Scene of the prime
Minx Restaurant & Lounge reinvents itself with sweeping menu changes
By Dan O'Heron 04/01/2010
Entering its fifth season this year, Minx’s all-world food menu, lush with bonus liquor sales, has been through the ups and downs of a seismograph — rave reviews mixed with reproachful pans. But the shaking should stop on Tuesday, when more American regional steakhouse fare becomes the new order of the day.
“We had been thought of as ‘Minx the nightclub,’” says Tony Romano, the restaurant’s director of operations. “Soon we will be known as ‘Minx, the fine dining restaurant.’”
That’s because chicken breasts piled atop Italian risotto, Spanish chorizo and purple wax beans have been replaced in favor of strictly USDA Prime steaks and double-cut pork chops.
Only 2 percent of all beef produced in the United States is designated as USDA Prime. All cut from grain-fed beef, Minx’s steaks are exquisitely marbled and obviously hand-trimmed. Compared to other grades — Select, Standard or Choice — Prime beef is what Elsie, the beast of Borden, is to some old cow scratching its back under a billboard in Corona.
To advance the changeover, Keven Alan Lee was hired as new executive chef. Romano indicated he expects Lee to burnish an already glowing resume: Lee was a former executive chef at Lutece, considered the gold standard of haute cuisine among New York City restaurants.
While carnivores will be getting Lee’s royal treatment for dinner, they needn’t take out a loan to pay for it. Compared to top quality, old-line steak houses like Ruth’s Chris, the prices at Minx are decent. Lee’s signature steak is prime rib iron, basted in a spread of compound butter infused with toasted shallots, herbs and zinfandel ($19). Other specials include a brawny 14-day, dry-aged New York ($27); a bone-in, 10-ounce filet mignon ($29) and a 5-ounce, center-cut filet mignon tenderloin ($18).
Seafood items include a seared Yellowfin tuna ($19), its pale pink flesh more brisk in flavor than albacore; a dandy Scottish skin-on salmon steak ($12); jumbo scallops ($17), cooked just right to be tender and not bouncy; and garlic- and chili-marinated jumbo prawns ($18).
As assimilated in all fine steak houses — and to a greater extent here — Lee’s meals are complemented with an array of naturalized American sauces of foreign intrigue. Among them: the classic French tarragon-hollandaise béarnaise; an intense Merlot demi-glace; a pungent coriander; white buttery beurre blanc; feisty Thai green curry; a creamy, green under-ripe peppercorn with highly aromatic rosemary; a tropical habanero barbecue sauce; and the aforementioned compound butter.
A la carte salads ($8) include the old-fashioned “go-with” steak favorite, hearts of romaine — but with a twist. Here, you get five elongated heads, each with the usual crunchy, succulent midrib. But, courtesy of Lee, each is crusted with Parmesan and panko breadcrumbs. Romano correctly calls it “incomparable.”
Lee’s signature soup also stirs. Creamy and thick, it consists of five onions: caramelized shallots, red and yellow onions, leeks and scallion, creamed together with melted Gruyere cheese and served in a dug-out giant onion ($11).
Lee’s tantalizing lounge menu, served all evening, includes five large crusted prosciutto-wrapped asparagus spears ($9). Herein, the $9 burger is the real king. Made of a USDA Prime, dry-aged half-pound beef patty and served on rich baked brioche bun, it is layered with butter lettuce, oven-dried tomato, melting horseradish cheddar and sharp Dijon mustard.
And for only $6, other side dishes have main-event qualities. Among them: Yukon gold mashed potatoes, flecked with bacon and scallion and plopped with crème fraiche; sautéed garlic spinach, topped with tangy Romano cheese; and sweet potato fries, unguent with maple syrup.
The $10 desserts are so pretty that it borders on vandalism to destroy them with a fork. They include a blackberry pear cobbler, with Tahitian vanilla-bean ice cream and lavender whip cream; a classic bananas Foster whoopie pie; and chocolate toffee bread pudding.
While it’s not going to be easy to get your face out of Lee’s plates, you should take some time to pay respect to the surroundings. Arranged with warm woods, solid stone and cushy furniture, the curvaceous dining room flows with sage-taupe hues of wall color and fine fabric. A galaxy of chandeliers highlights an elevated cocktail lounge.
Tiered and separated from the dining room by an impressive roll-up mahogany door is a vibrant lounge. With the latest sound and lighting systems, it’s ideal for entertaining huge private parties where the only drawback is where to set your drink down when you ask somebody to dance.
In the main dining room, there are the wrap-around windows that allow guests to witness frolicking in the patio, except where drapes are drawn in the cabanas.
Minx draws added value on clear spring and summer nights. From the patio deck on the brow of a Verdugo foothill, relaxed by the lulling whirs of traffic on the Ventura (134) Freeway that snakes by the restaurant, you can spot the tips of skyscrapers in downtown LA and pick out the Milky Way among the stars.
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