BLT Steak – 4/10/10

BLT Steak
8720 W Sunset Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90069

At last year’s American Wine & Food Festival, my dad bid on a number of items in the silent auction. One of the items he won was a gift certificate to BLT Steak, which he gifted to me for Christmas.

BLT Steak is a trendy spot on the Sunset Strip of West Hollywood. Opened by fame chef Laurent Tourondel, it’s known mostly for  its steaks (of course) as well as the complimentary bread (a popover). See menu here: BLT-dinner-menu

The server had recommended a number of dishes; surprisingly, a number of them were fish. There was no way we were ordering fish. Instead we went with some big meat options, the 40-ounce porterhouse for two and the 22-ounce bone-in ribeye. Pretty sizable for two people, but I was pretty sure we could do it.

One of the complimentary dishes is a chicken pate. Interesting. It’s served with a toasted ciabatta.

The pate was just a little warm, and was delicious. There was definitely a very present liver flavor in the pate.

The bread, which is a signature of BLT’s, is the popover. These are pretty large, though hollow on the inside. A nice crust is on the outside, with a subtle cheesy, moist interior. The flavor of the interior was not unlike CUT or French Laundry‘s cheese puffs. Unique and very good.

Next came the steaks. Here, the 40-ounce porterhouse.

And below, the 22-ounce bone-in ribeye. I thought it was a great idea to have roasted bone marrow come alongside. Both steaks came with a whole roasted garlic bulb as well.

The meat, here the strip portion of the porterhouse, was cooked pretty well for the most part. The ribeye was cooked flawlessly, and the strip portion of the porterhouse was great too. A nice pink interior with minimal browning from the sear. However, the filet portion of the porterhouse was uneven, lending to about one third of it being well-done (the thinner side).

To accompany the steaks, we had smashed fingerling potatoes and grilled asparagus. The smashed fingerlings were a little disappointing. There needed to be more “smash,” more salt, and maybe some herbs. The grilled asparagus, however, was perfect.

We passed on dessert, as the food was a bit more filling than expected. My overall impression was very positive. The only major misstep was the cooking of the filet portion of the porterhouse, and maybe the fingerlings (though they weren’t bad, just unspectacular). The quality of the beef was clearly very good, and the popover was very memorable.