This restaurant has prime rib every day, but it becomes a stellar deal one night a week

Today’s adventure in deal-seeking brings me to prime rib.

A good price and good prime rib rarely coexist, which is why this was a surprising find.

I’ll direct you to Stanley & Seafort’s, the restaurant with this-is-why-we-live-here views of Tacoma from its perch on McKinley Hill.

Every night is prime rib night at Stanley’s, but Thursdays are when diners will find a $60 deal that buys two multicourse prime rib dinners and a bottle of wine.

Entree choices include three choices for those who don’t eat red meat — chicken, fish or pasta — but the eight-ounce prime rib dinner is where I’d point bargain-hunting steak lovers.

The cheapest prime rib on the regular menu is the 12-ounce cut for $39, so you can see how the math works in a diner’s favor.

“The prime rib recipe has always been the same,” said executive chef Tony Radelich.

It’s also the restaurant’s signature dish.

“It’s slow-roasted in rock salt,” Radelich said. “We pull it out and let it rest, then hit it with an herb rub and put it over high heat to give it a roasted edge.”

That’s what showed up on the plate. It was medium rare — as requested — with a nice shimmer of fat around that roasted, herb-crusted edge. The meat was flanked by grated horseradish and au jus for dipping, roasted rainbow carrots and Brussels sprouts and garlic mashed Yukon potatoes.

The eight-ounce portion is standard, but for $5.95 big eaters can upgrade to the 12-ounce cut.

Before the main event was a choice of starters: Caesar salad with garlicky house-made croutons or a bowl of creamy lobster bisque topped with a plop of lobster meat and drizzle of butter (because lobster bisque is just not decadent enough).

Dinner finished with a shared dessert. We skipped creme brulee in favor of a key lime pie that didn’t disappoint with its pronounced tang and fluffy toupee of whipped cream and fresh lime zest.

The dinner-for-two-deal included a choice of a Stonecap chardonnay or Stonecap cabernet sauvignon. It’s a Washington wine you can find for under $10 bottle, so don’t get your hopes up that you’re getting some kind of secret handshake deal.

Still, a bottle of bargain Washington wine and a multicourse dinner for two for $60 is no longer reasonable to expect at a view restaurant (or even a bar). I’ll take it.

For those who limit their red meat intake — I increasingly am becoming one of those people — look to the chicken, the fish-of-the-day special or the vegetarian pesto tortellini.

I dug into the chicken expecting it to be a throw-away item that chefs put on deal menus. It wasn’t. Chicken breast was liberally coated in Dijon and bread crumbs and oven baked until crunchy outside, juicy inside. Wilted spinach with bacon bread crumbs and mashed Yukons flanked two pieces of chicken.

The $60 menu has expanded a month into the deal. Potato choices now include roasted fingerlings or potato cakes. Small menu tweaks might come in the future, said Radelich and general manager Scott Diaz.

Diaz said business has been picking up, so it’s best to make reservations to get the weekly $60 dinner deal. The offer starts every Thursday when the restaurant opens at 3 p.m.

Tip: The restaurant also has an early dinner deal for $29 per person that’s offered daily from 3-5 p.m.

Stanley & Seafort’s

Where: 115 E. 34th St., Tacoma.

Info: 253-473-7300 or stanleyandseaforts.com

Hours: 3-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday; 3-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Brunch served 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.