Restaurant: Bourbon Steak
Location: 237 S Brand Blvd, Glendale, CA 91210. (818) 839-4130
Date: May 7, 2018
Cuisine: Steakhouse
Rating: Very good, but perhaps a touch pricey
Another year, another Chevy birthday dinner!
To celebrate, Seb finally got me to drive all the way across town to Michael Mina’s Bourbon Steak — and because of excessive back to back dinners I even had to skip out on Chinese the night before!
Bourbon is right underneath Seb’s condo at the Brand. A great spot — but very far (in rush hour traffic).
The bar area.
And the main dining room.
NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 163eme. VM 95. The NV Grand Cuvée 163 Edition is wonderfully open-knit and giving, qualities that make it a terrific choice for drinking now and over the next 30 or so years. Pastry, apricot, lemon confit, chamomile and white flowers, along with soft contours, give the wine its inviting, alluring personality. There is more than enough energy and overall freshness to support several decades of fine drinking. Even so, the 163 is virtually impossible to resist at this early stage.
The amuse here is 3 kinds of fries: cheese, basil, and bbq with respective sauces.
Muffin-like buns.
From my cellar: 2011 Prager Grüner Veltliner Stockkultur Achleiten. AG 92. Luscious aromas of quince, cardamom and pepper are layered over a background of dried pineapple. Rather broad-shouldered in its attack, this veltliner is enormously rich but at the same time complex, juicy and tightly wound, in an unusually refreshing style. Subtle citrus flavors carry well on the finish.
Fresh oysters on the half shell. Champagne Mignonette.
Fresh Alaskan king crab legs. Good, but a small portion for the price.
Shrimp cocktail. Gin cocktail sauce, dijonnaise (aka mustard and mayo whipped together).
From my cellar: 1995 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. 92 points. Good again.
From my cellar (somehow I’m always bringing all the white!): 1985 Nicolas Potel Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. 95 points. Great bottle.
Every Michael Mina place has to have a Lobster Pot Pie!
They cut it open.
And plate the guts, the top, covered in sauce. Delicious, but very pricey at $85 a pie.
2010 Rene Rostaing Côte-Rôtie La Landonne. VM 94. Inky ruby. Aromas and flavors of dark fruit preserves, candied flowers and smoky herbs, with a bright mineral nuance adding lift. Deeply pitched black and blue fruit flavors show serious depth and structure, picking up spiciness and an exotic floral quality on the back half. Chewy tannins give shape and grip to a strikingly long, powerful and spice-driven finish. Rostaing thinks that it would be a “grave mistake” to broach this wine in its youth and believes that it’s “for the most patient people, not those in a hurry.”
Kagoshima A5 Rib Eye. Real superior wagyu from Japan (the Japanese stuff is by far the best). Nicely seared.
This was a delectable chunk of buttery meat.
2006 Schrader Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon RBS Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard. 97 points. Simply singing with wonderful nose and complexity on the palate. Incredible with steak!
2010 Rudd Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Oakville. 97 points.
Austrailan Wagyu tomahawk rib eye.
Another great steak, really perfectly seared.
Grilled broccoli, chili & parmesan.
Crispy Brussels sprout, honey palm syrup.
Black truffle mac & cheese. M&C is always one of my favorite sides.
2013 Schrader Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon RBS Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard. 96 points. Clear, deep ruby. Fat legs, suggesting high-alcohol, high-glycerol wine. Clean, pronounced nose of primary and secondary nature, highly complex. Primary notes include black and red super-ripe to jammy fruits: blackberry, prunes, black raspberry, boysonberry, raspberry, red currant, black currant. Eucalyptus, anise, licorice, wet slate. Secondary notes: baking spices, nutmeg, coconut, milk chocolate, high quality coconut powder. On the palate: dry, high acidity, high tannin, high alcohol, full body. The tannins are high, mouth-coating, fine-grained and ripe. The flavors are very pronounced and highly-complex. Primary flavors: jammy boysonberry, cassis, black cherries, ripe raspberry, black mulberry, figs, eucalyptus, mentol and licorice. Secondary flavors: nutmeg, some chocolate and cocoa. Long finish.
2009 Hundred Acre Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Few and Far Between. VM 94. The 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Few and Far Between Vineyard has developed beautifully since I last tasted it from barrel. Mocha, espresso, exotic spices and orange peel all come together in this inviting, multi-dimensional Cabernet Sauvignon. Totally alive in the glass, the wine is constantly changing, and reveals different sides of its personality with each taste. Hints of sweet red berries and cloves add complexity on the long, polished finish.
More steak? Maybe a cowboy rib eye?
Brie & Honey. Honey, bee pollen, date, grape, hazelnut.
From my cellar: 1946 Bodegas Toro Albala Don PX Convento Selección. 100 points. So remarkable I give it 101 points. I can’t begin to enumerate the flavors except to say it is a dark peacock’s tail that shimmers and unfurls for minutes. I pity those who give it less than 100 points. What will they ever taste in their lives that is better? Nothing. They are doomed, never to recognize perfection. If you haven’t tried a glass, you must. Nothing more satisfying, saturated, or complex has ever before been bottled.
Root-beer float and cookie.
The bourbon white chocolate sundae. White devil’s food cake, espresso ice cream, bourbon fudge.
Sweet Milk Gelato (made by me). On the left, Pistachio Gelato with pistachios from Bronte Sicily and on the right, Almond Ricotta Gelato, pure ricotta base with sliced almonds.
In the bowl……………..
Above is birthday boy Chevy and his lovely wife Mary.
Bourbon did a great job for the most part. Seb goes there all the time and they really take care of him. They were a bit strapped for stems — which is silly — but that was my only complaint. The food was excellent. Appetizers good but not super unique. Lobster Pot Pie awesome. Steaks absolutely first rate. It did feel a bit pricey on a per dish basis, although splitting steaks like this is always WAY better than the traditional “everyone orders their own steak.” Steak quality was up there with Alexanders.
