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So the 6th Annual Pellegrino Dine Out is about to come to an end. I thought it might be fun to go to one of the more high-profile restaurants participating in this event. That and the fact I owed somebody a really nice belated birthday dinner. We picked The Grill on the Alley and made our reservations… I had no idea I would be in for an interesting evening.

First of all, I got just the slightest bit lost. I called the restaurant to get my bearings, as well as to give them the heads up that I was now running late. When I got there, I understood why it’s called The Grill on the Alley. It really is located in alley. On the right side of the alley is a door. As I entered, I went from gray, questionable alley to a bustling, warm restaurant. The hostess introduced herself as Pamela and shook my hand. She thanked me for calling to let them know I was running late. My friend and I were then led to our table, and before our seats were even warm, our server came by to take our drink order.

I almost expected an attitude or some form of discontent when I mentioned the Pellegrino menu, but our server was fantastic. Per my request, he brought us both menus, so we could decide which we would rather have, as well as describing the evening’s specials, if we chose not to go with the Pellegrino menu. While we were reviewing the menu, one of the servers brought by a bread basket and a plate of bell peppers with onions. I loved this! I wish more restaurants would follow suit in providing something flavorful and non-starchy to snack on either with or in lieu of bread. In the end, we did decide to go with the Pellegrino menu, but our server also sold us on the lump crab cakes ($16), which became our first appetizer. The crab cakes were very light. Our server told us prior to ordering that they are baked instead of fried. What a huge difference. My only complaint about this dish is that I wish the portion could have been bigger, as I enjoyed it quite a bit. Then came the prix fixe menu items, and this is where my dining experience started to differ from my friend’s.

First Course

My friend went with the vine-ripened tomatoes. I noticed in the Pellegrino website, The Grill’s menu specified they would be served with mozzarella, but the menu we got at the restaurant changed the mozzarella to caramelized onions. He ate all the tomatoes, but he did not finish the onions. They were apparently too raw still for his taste. He thought they would be more caramelized. I have to admit, they certainly did not look very caramelized to me.

Things went better for me with the salad. It was a basic, simple salad with some lettuce, radicchio, carrots, mushrooms, etc. It was nothing to write home about, so why am I writing about it? The norm these days at restaurants is to serve salads with some fancy mixed greens and drown them in some greasy vinaigrette. Even though this salad wasn’t special, it was just refreshing to have a salad in which I can actually taste each item on the plate and not just the dressing and also recognize all the greens so I didn’t have to wonder what I was eating.

Main Course

My friend ordered the ground beef steak, which was not on the Pellegrino’s website menu. This replaced the veal chop that was originally advertised. I think my friend would have been much happier with the veal chop. I asked him how he liked the ground beef steak, and he responded that it was just okay and lacked flavor. His side dish was a generous portion of garlic mashed potatoes with spinach. On the plus side, the onions that topped the ground beef steak were much more to his liking than the onions that came with his first course.

I went with the New York Steak (12oz), which was topped with blue cheese and bacon. I was extremely happy with my steak. I thought it was cooked perfectly. I’ve had blue cheese with steak before, but this was so much more flavorful than I recalled it tasting. On top of that, I really liked the baked potato that accompanied the steak. I told my friend that for some reason, that baked potato was just really good. The texture was fluffy and soft. I didn’t even need the sour cream and chives that were served on the side. He didn’t believe me and dug his fork right into my baked potato and conceded that I was right. In fact, I think he liked my plain baked potato more than his mashed potatoes. (Side note: I mentioned this incident to someone, who suggested that the potato may have been coated with butter while it was baking. Some of the butter that was outside may have penetrated the skin while cooking, thus creating the soft texture. I don’t know if this is true, but I will definitely be experimenting with this idea the next time I bake a potato.)

Dessert

We pretty much split dessert - a bread pudding and an apple crisp. I liked the apple crisp more than the bread pudding, but I think by the time I got to the latter, my taste buds already had enough. It was supposed to be an apple and raisin bread pudding with Jack Daniels sauce, but because I started with the apple crisp, all I could tasted was apple. I saw raisins, and I saw the sauce, but my taste buds just could not recognize anything other than apples by that point. In other words, I can not objectively critique the bread pudding. I did enjoy the apple crisp. I agree with my friend that we would have liked this dish a lot more with a scoop of ice cream instead of the whipped cream they gave us, but it was probably a smidgeon healthier with the whipped cream.

In addition, over the course of dinner, my friend was convinced that Salma Hayek could not keep her eyes off of him. My back was facing that table, so I have no clue if it really was Ms. Hayek or not, but I reassured him that if the lady was indeed her, she would only be looking at him because he had not been able to stop staring at her all evening. Like I said, he and I had two very different dining experiences sitting at the same table. I was beyond satisfied with my meal, and he was beyond satisfied with my meal but not his own. He stared at a possible celebrity all night, I only got to stare at him. We got up to leave the restaurant, and as we were departing, our server stopped us to thank us, shake our hands goodbye, and wish us a good evening. I couldn’t help smiling and thinking, Yes, it was good evening.

Miscellaneous Notes:

1) If Ms. Hayek is by chance reading this - or anyone who knows her personally is reading this - my friend really would like to know if that was you/her he was staring at all night. He apologizes if he made you feel uncomfortable at any time for his staring.

2) Valet parking in front of the restaurant is available for $6. Alternatively, you can just get lucky like me and find metered parking, which is free after 6pm. If you don’t see any, there’s public parking on Brighton (between Dayton and Camden) that has a $2 flat fee.

3) As part of the Pellegrino Dine Out event, our meals were $35 per person (not including the crab cakes, tax, and tip). I did not see the ground beef steak on their regular menu, but the New York steak alone on the regular menu was $38. If you go to The Grill on the Alley - and it is absolutely worth a visit - save up your paychecks. This will cost you… unless you go today (8/30), the last day of the Dine Out.

The Grill on the Alley
9560 Dayton Way
Beverly Hills, CA 91306
(310) 276-0615
Hours: Monday - Thursday: 11:30 AM - 11:00 PM,
Friday - Saturday: 11:30 AM - Midnight
Sunday: 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM

By Pauline (see more of her posts).