Cut -- delete steak out of this equation

Cut
Beverly Wilshire Hotel, 9500 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90212
(310) 276-8500

Some dear friends from London threw a dinner party while in town for the new year. Some guests even flew in from out of town. Our evening started with cocktails at the bar and then, moved on to dinner in the main dining room. The first thing I noticed were the portraits hanging on the walls. We were privileged enough to be seated under the one of Barack Obama -- how appropriate considering the group which sat beneath it.

Menus had the same theme -- each had a photo of a celebrity on the back, although, none were properly labeled. I guess they expected us to know who everyone was. Most of us got one with Arnold Schwarzenegger, including me. My dear friend, who was sitting next to me, had one of Terence Howard, so I stole the hottie from him and gave him the leathery governator instead.

Cut touts itself to be a steakhouse, a steakhouse owned by Wolfgang Puck no less. I for one am not a Wolfgang Puck fan. I've never been too impressed with any of his restaurants, but I was really excited about the night's dinner purely because it was a gathering of old friends who haven't seen one another for quite some time now, and also, due to all the ooos and ahhhs I got from friends who knew I was going to be dining here.

The selection of steaks is quite impressive, ranging from US corn fed beef from Illinois and Nebraska, aged 21 and 35 days respectively, a hybrid of Kobe and Wagyu from Idaho, and of course, the creme de la creme, imported Wagyu from Kyushu prefecture in Japan. The price ranges from just a tad under $40 to $135 for a tasting of three different cuts totaling 12 oz. If you didn't want steak, there is pork chops, lamb chops, tuna, poussin, lobster, sole and more to choose from.

I thought it strange that they didn't serve bread while we perused the menus. In fact, we had to ask for it before they brought it, but when they did, it was awesome! The onion bread, pretzel roll, pumpernickel, all impressive!

We started off with some appetizers. I can only speak for the ones I tasted -- "warm veal tongue with marinated artichokes, autumn shelling beans and salsa verde" and "Austrian oxtail bouillion, chive blossoms, chervil, and bone marrow dumplings".

Veal tongue was actually quite good -- very tender and flavorful, cooked perfectly. If you're a light eater, this dish could even serve as an entree. Oxtail bouillion was light and tasty with bits of bone marrow in the broth. The dumplings were really rich and heavy so perhaps it wasn't a good choice to start with if you're looking to follow with steak.

Everyone in our party ended up ordering steak and there were a few hiccups because one was ordered medium but arrived rare. Mine was a tad too rare for my medium rare but I'm fine with meat on the bloodier side so I didn't send it back. I could've sworn that they gave me filet mignon and not NY sirloin as I had ordered. I do not like mignon at all as I find it really tasteless with absolutely no chew factor whatsoever. The piece of meat on my plate was also about an inch and a half thick, not how sirloin is usually served anyway. One of our hosts questioned his cut as well, but after a few going back and forths, the server brought the plate back insisting that it was the cut he had ordered. I tried hubby's Kobe beef which definitely had better taste than mine, but definitely tasted far from the Kobe beef I've had in the past.

I also got bone marrow on the side and what arrived was seriously interesting. White bits of bone marrow, just like the ones in the oxtail soup, were just plonked onto a plate and that's it. I had expected a two inch bone with marrow inside baked and served as is to be served alongside my steak. What a disappointment. This is not how bone marrow is usually served, at least not in Europe. I've never had bone marrow, served with a piece of meat, tasting like a mix between fat and tendon. Needless to say, I didn't eat much of this.

I thought service was really good. Little touches here and there were nicely thought out. I notice these things and my friend was chuckling because he used to accompany me on my food writing escapades when we lived in Hong Kong and he knew I was paying attention to every little detail, whether it was a hit or miss.

The hits: plates were all served simultaneously with multiple serves without missing a beat, fresh napkins replaced whenever someone would leave the table. Wine was duely poured whenever anyone took a sip or two.

The misses: this would've been a hit -- when bread was placed into one of the diner's bread plate, a piece fell onto the table and the server picked that piece up and took it away -- but what followed made it a miss. I kept my eye on the server and instead of throwing that piece of bread away, he turned around, back to the table and put it right back into the bread basket. I kinda chuckled because the table wasn't dirty by any means so it wasn't a matter of hygiene, but rather, if you're going to do something, follow through to the end so to speak.

The other miss was that they couldn't keep track of who was drinking still water and who was drinking sparkling water. My glass of still was topped with sparkling and it wasn't until I noticed tiny bubbles in my water that I questioned the young man who was holding the bottle of Voss. He was apologetic and replaced my glass promptly.

In any case, service was still pretty darn good and it was obvious they all underwent rigorous training. However, the training was so good that each server blended into the next not displaying any sense of personality or individuality. I thought it was on the robotic side really, but I guess that's what most of the shi shi diners want anyway.

I think if you were to go to Cut, have the appetizers, desserts and drinks. Stay away from the steaks. They're just not good enough to warrant the price. Desserts were good if you're a dessert fan. I'm not. Souffles were deemed the standouts.

Park Avenue -- name does not match experience

Park Avenue
11200 Beach Blvd Stanton, CA 90680 (714) 901-4400
www.parkavedining.com

Heard all these good things about Park Avenue, so when a friend decided to have her birthday celebrations there, I was excited and eager to be part of it. Our medium sized group of eight arrived with the exception of one who was lagging behind due to a flight delay, but it didn't matter. We took the time to settle into our seats and perused the menu while we waited.

Bread baskets and water were brought out and whipped butter both plain and with bits of orange cranberry dotted the little plates. I tasted the bread and was immediately impressed by it -- great flavor and I liked how the butter enhanced and complemented the bread.

While waiting we decided to order some appetizers to share. Tenderloin bites and lobster corn fritters were both outstanding. The menu stated that the tenderloin bites were marinated with soy, lime and garlic and it was obvious by the first bite. Not only were these bite sized beef chunks tender and moist, but extremely flavorful. And although I couldn't taste the lobster in the fritters, they were just the right texture -- not too hard or too soft -- and fried perfectly. This made me even more excited about the meal ahead.

Soon, we all placed our main course orders and waited for our meals to arrive. Given that there were this many of us, I wasn't really fazed by the length of time we waited. Our bread baskets had been empty a long time and while our water carafes were refilled over and over again, the bread basket had been sitting there bare for more than 30 mins now. I brought this to the attention of our server who said he would take care of it. A few minutes turned into more than 10, until the birthday girl finally brought it to our server's attention again. He informed her that he was waiting for the baguette to be ready so it could be served alongside the cranberry bread. I guess she told him it wasn't necessary and to bring it out as is because we got our bread pretty soon after that.

When our main courses arrived I noticed that none of us who ordered steaks or chops had steak knives. In fact, there wasn't even a regular knife since we had used it for the appetizers. I quickly pointed this out as I really didn't like eating cold food and it was cooling down each second the knives weren't on the table. Our server murmured apologies regarding the lack of knives and his reasoning was because they were being polished. Just a sorry about that would have sufficed.

The other thing which was rather obvious was the fact that the main courses had that outdated feel about them. Presentation was seriously lacking -- practically non-existent. My NY steak was just sitting there with thin carrot ribbons on one side and scalloped potatoes on the other. The other diners' meals were the same: mixed grill was just the three items alongside mashed potatoes with the same thin ribboned carrots. No imagination in the presentation whatsoever.

I could've overlooked the presentation had the food blown me away. After eating the appetizers I was sorely disappointed by my main course. This being a 'steak and chop' house, the steak was subpar beyond belief. My steak was flavorless. At first I thought, well maybe they forgot to season it. I picked up the salt on the table and I shook my head when I saw it was the regular type of table salt. Luckily, I carry a salt grinder in my purse filled with sea salt. I sprinkled some onto my steak but it really didn't help much. The steak still remained pretty bland. We'd just returned from Vegas and I had a $10 steak which tasted far better than this almost $30 steak at Park Ave. In fact, I didn't finish my meal. My husband ate my scalloped potatoes and my son had some of my steak. I even left a piece unfinished on my plate. I rarely waste food, but I will not hesitate to leave inedible food behind. It was unfortunate that this was one of those times.

My husband's lamb chops were okay, still not the best I've ever had. I've bought lamb chops from Whole Foods which were more tasty. All in all, I think disappointed is too lax a word to use for this experience. Maybe after hearing the hype, I just expected a whole lot more. Maybe, because their prices were above average, I expected more. Maybe because Park Avenue presents itself to be a little more sophisticated, I'd expected service to be on par with that aspect, but again, I was let down. Everything was really mediocre at best -- the food, the service. The only redeeming factor was that the birthday girl enjoyed her main course -- swordfish. That was really the most important thing.

Would I come back again? Probably not for dinner. There's a different menu at lunch time -- perhaps that would be better? I don't know. But what I do know is that Park Avenue does not live up to the hype, nor does the quality of food vs cost ratio go hand in hand. I'm left feeling cheated by a lackluster meal with uninspiring service for a price which really doesn't justify the goods we received.