CUT

What they say is true: CUT is the best steakhouse in California, possibly in the country.

Disclaimer: this photo does not belong to me. I stole it off the interweb because the interior of the steak is almost identical to how mine looked. Actually, mine was probably better. More evenly fatted, without those visible streaks.

We had our most spendy LA dining experience so far tonight, and I have to say I'm poorer but happier. We went late in the evening and it was much too dark for cameras, but I'll direct you to a fellow Chowhound's far superior photography here. Full disclosure that these are not my photos and not even the same menu items, but I'm sure Kevin will not mind a few more hits directed to his incredible blog. A link to the restaurant's website is here. I'm not sure where to start, so I'll go chronologically.

Location: CUT is located in the Regent Beverly Wilshire, Los Angeles's Four Seasons Hotel and also the hotel in Pretty Woman. It houses shops like Mikimoto and Escada--you get the idea. The Regent itself is designed with old world mahogany and marble sensibilities, but CUT is a stark contrast to the rest of the hotel. All glass, whitewash, and pale wood, CUT almost looks like a high end corporate cafeteria. I'm not saying it's not very nice. It is nice. It's contemporary, airy, spacious, uncluttered, and comfortable. I just wouldn't necessarily call it "fancy."

The Scene: a real taste of LA in this sense. The place looked like a scene out of Entourage, complete with all the stereotypical LA characters and cars. Quote classics: "Wow, this is what it's like to feel like the poorest person in the room" (J). "Mom, there are SO many limos outside!" (small child). Yeah kid, there's also a fleet of RRs and a Ferrari.

Service: thankfully, the service is nothing like the crowd. I really enjoyed the service at CUT. J said the host who made his reservation was a little pretentious ("Sir, we are not open on Sundays, and we are booked two months in advance on Fridays and Saturdays"--unless you're a celebrity, right?), but our servers were wonderful. Cheerful, down to earth, able to answer all our food and wine questions in plain English, and attentive without hovering. J and I agreed that service at cheap places tends to be either gruff or overly comfy-homey, service at mid-price places tends to be snooty or slick for the sake of seeming upscale, and service at truly high-end restaurants is perfectly tempered and smooth. I think of it this way: if you sit perfectly still and look out of the corner of your eye, you can sense that your server barely gazes your way every single time he glides by. But unless you flick a finger, turn your head, look confused, or seem to be unhappy with your food, he will just keep walking and not bother you. Every time you look up, however, there is either a busboy or a server ready to attend to you. I don't know how they do it, they just get it done.

Drinks: J had a very nicely done, though perhaps a tad sweet, dirty vodka martini. I had a nice Margaux Bourdeaux. I really enjoyed sipping it, but sadly it was a little too overpowering for the steaks. Kind of an unfortunate blunder to make at a steakhouse, but I can't say if it was my own fault or theirs for not warning me to get something lighter.

The bread: so many choices! Pei was happy. The cheese sticks on the table were light and crispy and made with a strong pungent cheese instead of low grade Parmesan. Then a server came by and offered us a choice of whole wheat sourdough, onion foccaccia, pumpernickle, and pretzel rolls. The onion foccaccia, with pockets of gooey caramelized sweet onions, won by a landslide.

Bone Marrow Flan: WOW! This ranks on my All Time Best Delicious Custardy Things List for sure. Other top contenders are the crab cheesecake at Palace Cafe in New Orleans and uni panna cotta at The Ritz Carlton Dining Room in San Francisco. They remove the marrow from the bone, make it into a custard, put it back in the bones, and serve it with dollops of mushroom marmalade topped with a thick beefy pan sauce and some parsley and onions. Brioche toast points come on the side. The combination of flavors is just astounding. Intensely beefy, yet pillowy, eggy, and creamy at the same time.

Veal Tongue: delicious tender slices of beef. Quite a generous portion, actually. There were six or seven large slices of tongue on a bed of beautiful sliced cherry tomatoes (yellow and red), cooked giant white beans, artichoke hearts and a vinegary salsa verde. This could easily be an entree at a restaurant, and it suffered only in comparison to the marrow flan.

Ribeye (day dry-aged 35 days, medium rare). Tasty! More beefy than other steakhouse ribeyes, cooked perfectly, with a nice crispy crust and just a touch of salt and pepper.

Filet Mignon (American Wagyu "Kobe style" from Idaho, just past rare). Mmmmm...the height of decadence. Okay, no, the real Kobe beef would have been the height of decadence, but we weren't ready to take it to that level. While the ribeye was good and better than most, I can say unequivocably that this is the best filet mignon I have had in my life. Incredibly thin but crispy crust giving way to a meltingly tender center. And even though the center was raw, it was warm, firm, and was not at all mushy or chewy the way raw beef can be. I'll still be thinking about this steak tomorrow. MAybe even Saturday. Maybe even next Saturday. Mmm...

Sweet white corn: it sounds so boring, and I know it's stupid to pay $12 for a plate of cut corn, but it was so good! The sweetness balanced the beef very nicely, and to their credit they gave us a mountain of it. I have over half in the fridge right now, waiting to be eaten tomorrow.

Marrow: you can get a side of sauteed marrow to eat with the steak. What a great idea! My only suggestion would be that they crisp the edges of the marrow more to offer some interest in terms of texture. Sprinkled with a little sea salt, though, this was great on the steak.

Dips: everyone gets a trio of mustards and some sea salt. A word on the salt: it's fairly high quality. Some sea salt has a lot of air in it, so the salt tastes more crispy and bright. It also tastes less salty per piece because more of the volume is air. I know, soooo nerdy. But it's true. You need the good salt if you want plenty of crunchy goodness without making a dish overly salty. The honey and whole grain mustards were good but not exceptional, but there was a deep brown violet mustard that was intriguing. The best description I can come up with is a thick paste that tastes like A1, but better, infused with a light floral essence. A nice surprise, though not my favorite.

Sauce: you can pick from maybe 10 sauces and gravies for $2, and I chose armagnac and green peppercorn sauce. This tastes like a very refined, subtle version of what Hong Kong steakhouses serve as their black peppercorn sauce. I ended up eating very little of it because it was fairly heavy and we were surprised by how filling the appetizers were.

Dessert: we were much too full for dessert, but our server brought us some confections anyway. The yuzi lemon bar was deliciously refreshing. It had the usual lemon bar crust, but topped with a silky, ever so slightly grainy, very soft yuzu custard. It was very tangy and only lightly sweet. The other confection was a cashew pecan bar, but I'm saving those for morning coffee (edit: and here they are! Very chewy with a dark caramel flavor).

Notables: a lot of people seem to enjoy fish at CUT. There are several "fish for two" choices that are grilled and then deboned and served tableside. The pureed potatoes also seemed popular. It comes in a tureen and has the consistency of very loose mashed potatoes. I'm sure it's chock full of butter and cream. We also noticed cute tea and coffee service after dinner, as well as several impressive wheels of cheese by the front door.

All in all, an incredible experience and worth it if you enjoy your steak. One thing on which CUT prides itself is its excellent array of appetizers and side dishes. I appreciate this now that my appetite is not what it was when I was 18, and I want more out of a meal than 24 ounces of beef. There are over a dozen choices in each category, and everything looks delicious and is presented in haute fashion. There's no baked potato with sour cream or glop of creamed spinach at CUT, however delicious those things are. Instead, you can get butter lettuce towers, wild field mushrooms, or a crabcake and expect them to be more than just menu fillers.