DineLA 08: Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

My friend convinced me to go with her to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Beverly Hills on the last dineLA night. I had read on Chowhound that the dineLA menu is actually a good deal, so I gave it a try.

All four of us ordered the Ahi Tuna for appetizer:

I was pleasantly surprised by the generous portion. The dish itself was not at all bad. The fish was pretty good - it was not the freshest but not bad by any means. I was expecting three slices like what I got at other places for dineLA.

Got the petite filet mignon, medium rare. Someone had warned me that steaks at Ruth Chris is drizzled with lots of butter, and so it was.

The meat was medium rare, not overcooked, but it was rather fatty - it was not the best quality meat. My piece had too much fat for my taste, my friends' were supposedly better.

The portion of the side was also very generous (it was a regular sized side). We had both the creamed spinach and mashed potato. The mashed potato was fairly standard. I liked the creamed spinach more.

I really like bread pudding, so I opted for that instead of the chocolate sin tart (which also looked very tempting).

The bread pudding had a crunchy crust and is moist on the inside. Overall I liked it, it was rich and well done. I took it home and heated it up the next day - it was better then in my opinion, since it's warm and moist :)

I also tried a bite of the chocolate cake.

I really liked the chocolate cake. It was very rich and dark. I loved the espresso taste.

Overall, I thought it really was a good value for the dineLA price, but I probably wouldn't go back on a regular day. The quality of the meat that I got was not that great.

Ruth's Chris Steak House
224 South Beverly Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90212

Urasawa: Splurging once every 3 years

Sorry, I haven't had time to write it up completely. But everyone knows how amazing Urasawa is anyway, right? So for now, just enjoy the pictures and the brief reviews...

Hairy crab salad.Toro tataki, with yuzu, crysanthemum leaves, and gold flakes.
This dish has uni underneath. Urasawa's uni really is the best I've ever had. Nothing else is quite like it. Very sweet and the freshness is undebatable.














Sashimi ice sculpture. The one at the very left is of course, toro. The one furthest to the right is some great hamachi.
This was is a sort of chawan mushi, but potato-based.

Cod sperm sac tempura. (Sperm sac?? Yep .. Hey, it was GOOD)
Hairy crab, with hairy crab brain, topped with uni.

Seared wagyu beef. Yumm ...
This was what we got for the shabu shabu dish. It has live lobster, scallop, toro, and foie gras (in that order).
I spent a good part of the night just gawking at him while he does his stuff.

Hiro's apprentice killing a lobster.













Fresh lobster sushi.
We had so many different types of fish that night. Including needle fish, fresh kuruma shrimp, mirugai ...

Seared toro. The best sushi ever ... I had like 5 of them that night ... *sigh*
Hiro-san kept asking me if I was full. And all I kept saying was "I'll have more toro." What? I'm getting money's worth :P

Negi toro maki.
Ripe persimmon for dessert.
Azuki (red bean) with sesame seeds and gold flakes.



Urasawa
218 N Rodeo Dr
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 247-8939

DineLA 08: Red Seven

We tried Red Seven dineLA for a quick lunch on our way out. The restaurant is inside the Pacific Design Center. We did not know that at first so it took a while to find the restaurant.

The furnitures used in the restaurant were very nice, probably because of where they are located - I really like the swiveling chairs they had.

Both me and my friend ordered the hamachi for appetizer.

The hamachi was good, like standard hamachi dishes you find in most fusion restaurant these days. The portions were not bad, which I am happy with for $22 3-course meal.

We decided to get the burger and the butterfish to split.
The Kobe burger was pretty big and came open-faced.

I ordered it medium rare and that's the way it came. It was a pretty thick patty and was enjoyable. The bun, sauce and pickles were good.

The butterfish portion, on the other hand, was really small.

It was only two small pieces, and also small serving of the sides. Although we really enjoyed this dish - the sauce on the fish, the tenderness and moistness of the fish, and the noodles were excellent, the portion left us wanting.

I ordered the mango pudding for dessert.

This was very well-done (although the mango topping on top were rather sour - but I'm used to very2 sweet mangoes from growing up near the equator).

My friend ordered the almond roca samosas.

I thought this was just okay. They should have made the pastry crispier, then it would have been pretty good. The filling is also just okay. Definitely go for the mango pudding for dessert.

Red Seven
Pacific Design Center
700 N. San Vicente Blvd.,
West Hollywood, CA 90069