Monday, February 10, 2014

Chianina Steakhouse: A Rare Breed in Long Beach

Before, if you had asked me where to eat in Long Beach, I would have no answer. But now, Chianina Steakhouse has moved in and will soon be bringing the rare cattle breed to their menu. Chianina is an Italian breed that is the largest and one of the oldest breed of cattle in the world.

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Lobster Broth
Since they are raising and breeding the cattle, the Chianina steak won't be available at the restaurant until March or April, but lucky for me they had butchered one for a preview dinner so we could try it!

More on that later, as there are plenty of other things to eat here. Our dinner started with a cup of buttery lobster broth.

Next is a Beet and winter root vegetable salad with mâché, almonds, raisin ($14)
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I'm used to having my beets sweet and with creamy cheese like burrata or goat cheese instead of the slightly tart dressing here, but everything was fresh.

I loved the Dungeness crab with jicama, avocado, micro cilntro, Meyer lemon, Fresno chili
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The dungeness crab is hidden inside the rolled avocado. Sweet crab, creamy avocado, and a light heat from the chili.
Don't miss their dinner roll, baked with honey and sea salt. We couldn't stop eating this and had to resist asking for another roll. We knew there were a lot of food coming.
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Pork belly, caramel apple puree, crispy skin, lentils, and chicory ($16)
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The apple puree worked nicely with the fatty pork belly.

Tortellini en Brodo, filled with taleggio cheese, caramelized onion.
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This is a fun play on French onion soup and the broth was excellent.

Braised Colorado lamb shank in reduction sauce ($30)
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Fall-off-the-bone tender!

Sides here include whole roasted cauliflower with cayenne and brown butter
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or buttery Potato gratin
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Brussels sprouts with bacon
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Entrees included a well prepared San Pietro/John Dory with capers, sunchoke purée
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We were stuffed at this point, but the main attraction came. The Chianina steak! The steaks are Porterhouse, aged for 30 days. The chef brought them out and plated them tableside for us.
Chianina
The steak was served almost rare, still bloody in the middle, with a drizzle of olive oil.
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The meat was very lean, yet still tender. I must say I've never had steak quite like it. The closest thing we could describe it as is meat-flavored tuna. It had a meaty flavor but the texture of seared tuna. I will definitely have to revisit this beef when I get the chance!

They had one of my favorite desserts here, Baba au rhum with candied fruit (chantilly whipped cream on the side)
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Any dessert is rum is good for me! I could use more rum but still really enjoyed this nonetheless.

I didn't think there was much good food in Long Beach and was quite impressed with my meal at Chianina. Again, the Chianina itself won't be available for another couple of months, but there are plenty of other good dishes here. Be sure to come back and try the chianina, though!

Chianina Steakhouse
5716 East 2nd St
Long Beach, CA 90803
(562) 434-2333
http://www.chianina.com/
Chianina Steakhouse on Urbanspoon

1 comments:

Pink Foodie

Bookmarked! I've been looking for a good place to try in Long Beach.

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