Showing posts with label steakhouse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label steakhouse. Show all posts

Thursday, January 11, 2018

BOA Steakhouse: dineL.A. Restaurant Week Exclusive Series Preview

by guest blogger Bryan Tsunoda @discovering_LA

Dine L.A. Restaurant Week for Winter 2018 begins Friday, Jan. 12 and runs through Jan. 26. Approximately 300 LA area restaurants are participating for this event. Also returning is dineL.A.’s exclusive series: 16 select restaurants have created a special menu only available during dine L.A. These exclusive dinners start at $95 and BOA Steakhouse in Santa Monica and West Hollywood both return after successfully participating last year.

BOA Steakhouse is modern and has an impressive decor which quickly establishes the tone of the restaurant. We sat in the expansive outdoor patio which is designed to protect its diners from the elements. In January, al fresco dining is unheard of in most cities and I appreciated the experience.

Their dine L.A. menu is a four-course dinner featuring multiple selections per dish and the choices available are quite impressive. Foie Gras Torchon, black truffle cannelloni, Japanese Wagyu and pan seared scallop are just a few of the savory selections. A duo of exquisite desserts round out the last course (you can check out the full menu here).

BOA Steakhouse is well known for their caesar salad.

Prepared tableside it is fun watching the preparation, but it is also prepared to perfection. Foie gras lovers will appreciate the torchon method because it is prepared sous vide and is the ultimate way to prepare foie gras. It was placed on top of a funnel cake with blood orange marmalade giving it a salty and sweet experience.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

A Carnivorous Birthday Dinner at Bazaar Meat (Las Vegas, NV)

I spent my birthday weekend last December eating and drinking my way through Las Vegas with some friends from LA. We had some pretty stellar food throughout the weekend, including a meat-centric birthday blowout at Jose Andres' Bazaar Meat!

One of the hardest decisions you'll have to make during a dinner at Bazaar Meat is which cow you want your steak that night to come from. One of the most special meats they have is the Vaca Vieja, which means "old cow". This is 8-10 year old Holstein dairy cow (cattle for beef is typically slaughtered starting from 18 months and dairy cows from 4 years), and vaca vieja is typical meat found in Basque Country. Because of the age, there's actually more flavors to the vaca vieja meat, but the server warned that it could be an acquired taste.

Since we wanted to try as many things as possible, and the steak tartare is made with vaca vieja, we decided to try that particular meat as a tartare, and try a different one for our steak!

The components of the steak tartare was beautifully plated and then later mixed tableside. We ordered the Classic Tartare ($32)
Bazaar Meat
See the dark color of the vaca vieja? It's very distinct from other beef at the restaurant.
Bazaar Meat
The tartare was a sirloin cut, prepared tableside with Savora mustard, egg yolk, HP sauce, and anchovy.

Bazaar Meat

Monday, July 25, 2016

Steak with a View at SER Steak + Spirits (Dallas, Texas)

Dinner is not just about the food. Dining out is an experience, and sometimes the view makes the experience. That is the case at SER Steak + Spirits in the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the food and the service are also solid, making your night admiring the Dallas skyline even more enjoyable.
SER Steak
SER Steak
I visited SER the evening before Valentine's Day, so I got to try the prix fixe menu they had for V-day. They had live music and dancing going on, as well.

The amuse bouche was a spoonful of bay scallops with truffles
SER Steak
I opted for wine instead of cocktails, that night, because how can I say no to some Louis Roederer Cristal champagne?
SER Steak
When I visited in February, SER has just gotten their new Executive Chef, Kevin Spencer, and the Valentine's Day menu really let him show off what he's about while he slowly changes the regular menu. I loved the second course of Kobe tataki, beech mushrooms, soy, avocado, pig ears, orange.
SER Steak

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Late Night Happy Hour at Fleming's Steakhouse

If you've shied away from dining at a steakhouse because of the price, head over to Fleming's Steakhouse for their "late night happy hour", which isn't all that late. Called "8 for $9 til 10", you can get 8 items for $9 each from 8-10pm. They also have a "5 for $6 til 7" which may be an even better deal, but the offerings are better for the later night menu.

The same deal is available at all Fleming's locations nationwide. Even better, at most Fleming's locations you also get happy hour prices on some drinks (8 wines and cocktails) including a flight of single malt scotches for $9! Alas, Boston doesn't allow alcohol happy hour (poor me) so I can only show you the food offerings.

First of all, even though you're only there for the cheaper food at happy hour, they still serve you the housemade bread - served with tomato basil butter and Chardonnay-infused gorgonzola sauce.

Flemings

Flemings
The $9 items that are offered are the same full size that you'd get from the regular menu and includes things like the Filet Mignon Flatbread (danish blue and monterey jack cheese, red onion confit).

The filet mignon was unusually tender for toppings you'd find on a flatbread. This is a steakhouse and it's filet mignon after all! This was probably my favorite of the things I tried.

For the $6 flatbread during the earlier happy hour, you get mushroom and artichoke instead of filet mignon.

 I didn't have the stomach room to try everything and had to skip the prime burger, which I am sure would make a great affordable dinner if you get off work late one day!
Instead, that evening I tried the lobster lettuce wraps (North Atlantic lobster, crumbled bacon, crisped onion strings, orange-fennel slaw, tarragon dressing)
Flemings

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.

IMG_2035

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)
IMG_2043
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
IMG_2046
The dungeness crab is hidden inside the rolled avocado. Sweet crab, creamy avocado, and a light heat from the chili.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Fleming's Steakhouse Adds Steak Companions Menu

Fleming's Steakhouse has now added a "steak companion" menu to all their locations. These are seafood and other "toppings" that you can add to your steak!

The companions include a truffle poached lobster with bearnaise sauce and caviar, which obviously I had to get. Going to a steakhouse is already a splurge, but for special occasions might as well get lobster and caviar.

IMG_0410


They had a bone-in filet mignon that night, which I highly recommend over the other steaks! My friend got the bone-in filet mignon and after trying hers I didn't want to return it ... especially the tender parts near the bone. We topped this with the King crab with herb butter.
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The other companion options are Diablo Shrimp (baked with spiced barbecue butter sauce), and a Flavor Trio of steak spreads. They also have three sauces like chimichurri and peppercorn that are complimentary.

We also had fun with their new digital wine list. You can browse by types of wine or look at the recommended pairings for specific dishes.
IMG_0407

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Young Women at the Helm: Nick + Stef's Steakhouse (Downtown Los Angeles)

A recent article in Brand X spotted a trend of young women heading restaurant kitchens. One of them is 29-year-old Megan Logan, who is the new executive chef at Patina's Nick + Stef's Steakhouse.

Chef Megan Logan
Megan externed at Nick + Stef's while at Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Pasadena, CA, which then opened doors for her. After graduating in 2003, Logan continued with Patina Restaurant Group, eventually becoming sous chef at Patina before being promoted to executive chef at Nick + Stef’s in 2010.

I had the opportunity to try her creations myself when I was invited to a blogger dinner back in October.

Our meal kicked off with a Kusshi oyster followed by a beet salad with gorgonzola cheese, toasted hazelnuts.

Beet Salad

We enjoyed our appetizers, but the steak and the sides were the stars of the night.

When our main attraction came, we were served not one but two pieces of steak: Prime Angus Rib eye and New York steak, both cooked to a wonderfully juicy and tender medium rare. The rib-eye steaks at Nick + Stef's are dry-aged for 28 days.
Steak

Of course, the steak came with a variety of sides. All of the sides were excellent and we dug into them like mad, especially the cabbage and kale fricassee with bacon lardon.
IMG_4363
sides
Mushrooms and creamed spinach.


Nick + Stef's is also doing a nice cheese and craft beer pairing program, which we also tried. Everyone's favorite pairing was the Hook's 10-year cheddar with Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale ale.
Cheese Board

Craft Beer Tasting

The lack of women in the professional kitchens used to be common knowledge, but Megan showed that even a young woman can lead the kitchen of a steakhouse, thought to be male-dominated, and do it well. Here's to all the female chefs out there.

Nick + Stef's Steakhouse
330 S Hope St
Los Angeles, CA 90071
(213) 680-0330
www.patinagroup.com/nickStef/
Nick & Stef's Steakhouse on Urbanspoon

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Spring Menu at Fleming's Steakhouse

The semi-new L.A. Live next to the Staples Center and Nokia Theatre has certainly livened up downtown LA with its multitude restaurant offerings. One of these restaurants is Fleming's Steakhouse, which recently launched its Spring menu. They held a tasting of their new menu items for a few media/bloggers, but since I couldn't make it, they generously invited me to come at another time. I brought a friend of mine from college in the hopes that feeding him steak might render him more inclined to help me move again if need be, even after the previous moving fiasco with the super-heavy-bed-that-won't-fit-in-the-elevator.

But I digress.

The dimly lit dining room is reminiscent of an old school steakhouse, complete with white vs black napkins (though I was surprised when the server asked which one I wanted, as opposed to looking at what I'm wearing and giving me the one I needed).

Housemade rosemary bread with black pepper butter and chardonnay-infused feta cheese.
Nice herb flavor on the bread, served warm. The black pepper butter was smooth and had a nice kick. I really liked the special feta cheese.

I've never been to a Fleming's before and so I never knew about "Fleming's 100", their list of 100 wines available by the glass, about 30 of which are under $10 per glass. I got a glass of the 2007 Louis Jadot Pinot Noir ($13)

The Chef Partner, Calvin Holladay, came out to greet us and I decided to let him send out whatever he wanted me to try from the new menu offerings.

We started with some Lump Crab Louis Wraps (butter lettuce, avocado, bacon, chives, egg, tomatoes)
This reminds me of a the Chinese lettuce wraps but with BLT + generous lumps of fresh crab. They used fresh quality ingredients including the sweet juicy tomatoes. Can't go wrong. This was probably my favorite of the night.

Roasted Mushroom Ravioli (portobello & shiitake mushrooms, porcini butter sauce)
I also quite liked the pasta. Al dente ravioli filled with earthy and flavorful mushrooms topped with a rich buttery sauce made for a bite to savor. While they don't make the pastas in house, Fleming's worked directly with the producer to develop the pasta they felt was just right for the dish.

Tillamook Bay Petrale Sole (crab beignets, lemon butter sauce)
Lightly breaded and fried, the sole was meaty and topped with Jalapenos and red peppers for extra kick and their crunch helped cut the richness of the dish. The crab and corn beignets were well spiced although after eating a whole one I felt they could be more moist.

Peppercorn Steak (prime NY steak, crushed white & black peppercorns, "F17" sauce)
The peppercorn crust made for a great flavor kick without being overwhelmingly peppery. Even though the steak is a bit overcooked (I ordered it medium rare) and thus tougher than what I normally like, I could easily finish my half because it was flavorful.

Our entrees came with two sides:
Roasted Baby Carrots (golden raisins, toasted almonds)
Let it be known that my friend hates cooked carrots, but for some reason he tried these (perhaps feeling that he should since I'm reviewing it) and loved it. Maybe loved is too strong a word, but he did indeed say it's the best cooked carrot he's ever had and that he can actually eat them and enjoy them.

On my part, the carrots were tender yet not overcooked and still crisp and the golden raisins added a nice extra sweetness.

Sauteed Haricot Vert (French green beans, shiitake mushrooms, porcini essence)
A simple dish of green beans elevated by the umami-ful garnish.

I knew that the friend that I took here was a huge cheesecake fan, so when the waiter said that their cheesecakes are the best, I decided to order it for us.
New York style cheesecake with blueberry sauce.
Light and fluffy, this cheesecake is not overwhelmingly sweet as some cheesecakes can be. The richness and slight tanginess of the cheesecake are complemented well by the blueberry sauce.

I forgot to write down the prices but appetizers were around $15-20 and the steak was around $30-35.

I have to say as far as chain steakhouses go, Fleming's pleasantly surprised me. Of course, because they had invited me they probably paid extra attention to the food they served that night, but it seemed that they did not slack off in choosing good ingredients, especially the produce the appetizers and side dishes. Being a steakhouse, their steak did not disappoint either with both the natural flavor from the meat and their spices and sauce. Next time I'll have to make sure to get it a bit more rare and it should be just right.


Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar
800 W Olympic Blvd Ste 113
Los Angeles, CA 90015
(213) 745-9911
www.flemingssteakhouse.com
Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar on Urbanspoon
Fleming's Prime Steakhouse in Los Angeles on Fooddigger

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

DineLA 09: Filet Mignon at Wolfgang's Steakhouse, So-so.

$34 for a 3-course meal that includes filet mignon. Sounds pretty good, right? That's what I thought and so I went to try Wolfgang's Steakhouse for the DineLA week - it was the cheapest of the steakhouses (no, Ruth's Chris is not even in the running) and seems to have pretty good reviews. I dragged Rumdood and Pepsimonster here with me.

I started with the lobster bisque.
The bisque was a tad too salty - maybe they had been heating the whole pot up all day/night long? I did find two bite-size pieces of lobster in it (ooh yay).

All three of us ended up getting the filet mignon (sounds like the most worthwhile!)
As always, I ask for my steak medium-rare. Here, the middle part was indeed medium-rare, but the outer sides were rather overcooked so I didn't start enjoying it until I get to the middle part. This steak was not as flavorful as we've had elsewhere. Good, not great.

The portion for the sides are generous. Among the three of us we got all of the available offerings: creamed spinach, german potatoes, and mashed potatoes.
Oh, and not only were the portions generous, they messed up and brought us extra servings of creamed spinach and mashed potatoes. But no, we didn't eat them (we didn't even finish the first serving). Spinach anyone?

For dessert, I tried the Apple Strudel
I thought this was okay - the pastry was rather soggy and it was served room temperature. They should've kept it crispier and warmer and this would've been much better.

Overall we were underwhelmed. The food was good enough as to not ruin the great company and we finished dinner just fine - but it definitely could've been better.
I guess we have to fork over more $$ for better next time? Like the $130 wagyu beef rib eye at Cut like Pepsimonster wants :)

Wolfgang's Steakhouse By Wolfgang Zwiener
445 N Canon Dr
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 385-0640
http://wolfgangssteakhouse.com/
Wolfgang's Steakhouse By Wolfgang Zwiener on Urbanspoon

Thursday, January 15, 2009

NYC: Pre-Theatre Deal at Center Cut Steakhouse

I decided to go to Center Cut since:1) it also happened to the OpenTable Stimulus Week when I was in NY and wanted to take advantage of the deal, and 2) it was right next to the Lincoln Center where I was going to see the musical South Pacific (AWESOME, btw).

It turned out though, Center Cut has a $39 pre/post-theatre prix-fixe deal all the time anyway! Oh well ...
The $39 deal is called the "Center Cut 4^2" so as you can deduce, it comes with 4 items: Soup, Salad, Entree, Side (and bonus cookies at the end).

First came the bread - which looked like a popover. It had a different texture and taste though (still hollow in the middle, however).For the soup I opted for the Golden Potato & White Truffle Cream w/ crispy shoestring potatoes
Nice texture (rich, creamy), and pretty aromatic with both the white truffle cream and the sliver of black truffle on there.

I also tried the Five Alarm Wagyu Chili Soup corn bread crisps and sour cream, that someone else ordered.
This tastes great, except that it was somewhat spicy for me - I had to finish it off with the rich, creamy potato soup to calm my tongue down.

For the "salad" I got the Mozzarella Compression opal basil and virgin olive oil
A great and simple appetizer. The tomatoes were amazing: sweet and juicy. All four of us ordered this dish and are glad we did.

For the entree I ordered the Steak Au Poivre: 6oz brandt beef filet, red peppercorn crust and braised belgian endive
This is actually a great steak! Well-prepared (I asked for medium rare), tender and juicy - it wasn't at all overcooked! The peppercorn crust really adds a nice flavor.
Really enjoyed it over all.

The other ppl on the table got:
Hot Smoked King Salmon poached asparagus, morel mushrooms and dried cherry butter
Jumbo Pink Shrimp Scampi basmati strudel
They seemed to be enjoying these dishes too.

Some of the sides were pretty interesting, like these Eggplant Fries:
All the food was good quality and well-prepared. While not mind-blowing, they were very solid and enjoyable. Plus with the prix-fixe deal, we believe this was the best deal we got in NY this trip!

The $39 meal also came with cookies and milk (!) which you can take to go (to take to the theatre with you) or eat there. What we didn't know before was how big these cookies were going to be!
This huge stack was for ONE person. They were WARM, right out of the oven, and moist.

The milk came in individual ceramic bottles - CUTE.

Being stuffed and happy (and happy for the bill too), we ambled to the Lincoln Center - just across the street pretty much.

I would definitely recommend Center Cut's theatre deal for people who are in New York. It's no Jean Georges but it's very solid food and quite a deal. The restaurant is also not loud, allowing actual conversations, with very courteous servers.


Center Cut
(at The Empire Hotel)
44 W 63rd St, New York 10017
Btwn Columbus Ave & Central Park W
Phone: 212-956-1288

Center Cut on Urbanspoon

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