Luxury Life & Style - Westside - (Page 82)

delicious diversions. BLT Steak once housed L.A. legend Le Dôme, so it was only a few quick turns to the valet, and, within ten minutes, we were seated with cocktail in hand. I don’t usually drink any alcohol other than wine, and Mr. Sexton doesn’t drink much period, but that kumquat-acai mojito they’re plying made us beg for a second. It was the most delicious drink I have had in a long, long time. Thank goodness someone remembered that “specialty cocktails” still need to actually taste good! Dinner. The scene on a Thursday night at 7 p.m. was abuzz with agents in suits watching the Lakers-Celtics game at the bar whilst Sex and the City wannabes dined in female quartets to our immediate left and right. (Mucho cosmos, breasts, raunchy talk of exes and one salad split four ways with dressing on the side – you get the idea.) We were there to eat, though, and when you’re on the nanny clock, one can’t afford to linger too long with the menu, which, at BLT Steak, requires some serious decoding. There are numerous specials chalked up on a bistro-like board in addition to several paper menus that offer a cacophony of proteins, sauces, sides, more specials, a diagram of beef cuts and autographed cookbook copies. We were lost. BLT Steak really needs someone to organize all their offerings so that folks can figure out what they want to order without Sherlock Holmes’ help. Ultimately, I located and chose a delicate shaved fennel and tangerine salad with a Meyer lemon vinaigrette that paired oh-so-yummily with a glass of Groom sauvignon blanc from the Adelaide Hills in Australia. Mr. Sexton went old-school, ordered the jumbo shrimp cocktail and stole a sip of my sauvignon blanc to wash down his crustaceans. We watched as the $115 seafood platter, a tower really, sailed over to a banquette across the room. Despite its steakhouse vibe, the raw bar offerings at BLT Steak seemed to be equally popular. I could tell from the wines offered by-theglass that someone real was doing wine at BLT Steak, so it was a genuine pleasure to meet their friendly (and young!) sommelier Dan, for whom the Sunset opening was a fourth stop on the BLT express train. Clearly, he’s learned both service and grape juice at his previous posts as he generously uncorked an “only-a-winegeek-will-really-appreciate-it” bottle of syrah to pair with our porterhouse for two. Master Sommelier (and very nice guy) Richard Betts has partnered with art maven Dennis Scholl to produce highly-coveted wines from around the world, in our case a bottle made with Rhône legend, Jean-Louis Chave in Hermitage. The 2001 Betts & Scholl Hermitage Rouge is still a baby at seven years, and even with decanting, the wine needs more time to mature in the bottle before it reaches its zenith. It was killer syrah though, and its aromatic tones of bacon, lavender and earth complemented our steak beautifully. Thank you, Dan, for sharing. And oh, the steak. That fabulous steak. It arrived in all its 40 ounces of charred glory, served in a lovely cast-iron Staub platter with simply roasted garlic cloves and some herbs. As at Cut and Craft, one must choose sides independently as the chef, in this case young Chef de Cuisine and local favorite Noah Rosen, leaves it to you to do the mix and match. We chose some super delicious hen-of-the-woods mushrooms and roasted cauliflower done up with curried butter, white raisins and fried capers. We also chose two different sauces to try – Mr. Sexton’s beloved horseradish and some Roquefort for me. Too often, this a la carte concept seems designed to drive up check averages. While it certainly accomplishes this at BLT Steak, it also allows the naked beef to take center-stage, and I can happily and accurately report that the steak we had at BLT was the finest I have ever had in Los Angeles. It was perfectly cooked to a reddish medium-rare and finished simply with herb butter. I could have actually eaten all 40 ounces myself, but we decided to take some home for Mr. Sexton’s mom, who is a carnivore of epic proportions. She loved it too. We also packed up dessert to go, and figured that the caramelized cheesecake would be an appropriate peace offering for our nanny as we were late and then some getting back up the canyon. Dinner at BLT Steak reminded me that imitation is always the sincerest form of flattery; perhaps that helps to explain the proliferation of heavy-hitters doing alarmingly similar steakhouse concepts all around town. It’s important to remember, however, that some folks simply do it better than others. With appropriate apologies to previous employers and their steakhouses (Jean-Georges and Wolfgang), I feel strongly that Chef Tourondel simply brings the best beef to the Los Angeles table. Go in and see if you agree… • BLT Steak 8720 W. Sunset Boulevard West Hollywood 310-360-1950 bltsteak.com 82 Luxury Life & Style Premiere Issue 2008 Photos of BLT Steak courtesy of BLT Steak. bltsteak.com

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