Dine LA - Nick & Stef's (semi-long)
Got there at about 4:30 for the happy hour and hung out at the bar until dinner at 5:30 (I know, early, but it's the only way to get folks from work to go). Had a couple of beers, oysters, and the picadillo pepper appetizer. Were sat promptly at 5:30, used the coat check (more on this later) and ordered some sangria and red wine for the table. My newly arriving coworker ordered oysters, I got the parmesan crusted mac n cheese (lighter than I had expected, with a decent baked crust on top and tender noodles within....not enough cheese flavor for my tastes, though) and we all ordered from the prix fixe menu. It's a little different than the website says, but we all got steak. The food came out quickly and I really enjoyed my iceberg/tomato/scallion/blue cheese starter. The cheese was pungent without being overpowering, the iceberg was crisp and fresh-tasting, and the baby tomatoes were sweet. A couple of my coworkers said they enjoyed the beets.
The steaks came out soon afterwards and while I thoroughly enjoyed my rare hunk of meat, apparently they mixed up the orders of a couple of folks at our table. Medium well turned into medium rare, rare turned into medium, and things of that nature, but everyone still enjoyed their entree. I don't often eat steak in restaurants, preferring to prepare it myself (or eat my dad's), but the steak was a nice 1.5" think, tender, juicy and RED. The rub they use had me hooked instantly, and I was running my mac n cheese, gratin (which came with the steak), and even a bit of bread through the juices. Polished off the steak, most of the gratin, and about half of the very good sized mac n cheese. Dessert wasn't the bread pudding on the website, but a light hazelnut cake accompanied with creme fraiche mousse, cajeta gelato (a first for me), and a pear slice. I appreciated the fluffiness of the cake, which was a lot lighter than it looked, and the gelato, but the pear was a bit tart for me. We finished the meal with a few shots of Don Julio (ready to party!) The bill, after the alcohol, extra appetizers, and meal came to about $475 for 6 people, plus tip. Our server was fantastic, dealing with our requests and questions very easily, and providing 2 friends with free shots.
My only complaint about the night is as we were leaving, everyone received their coat but me. My trenchcoat is pretty large (knee-length on 5'9"), so I was confused as to how they could have misplaced it. 3 different people looked in the room, and came with me to check around our table, but to no avail. They let me check the coat room myself, and at first I couldn't find it. Then I started looking around on the ground to discover it balled up and shoved in a dustpan (!!). I was, I think, understandably upset by what HAD to be a deliberate move, so I skipped tipping them for that particular service. Overall, however, it was a nice night with friends, and I'll be trying to replicate their rub at home....but I doubt I'll ever check my coat there again.
MeAndroo
Feb 01, 2008 08:44AM
wow, that's pretty horrible re: the coat check
but nice review
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what a bummer re: coat check. They could have sealed the deal and have you go back again if not because of that :-)
nice review. the dessert sound interesting, I think definitely more interesting than the "Warm Brioche Bread Pudding" that's listed on the dineLA menu right now. But I guess you'll like the berry more than the pear slice.
BTW, a lot of people commented that Nick & Stef is more of a hype/overrrated, and they rather do Ruth Chris. What do you think, after having the meal there? :-)
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Personally, I much prefer Nick & Stef's to Ruth's Chris.
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Well, I've never been to Ruth's Chris, but it's on my maybe list for next week. For what we paid, I thought we got good value, great service, and fine food. The sides weren't amazing, but I think they're comparable or better than what I've had at places like Lawry's or Tam o'Shanter, and the steak was certainly the highlight, as it should have been. I don't know if I'd go back to Nick & Stef's and pay retail, but I'm more likely to do so now that I know a bit more about it.
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Thanks for the review.
Do you know what cut of steak (i.e. rib, sirloin, etc.) you had as part of the Dine LA menu?
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It was a sirloin, and looked to be maybe 8 oz? Just out of curiosity, I checked the regular menu and the same steak went for about $28 ala carte.
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Not trying to detour from the thread, but FYI, Dal Rae's $34 dinner menu serves Petite Pepper Filet Mignon. I had it last night and I'm very happy with it! :-)
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Interestingly, I had a similar experience here with the doneness of the steaks - maybe a minor point to some, but to others it is everything. We were there for a meeting of 20 people and the waiters made an appropriately big deal of getting everyone's steak doneness order. Then they came out randomly! When I said I had ordered medium rare, not extra rare (i.e.thick carpaccio) and the guy across the table said the opposite, the waiter shrugged and then traded them. Not a big problem, I guess, but most of the people at the table ended up trading and the waiters turned out not to have a clue as to who had ordered what. It did seem that the number of the various donenesses was corect but then scrambled. What is the deal here? for $1000+ they might have made an effort to systematize the deliveries. On another occasion the service also seemed to lack any morale or organization. With the bizarre coat check problem related above one wonders if Patina is having a labor relations problem.
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Went to Nick and Stef's last night, and all four of us had the DineLA meal. For the first course, the beet, orange, and arugula salad was fantastic, but the wedge salad was horrible because the lettuce served was yellow. The chicken course was great (a half-chicken that was juicy throughout and accompanied by some great fingerling potatoes), but alas, the sirloin steak was tough and dry, and the accompanying potatoes were horrible. We heard a lot about their mac 'n cheese, and it lived up to its billing. I love mac 'n cheese, and this was some of the best that I have ever had. WONDERFUL! The dessert is different that was posted on the dineLA site, but it was great. Same as you described, meAndroo, and the dessert was enjoyed by all. We want to go back and eat the steaks that they are known for. They are a steakhouse, but hopefully, their other steaks don't taste like the dineLA sirloin.
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sounds good so far, time to try it out. the one thing bothers me about steakhouses is when they cant cook the steaks exactly as you order them.
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