, unsatisfying portion it was.
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