By Frank Sabatini Jr.
Stake Chophouse & Bar from Blue Bridge Hospitality awakens Coronado with a sleek, modern design that some might argue goes against the grain of Orange Avenue’s demure dining scene. Located a floor above street level near the Hotel del Coronado, the restaurant gives the impression of a high-rise lounge in downtown Chicago rather than a place built safely around the island’s village atmosphere.
It also pampers with amenities that normally go missing when plunking down $50 or more on a hunk of top-quality beef.
Opt for the five-course “stake experience” priced at $140 per person, for example, and you get to eyeball your main entrée from a platter of raw steaks presented tableside, much like choosing a dessert from a display tray. Better to see it first instead of imagining its dimensions and attributes from paper.
Beautifully crafted knives come next. They’re presented in a handsome box, allowing you to choose what feels best. My companion selected a slender French-made blade for her well-marbled American Wagyu rib eye while I gravitated to slightly heavier steel of German origin, which glided through my dry-aged bone-in New York strip as though it were Jell-O.
Regardless of what menu route you take, Stake offers ultra-comfortable seating on heavy white-leather chairs, tags your leftovers for pickup on the way out and features a stunning outdoor cocktail lounge rigged with linear fire pits and a backlit onyx wall. And where else in Coronado do you find mouthwash supplied in the restrooms?
In a further break from steakhouses of yesteryear, Chef Tim Kolanko (formerly of the Lodge at Torrey Pines) peppers the menu with uncommon appetizers and side dishes, although he keeps a few standbys available such as shrimp cocktail, creamed spinach, and superb French onion soup constructed from beefy veal stock.
From the potato category, there’s a traditional baked tuber along with gratin, Lyonnaise and Duchesse preparations. His tuna crudo with candied jalapenos and pickled mushrooms — or hamachi crudo with apples, preserved lemon and pine nuts — are the exceptional “surfs” that deliver you to his turf.
Lobster dip with cheese curds and zesty Calabrian peppers also served as a climactic buildup. The fondue-like appetizer brimmed with tender lumps of tail meat that we trawled with every swipe of our crostini. With regard to his oysters Rockefeller, these are snazzier than most because they’re wood-fired and less watery.
Our steaks were cooked accurately to medium. Kolanko finishes them with fat rendered from beef trimmings, which contains a whisper of herbs that he sneaks in. Yet overall, the meat tasted pure and oozed of light-red juices seeping from its caramelized edges. It was exactly what we came for.
Other chops include filet mignon, American Wagyu skirt and prized Japanese Wagyu, the richest of them all sold in three-ounce portions for $28 per ounce. There’s also a 50-ounce tomahawk rib chop ($120) for group feasts, a sight to behold when it passes through the dining room with its statuesque rib bone protruding from the platter.
The vegetable side dishes we chose were refreshingly out of the ordinary, with spice-roasted pumpkin ranking as our favorite. The tenderly cooked wedges were accented with cranberry relish and toasted walnuts, a come-on to the holidays but with staying power for the entire winter season.
Fire-roasted carrots with cumin and orange zest were also a departure from the norm. Kolanko gives them a divine, creamy twist with yogurt and avocado. As for the fired cauliflower with parsley, we liked the concept but the dish was over-charred to the point of severely distracting from the subtle flavor that defines cauliflower.
Stake’s wine inventory is vast and displayed from a glass-enclosed room. From a few different glasses we ordered, the Beronia Tempranillo from Rioja, Spain resulted in one of those wine moments that affirms your love of fermented grapes, when the flavors of fruit and terroir are so perfectly balanced, it leaves you speechless.
The final showstoppers of our meal were two desserts: a geometric chocolate-almond cake with caramel mousse atop hazelnut crust, and blueberry bread pudding with white chocolate sauce that sent my companion over the moon.
“Insanely fruity and refreshing,” was how she termed it.
Stake is by all accounts geared to those with padded wallets. But you get top-notch food, astute service and a renewed appreciation for swank in return, the kind that will likely appeal more to young, successful entrepreneurs than traditionalists who prefer eating filet from red leather booths.
—Frank Sabatini Jr. is the author of “Secret San Diego” (ECW Press), and began his local writing career more than two decades ago as a staffer for the former San Diego Tribune. You can reach him at [email protected].
