BLT Steak

We dined at BLT Steak in the Trump International Hotel, the single Hawaii location of the vast BLT Restaurant Group empire that spans from East to West coast, Hong Kong and Puerto Rico. Ironically, the restaurant group that bears his initials no longer count Laurent Tourondel a partner in the group as he recently split from the group a couple of months ago. And the Hawaii location sits in a hotel that also bears another famous name but "The Donald" wasn't involved in the hotel at all. Oh well, what's in a name anyway?

We started the evening with cocktails; the Cilantro Margherita which included Sauza Silver tequila, lime juice and celery and cilantro. The celery wasn't evident but the cilantro nicely contrasted the lime and tequila flavors while the Mrs sampled the Peach Plantation or peach Schnapps, pineapple juice and black tea.

We were served BLT's complimentary chicken liver pate and toast (not really toast points but 2 whole pieces of toast) and their popovers. The chicken liver pate was very good with a balance of fresh chicken liver flavor (unlike the all too raw poultry smell of supermarket chicken livers) and herbs while the popover was still steaming as we cracked it open. The Mrs compared it to Mariposa's popovers - she preferred the moister exterior of Mariposa's and the lighter interior. I preferred the drier (less greasy) exterior of BLTs and the warm brioche like inner testure.

We only chose one appetizer since I reminded the Mrs that medium rare steak the next day wasn't anywhere near the experience right off the grill. Of course you could reheat it the next day but that would push it to medium or (aghast) even medium well. Therefore we selected one of their daily specials, the Carpaccio with Hearts of Palm. Only three slices ($15) but the meat itself was very good... no, make that excellent rivaling the carpaccio at Olives in the Bellagio Resort. The sliced and shaved heart of palm (shaved with the grain and sliced against the grain) gave a nice contrasting crunch against the silky meat. They even had slightly different textures depending on the cut,

We selected three sides (ala carte menu) for our entrees. I reminded the Mrs that we could make a baked potato or cook rice at home so I suggested sides that we didn't often indulge in or sides from the daily special menu. She chose the onion rings piled like a tower with a light tempura like batter and sweet onion interior, the gnocchi pomodoro - I almost had her choose another since I didn't think a steakhouse would make good gnocchi. Boy was I wrong! As tender as gnocchi gets with just the right amount of brown crust in a very good tomato sauce - it tasted like a roasted tomato sauce. I could have had a plateful of just the gnocchi (and a glass of Chianti) and I would have been a happy camper! The last side was a special, roasted hearts of palm with duck confit and Manchego cheese. I know, this really sounds like using kitchen leftovers... "hmm, we have leftover hearts of palm from the carpaccio, some leftover duck breast, we always have cheese..." but it was very good. The hearts of palm still had a crunch with slightly salty cheese and succulent duck meat.

The Mrs is the carnivore in the house (and steak eater) so she ordered the 14oz Rib Eye done medium rare. You could choose sauces to accompany your steak so she chose the chimichurri, peppercorn and red wine sauces. The steak was well caramelized on the exterior (the 1700 degree heat they employ) so she thought they brought her a New York instead of the Rib Eye. It was served with a whole head of roasted garlic and herb butter on the top (she pushed it off). I normally order a filet mignon (like I said, I'm not really a steak eater, I prefer steak tartare or carpaccio and no, I don't have protruding supraorbital ridges) but this time I ordered out of the box. I chose the Braised Short Rib - three bones mind you - that was literally fallin' offa da bone! As tender as meat can get without being pre-chewed! Our server said it was braised for 3 hours then finished with a demi-glace with minced roasted garlic crusted on top. Mmm, mmm, good!

We actually had space for dessert - actually I ran out of space but forced myself to consume beyond the limits. They normally have a peanut butter chocolate mousse with banana ice cream - my favorite trio of flavors but their special menu listed a Chocolate Caramel Tarte with Coconut Sorbet and Caramel Sauce. Other than chocolate, peanut butter and banana the other faves are caramel and coconut. And since it was a special, I had to follow my own rules. When you can't decide, choose the special since it's not usually on the menu everyday. The Mrs also followed the rules and ordered from the special menu, a White Chocolate Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce and Roasted Banana Ice Cream. once again, mmm, mmm, good!

My only complaint of the evening was that the AC wasn't running at full tilt, maybe because the side doors were open for the outside table service. It wasn't very cool to begin with so I was overheating a little... to paraphrase Kathleen Turner in "Body Heat", "I run a little hotter than 98.6".