I first heard about CUT from my friend Steve (of Nicole’s Gourmet Foods), which was voted Best French Market by Los Angeles Magazine! (Congrats Steve!!!) I’ve been a big fan of the magazine ever since they called my dad “wine guru.” For a while, I was trying to get him to pitch a reality show with him as the main attraction, and I thought we could call it Wine Guru. I mean, if you’ve ever met my dad, he is completely irreverent and hilarious, and you can learn about wine while you laugh your butt off!
Anyway, Steve said CUT was Wolfgang Puck’s new steakhouse, it was good, blah blah blah. Honestly, I think Wolfgang Puck is kind of a sellout. I like his place in the Venetian, Postrio, because they have lobster burgers. I think technically it’s called “the lobster club with bacon.” But I mean, he has his own line of coffee. What the hell does he know about coffee??? Okay. Rant over. But after I saw CUT made it on the LA Weekly’s 99 Essential Restaurants inn LA List I knew I had to go. Because my New Year’s Resolution for 2008 is going to be to visit every restaurant on that list, and I need to get a jump start otherwise I’ll never be able to afford it. AND (one more plug for Los Angeles magazine) they voted the potato tarte tartin as one of the best steakhouse sides in LA. Just a word of warning though, it's located at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, so be prepared to see MULTIPLE Lamborghinis out front, high class Russian hookers, and lots of Persian people.
To start off the night, we get drinks at Sidebar *insert lawyer joke here*, while we are waiting for our table. It’s very sleek and chic, just opposite the foyer from CUT. This is where we saw our first Russian hookers. They looked good, though. I’d say, $1000 a pop, minimum. The martinis were about $15, but were really tasty. I wanted to order a Bellinissimo, but they were out of peach juice or something. I love Bellinis because they come from Harry’s Bar in Venice. So the Bellinissimo was basically a Bellini (peach juice and champagne) with some top shelf booze thrown in. I can’t remember the name of what I ordered, but it was vanilla vodka with lime and champagne. I didn’t think vanilla and lime would work very well, but the cocktail waitress recommended it. It was an interesting flavor match, very aromatic. Totally different, and quite tasty. Julie ordered something that tasted like straight tequila, and Julia had a subtly fruity martini. Only about 3 crusty 65 year old men tried to talk to us, so it wasn’t THAT bad. Oh, and they give you the best bar munchies. Marinated kalamata olives, wasabi peas, and housemade honey roasted almonds, among other things. Way better than some pretzels on the bar which have been there since 1984.
Rania, Julie and I at CUT
The weirdest thing about CUT by far is the “beefolier” part. I guess beefolier is supposed to be like a sommelier, but for beef. So they come to your table with like 6 cuts of beef, nicely stacked and wrapped in napkins. I think they do it to upsell the Japanese wagyu, because he kept pointing out the “superior marbling” when compared to the American wagyu. Of course, if I had $100 to spend on 6 ounces of steak (no, I’m not exaggerating the price) then I would have ordered it. I REALLY considered it. But normally, I’m expecting to drop $100 on an ENTIRE steak dinner. But for just the steak? I’m still a starving student here, people. And look, I know I’m eating a cow. I like meat. But I really don’t want to see a bunch of chunks of raw beef at the end of my table. Sorry!
So, we finally sit down, and I want to share the American wagyu porterhouse with Julie, and she’s down. I love porterhouses. Filet + New York = What’s Not to Love? But No-o-o-o-o, we get the 21 day aged Illinois porterhouse instead. Because they have run out of the American wagyu. On a Friday night. I mean, really??? Anyway, for a New York, it was pretty good. I used to always order New York steak when I was a kid because I was born in New York, and I thought I should support my peeps. Nowadays, since it’s kind of a fatty cut, if it’s not really high quality, I’m not into it. I’m just a filet kinda girl. And this filet mignon was AWESOME. It was perfectly grilled, cooked, and seasoned. It wasn’t the best I’ve ever had, but that’s because I’ve had filets of better quality. But they did an excellent job with what they were working with. Plus, it’s fun to order a porterhouse because they make such a big deal about the presentation. The guy comes to your table and chop chop chops it all up. I think one of the secrets to the flavor is the steaks are grilled over hardwood and charcoal, and then finished in a 1200 degree broiler. Kinda hard to replicate at home.
Now for the sides. We order the tarte tartin, because all the cut reviews rave about it (and everyone at the table is following my lead on this stuff). But, I don’t know WHY this is be-all-end-all of steakhouse sides. It was merely ok. It was crispy and a little greasy. Definitely not the best side in LA. I also ordered the chantrelles, because I LOVE them. However, when the dish arrived, I asked, “Where are they?” Because there were about three chantrelles with a bunch of waxy green beans. The true side star was the grilled corn. It was AMAZING. I ate the whole thing after everyone got a taste. The corn was really fresh and crisp, and then smoky from the grilling. Very simple, but perfect. We also got the white polenta with parmesan which was passably good. It was a little too creamy. Maybe they added butter or there was too much cheese? The flavor was good, but it was thisclose to being gluteny. Of course, I’m picky about polenta. Nobody makes it as good as Mom does. ;-)
Now for the desserts. Of course, we ordered the chocolate soufflé. Holy crap. It was FANTASTIC. It came with this cocoa gelato, which was okay, kinda lacking on the sweetness. But this soufflé, OMG. It was rich, and flavorful, but not too heavy. I could have eaten about three of them, even though I was really full. I also wanted to try the Boston cream pie dessert, since that is my favorite doughnut. Unfortunately, it was a disaster and I’m sorry I was the reason we ordered it. The top was solid chocolate, which was too thick to break easily with a fork and didn’t work well with the spongy cake and really thin layer of pastry cream. I felt bad, because the girls were following my lead on the ordering and I came up with a couple of duds. Julia and Julie ordered coffee, and it smelled divine. Maybe Wolfgang does know a thing or two about coffee. Yes, we’re on a first name basis..... kidding!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JULIE (with the ill-fated Boston Cream Pie)
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