Stupid Name, Great Restaurant

********THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED.********

BLT Steak has nothing to do with bacon, lettuce, or tomato.

But the steak part is for real.

And, yes, I know what "BLT" means here. See picture above.

The ambiance is "typical modern steakhouse." Tastefully dim, warm, and chic.

Bread and chicken pâté appear on your table almost immediately.

If you think free pâté is impressive, wait until you see the popovers.

Oh, popover! Big as my head! Laced with Gruyère! Warm! Crusty! Yum!

Perfect with butter!

And we didn't even start our actual meal yet!

Mr. Monkey, Brother Monkey, and I all had the dineLA set ($44 for starter, entree, and dessert), which was a steal at BLT Steak. Normally, our dinners would've cost about $60 each.

Wild mushroom risotto and mushroom cappuccino. Perfect texture. Good flavor. That's saying a lot, as I'm not a mushroom fan. BroMo said he was pretty full just after this starter. Huge portion!

Chestnut, apple, and celery soup with sage croutons. Smooth and rich. A lovely mix of savory and sweet. Loved this. Mr. Monkey let me eat most of it. Yay!

BLT wedge salad with crisped bacon and bleu cheese dressing. Obviously the least impressive of the three starters, but still damn good for a simple salad.

Grilled hanger steak with shallot marmalade and pommes lyonaise. Both Mr. Monkey and BroMo got this with peppercorn and red wine sauce, respectively.

Thickest hanger steaks ever! Charred on the outside, juicy on the inside, delicious on the everywhere-side. The accompanying roasted garlic was fabulous. You could spread it like butter.

Pan-seared skate wing with crunchy fava bean tabbouleh. An elegant marine surprise at a steakhouse! Lightly crunchy on the surface, moist, and flaky. Fish done right. I must admit, however, that the tabbouleh did nothing for me. Bleh.

Warm chocolate pudding cake with amaretto whipped cream. I had one bite. Rich, rich, rich. BroMo couldn't finish it. That's how rich. Chocoholic dream.

Doughnuts with coconut cream and caramelized pineapple. Warm, airy, and not too sweet. Very good.

Lemon panna cotta with grapefruit and pomegranate. My surprise favorite! I thought I'd be on Team Doughnuts for sure, but the panna cotta stole my heart. Light and tart, this was my ideal ending to the meal. Very very happy.

A cute little petit four for each of us.

As I was taking photos of the outside of the restaurant after our meal, we ran right into Jared Padalecki (Sam on Supernatural, Dean on Gilmore Girls). I snapped this quickly as we left.

Good meal? You bet. Good service? Absolutely. Our server Mark was super. Excellent choice for dineLA. Get thee to BLT Steak!

A special bonus for my friends who like to bake -- the BLT Steak Popover Recipe:

Serves six (approximately twelve popovers)

Ingredients
4 c. milk, warmed
8 eggs
4 c. flour
1 ½ heaping tbsp. salt
2 ¼ c. grated Gruyère
1. Place the popover pan in the oven. Heat the oven and pan to 350º.
2. Gently warm the milk over low heat and set aside.
3. Whisk the eggs until frothy and slowly whisk in the milk (so as not to cook the eggs). Set the mixture aside.
4. Sift the flour with the salt. Slowly add this dry mixture to the egg mixture and gently combine until mostly smooth.
5. Remove the popover pan from the oven and spray with nonstick vegetable spray.
6. While the batter is still slightly warm, fill each popover cup three-fourths full.
7. Top each popover with approximately 2 ½ tbsps. of the grated cheese.
8. Bake at 350º for 50 minutes, rotating pan half a turn after fifteen minutes, until the popovers are golden brown.
9. Take out of oven, remove from pan, and serve immediately.

Enjoy!