I’m a huge fan of high-end steak houses.</p><p>My paycheck is not. My visits to expensive restaurants are rare, usually on someone else’s dime, and it has been a long time.</p><p>When the assignment came to visit 801 Steak & Chop House in the Power & Light District, I checked it out online, found the menu and saw the prices.</p><p>“Whoa.”</p><p>High-end for sure, and mostly a la carte. The steaks range in price from $38 to the $55 24-ounce porterhouse. Vegetable and potato sides range from the $6 lobster corn chowder to the $17 oysters rockefeller.</p><p>But wait. Clicking around on the site, we found a prix fixe menu: a three-course dinner for just $29.95 from 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday.</p><p>More my style.</p><p>We park and walk through the Power & Light District to the restaurant, which sits under a giant retro neon sign, just across the street from Ted’s Montana Grill.</p><p>The 801 Steak & Chop House opened last October, the third site in a chain with a location in Omaha and the award-winning original in Des Moines. Chef Christopher Dennis and general manager Sheri Osborn both came to Kansas City from Des Moines.</p><p>Walking in, we’re greeted by an impressive floor-to-ceiling wall of wine bottles.</p><p>We’re led to a booth in an empty dining room. The room has light hardwood floors, a towering ceiling and white tablecloths. High windows provide bright but diffused light, showing the sky and the H&R Block building soaring overhead, while dark wooden shutters keep out the late afternoon glare. The walls are decorated with photos and paintings of cows.</p><p>We get a stack of menus: one for the 2,700 bottles of wine on hand, one for drinks, a main one and one called the “Fresh List,” which highlights the week’s specials.</p><p>Our server soon appears, introduces himself as Mark and takes our drink orders while we sort through the paperwork.</p><p>Mark is soon back with the drinks and appears again, this time pushing a cart covered with what looks like 50 pounds of meat, each cut wrapped tightly in cellophane. He picks up each piece and describes its marbling, how it’s aged and how it’s prepared. Mark tells us that of all the beef produced in the U.S., less than 2 percent is certified as USDA Prime, and that 801 Chop House uses only USDA Prime.</p><p>It’s a seven-minute lesson in meatery … steakology … steakery? It’s educational, and it’s evident Mark knows his stuff.</p><p>While he’s talking, I’ve noticed the knife on the table in front of me. It’s heavy and long, with a large wooden handle. It looks like it could’ve been mounted on the end of a rifle.</p><p>They don’t mess around here. This is serious meat business.</p><p>Other tables in the room are now occupied, and I see another server giving the meat presentation.</p><p>We order from the Sunday prix fixe menu and also order up appetizers.</p><p>The pancetta-wrapped scallops come atop a deep red, slightly sweet roasted red pepper glaze and disappear first, and fast. The kids like the lobster corn dogs. They are interesting and fun, with a rich shrimp/lobster sort of mousse hidden inside what looks like regular county fair corn dogs.</p><p>The shining star of the starters is the “Down Home sautéed jumbo shrimp,” entirely underplayed on the menu, which simply says, “garlic and herb butter.” It’s way more than something that mundane.</p><p> Four giant shrimp nestle atop a large pile of mashed potatoes (yes!) with a garlic and butter sauce, for sure, and rosemary and flecks of pepper … but there’s something else that makes this special, and I can’t figure it out. It’s revealed to me a few days later in a phone call with Osborn, the general manager: The mystery ingredient is Guinness stout.</p><p>It may be the most perfect dish ever.</p><p>The prix fixe menu offers a choice of a Caesar or iceberg wedge salad; prime rib, filet mignon or salmon with sides; and fruit sorbet or a crème brulee.</p><p>For the entrée, we stick with what we came for: red meat.</p><p>The prime rib and the filet mignon, at least three inches tall, arrive, perfectly grilled, with beautiful asparagus and more of those mashed potatoes.</p><p> The question to Osborn is obvious: Why open an out-of-town steak house in the center of Cowtown?</p><p>“We’re out to show what we’re about,” she said. “We just try to be extremely hospitable from the minute you walk in the door to the minute you leave. … We’re a USDA prime steak house. That’s what we are, and we don’t try to be anything else. We just want people to be happy when they leave.”</p><p>We did leave happy, and we’ll be back. It’ll have to be a special occasion, but I cannot wait to have another go at those “Down Home” shrimp.</p><p><hr class="infobox-hr-separator" /> <div class="infobox"> <strong>MY DINNER AT </strong>is a story about a single dining experience. The narrative is based on an anonymous visit. The Star pays for the meal.</p><p></div> <hr class="infobox-hr-separator" /> <div class="infobox"> <strong><span class="infobox-head">801 chop house </span></strong><br /> 71 E. 14th St., in the Power & Light District</p><p>816-994-8800</p><p><strong>Hours:</strong> 5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 4 to 9 p.m. Sundays. Happy hour at the Martini Bar is 3 to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and features $1 appetizers.</p><p><strong>Web site:</strong><a href="http://www.801steakandchop.com">www.801steakandchop.com</a> and on Facebook</p><p><strong>Entrée range:</strong> The Sunday three-course prix fixe menu is $29.95 per person. The regular menu is mostly a la carte. Steaks top out with the $55 24-ounce porterhouse. A chicken breast, including mashed potatoes and veggies, is $27.</p><p><strong>Vegetarian choices:</strong> Hey, it’s a steak house. But there’s the “801 Vegetarian Plate,” steamed or grilled, for $20.95.</p><p><strong>Credit cards:</strong> All major cards accepted</p><p><strong>Noise level:</strong> Quiet</p><p><strong>Seating capacity:</strong> 399</p><p><strong>Parking:</strong> In the Power & Light lots</p><p><strong>Handicap accessible:</strong> Yes</p><p><strong>Favorite or don’t miss dish:</strong> the “Down Home” sautéed shrimp appetizer, and any of the steaks</p><p><strong>Recession-proof deals:</strong> Again, the Sunday prix fixe menu</p><p><strong>Soundtrack:</strong> Jazz of all flavors</p><p></div> <hr class="infobox-hr-separator" /> <div class="infobox"> <strong><span class="infobox-head">what to drink </span></strong><br /> The 801 Chop House wine list is extensive and will take some time to navigate. The restaurant stocks 2,700 bottles of wine.</p><p><hr></p><p>Reach Keith Robison at krobison@kcstar.com</p><p></div>