Dining Out at Costco: Morton's Steak and Stolichnaya

Friday before Fathers Day seemed like a good time to hit up the local Costco, and the sample lineup, as well as the coupon specials, did not disappoint. Catering to Dads everywhere, the alcohol coupon hand-outs included $10 off 18-year-old Chivas Regal and $4 off a 1.75-liter bottle of Stolichnaya, which we took advantage of – it brought the price down to only $17.49. How could we resist?

But the star of the show was the $12.99 six pack of White Apron 7 oz. apple-wood bacon-wrapped sirloin steaks – a perfect compliment to the $6.99 jumbo lobster tails we got the night before at Ralphs. Tina correctly guessed that the steaks might be in stock on this particular Friday in anticipation of Dad’s Day barbeques. We also went home with a pack of Jamba Juice mixes -- 10 eight-oz. smooties in individual packets, less than $7 with coupon.

Regarding our previous post on Apple iPods, we confirmed that Costco no longer carries them. Some of the outlets, and Costco.com, are selling off inventory, but the Los Feliz warehouse has run out. Anyway, we’re going back soon to use leftover gift money to pick up the Vizio surround-sound bar ($89.99), $10 less than regular retail and a great add-on to the 46-inch Sony Bravia LED HDTV we scored at Best Buy last September (and the amazing Sony Blu-Ray player we bought on sale at Costco for only $119).

Moving on to the free samples, the highlight was Morton’s tri-tip, juicy and tender. The most popular offering was clearly the French bread pizza, followed by a deep-dish version. Total feeding frenzy and mayhem around the generous free sample lady, who insisted on giving me two samples since my first bite was much smaller than the others, the sad last piece on the tray after the swarm of ravenous Costco shoppers finished feasting.

The fresh second sample of the deep dish pepperoni was large and delicious. Tina also got two samples. Which brings to mind another Costco Commandment: Two samples at the same station are always permitted when two types of samples are being offered.

Here’s the rest of the lineup, rated a strong overall B in our book:

 Chocolate peanuts
 Pink salmon
 Edammis hummus and pita bread
 Ling Lang potstickers
 Santa Barbara Bay spread, seafood and spinach, on crackers
 Waffles
 Starbucks Mocha Frappacino Ice Cream Bars
 Mozzarella spinach ravioli
 Jamba Juice strawberry smoothies
 Varieties of Special Roadshow artisan breads (we bought a loaf of the black pepper and bleu cheese)

Photo courtesy of Morton's Steakhouse.