Restaurant: BOA Steakhouse [1, 2]
Location: 9200 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069. (310) 278-2050
Date: February 13, 2019
Cuisine: Steakhouse
Rating: Okay food, no wine service
Certain parties like to put dinner at BOA for a number of reasons: distance (or lack-there-of), it’s half willingness to do no corkage (but NO wine service, including stems), and it’s classic steakhouse cuisine. I’m not a particular fan as it’s just meh in about all ways — except it’s pretty easy to get to.
This dinner has a Pavie theme.
Innovative Dining, always has a style-over-substance approach and medium service. On the plus side they do waive corkage, but this has some costs (more on that later) and they are huge, mobbed, and not super attentive.
We had a nice outside table, but it wasn’t a private room and was quite loud.
From my cellar: 2002 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas François. VM 96. The 2002 Cuvée Nicolas François Billecart is outrageously beautiful. The ripeness of the Chardonnay is front and center in a Champagne that delivers the goods, big-time. An infusion of apricot, orange peel, crème brûlée, chamomile, hazelnut and honey give the 2002 its racy, exotic personality. I enjoy it most with bottle age, but the 2002 is undeniably beautiful right now. The 2002 is a stunning NFB. The blend is 60% Pinot Noir from the Montagne de Reims and the Vallée de la Marne and 40% Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs, done partially in oak (20%). Dosage is 4 grams per liter. (Drink between 2020-2030)
The menu.
2019 Château Pape Clément Blanc. 93 points. The 2019 Pape-Clément Blanc has an attractive and complex nose with yellow plum, lanolin and light smoky scents, very well-defined with neatly assimilated oak. Noticeable SO2 here. The palate is medium-bodied with fine acidity, lacking a bit of mid-weight density and thereafter it just seems to lose complexity with a tinned pineapple and Golden Delicious finish. This bottle may have suffered light strike. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.
Tuna Tartare. Avocado, Wasabi Oil, Furikake, Crisp Wontons. Just ok.
Hamachi Tartare. Yellowtail, yuzu ginger marinade, avocado, crisp lavosh. Better, but weird that they basically have two tuna/avocado tartares.
Jumbo Lump Crab Cake. Remoulade, Fennel Frond Salad, Fried Capers. Decent.
Chilled Saffron Prawns. Cocktail Sauce, Atomic Horseradish, Lemon. Nice shrimp but I didn’t detect either Saffron or Atomic Horseradish.
Goat Cheese Baklava. Pistachios, Black Truffles, Frissee. Didn’t try because of the carbs.
Jeff Leve’s Caesar Salad, no longer made table-side and without tasbasco.
Not what it once was — definitely not legendary.
Caesar Salad — their “lengendary” recipe. A bit mustard forward.
2007 Domaine Henri Boillot Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos de la Mouchère. VM 94. Peach, spices and minerals on the nose. Dense and creamy but quite dry in the mouth, with deep, nuanced flavors of yellow peach, apple and spices. Is this as brisk and fresh as the Perrieres? (A second sample was every bit as rich and offered a bit more inner-palate tension.)
The Classic Wedge, chopped.
The Classic Wedge. Crisp Iceberg Lettuce, Applewood Smoked Bacon. Not bad, but nor was it a truly great wedge. Definately not enough dressing and not cold enough.
1998 Château Pavie. VM 92. The 1998 Pavie was Gerard Perse’s second vintage after buying the property and it was actually matured in 200% new oak. Now at two decades, it continues to be attired with a fresh and very attractive bouquet, blackberry, mulberry, clove and bay leaf, just a touch of Italian delicatessen in the background. I like the definition here. The palate is medium-bodied with fine delineation and a keen thread of acidity, quite classic in style with tobacco and a light seaweed influence towards the persistent finish. This is ageing supremely well and you can another 10 to 15 years of drinking pleasure here. Excellent. Tasted at the château. (Drink between 2018-2032)
1999 Château Pavie. VM 92. The 1999 Pavie shows very similarly to another ex-château bottle encountered a few months earlier. It has an attractive bouquet that has mellowed in recent years, notes of bacon fat and mint infusing the red and black fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannin, red fruit, a touch of hung game and a tarry finish that does not convey the same level of freshness and delineation as the 1998 and 2000 do nowadays. A seductive Pavie, though less turbocharged than subsequent vintages. Tasted from an ex-château bottle at the estate. (Drink between 2019-2032)
Wagyu Meatballs. Not bad, but maybe a lot of filler. Good sauce.
Rosie’s Farm Half Chicken. Had a weird grilled flavor. Didn’t love.
2000 Château Pavie. VM 96. The 2000 Pavie was tasted on two occasions. The first was from bottle at the château, where I felt it was quite sauvage and displayed more brettanomyces than I remembered. It was a peculiar showing. Then I tasted a magnum back in the UK, and this chimed more with previous bottles. Blackberry and crème de cassis feature on the nose, which is precocious and modern in style, though the new oak that once dominated this Saint-Émilion is now subsumed. The palate is full-bodied and dense, yet it does possess an alluring, silky texture. A sweet, precocious finish lingers extremely long in the mouth. (Drink between 2023-2045)
2003 Château Pavie. VM 92+. Ruby-red. Superripe nose features port-like black fruits, violet, truffle, coffee and minerals. Superconcentrated, rich and layered, conveying a powerful impression of solidity. High-pitched flavors of blackberry and violet pastille along with lower tones of mocha, coffee and smoked meat. Finishes with big but noble, palate-dusting tannins and great persistence. The wine’s aftertaste saturates every square millimeter of the mouth. Ultimately more exotic, more roasted and heavier than the young 2004; a quintessence of the 2003 harvest.
Marinated Skirt Steak Frites.
2002 Château Pavie. VM 92. Saturated ruby-red. Sexy aromas of blackcurrant, black raspberry, plum, mocha, minerals, game and nutty oak. Superripe, rich and chewy, with a higher pitch than the 2001 owing to its firm acids. Quite suave and fine-grained but youthfully backward. Finishes with building, ripe tannins that coat the teeth, and lingering notes of plum, leather and chocolate. This will need a good eight to ten years of bottle aging, and should last for two decades or more.
2003 Château Pavie. VM 92+. Ruby-red. Superripe nose features port-like black fruits, violet, truffle, coffee and minerals. Superconcentrated, rich and layered, conveying a powerful impression of solidity. High-pitched flavors of blackberry and violet pastille along with lower tones of mocha, coffee and smoked meat. Finishes with big but noble, palate-dusting tannins and great persistence. The wine’s aftertaste saturates every square millimeter of the mouth. Ultimately more exotic, more roasted and heavier than the young 2004; a quintessence of the 2003 harvest.
21 Day Dry Aged Tomahawk for Two (or 8). We ordered it medium rare, came medium. Got another which was actually rare. Bearnaise sauce on the side.
Lobster Mac N Cheese. Too many carbs. Ate a bite of lobster.
Creamed Spinach with Crispy Onion. Excellent.
Brussels Sprouts & Bacon. Had a balsamic glaze which made it a bit sweet.
2004 Château Pavie. VM 93. Bright ruby, less black than the ’04 Pavie-Decesse. Sexy aromas of black cherry, violet, minerals and oak. Very suave on entry, then superripe, fat and rich in the middle and evolving slowly. Like the Pavie-Decesse, this benefits from substantial ripe tannins and lovely flavor definition, but today this shows a bit less vibrancy than either the ’04 Pavie-Decesse or the ’05 Pavie. But this very deep wine appears to be in a closed phase.
2005 Château Pavie. VM 97. Six years have passed since I last tasted the 2005 Pavie. In that time, the wine has moved into its first plateau of maturity. Heady and explosive, the 2005 possesses tremendous richness right out of the gate. An infusion of inky dark fruit, chocolate, leather, spice, menthol and espresso greets the palate as the 2005 shows off its considerable charms. The style of the era is evident in the wine’s rich, extracted feel and strong oak inflections. My preference is to drink the 2005 now, as early signs of aromatic maturity are starting to set in. Tasted two times. (Drink between 2021-2030)
2006 Château Pavie. VM 95. Good full medium ruby. Blackberry, black cherry, licorice and minerals on the nose. Suave on entry, then cool and minerally in the middle palate, with brooding black fruit flavors. Today this comes across as less fleshy than the 2007, with the result that the tannins seem a bit tough. But there’s plenty of sweet fruit lurking and a very solid spine for aging.
Porterhouse Brooklyn with garlic and rosemary. Again ordered medium rare, again came way too cooked — but we were too lazy to send it back again.
Sauteed Mushrooms.
I love this flavor — Peppermint Bark Gelato — Base is pure peppermint milk (subbed the sugar with crushed peppermint candies) and it’s laced with house-made double-sided peppermint bark, Valrhona Dark Chocolate and Ivoire White! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — The Peppermint Bark recipe was developed by a famous pastry chef and author, the mum of a Naughty Dog Alum @nancy_baggett — this year I added the two layer thing which is awesome — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #dessertgasm #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #peppermint #bark #Valrhona #chocolate
The wine.
Food was ok. It’s not nearly — not even close to — as good as The Royce, but it’s better than more hack steakhouses like Del Friscos or terrible ones like Taylor’s. The place is gigantic and a bit of a factory. It was very crowded and the like. Service was friendly but a bit distant — and wine service non existant.
They did waive corkage. But on the minus side, and perhaps because of this, they didn’t touch the bottles (maybe a good thing), so we did everything. AND they very strictly limited us to THREE glasses each (up from two last time). They directly told the staff not to give us any more. This is mostly the fault of certain parties who just aren’t willing to pay for corkage (which covers stem cleaning/washing).
The group has learned to break up the courses which is good, but of course really there should be more of a red/white balance. It’s hard to know if the food has changed or my taste has but it seemed lamer than it was a few years ago. Not terrible or anything, but just sloppier and a bit blander. Execution is just so-so. They can’t even do salads that well.
The wines, however, were excellent!
