After seeing an M. Ward show at Fingerprints, someone mentioned wanting a martini. My first thought was 555 East, as I have heard good things and since no one in our group had been there it a perfect match.
We arrived and they happily seated us at a small table in the bar area, which was pretty empty for 7:30 on a Saturday night. It did get crowded as the night went on, so we got there right on time. The five of us immediately started to comment on the restaurant atmosphere, it was very cozy and we loved the old steakhouse feel. All the dark wood and comfy leather chairs made us want to stay for a long time.
We decided to start with a few drinks. I had the MI-6 cocktail, which was described as Russian vodka, English gin, and blue cheese stuffed olives. I hadn’t thought about having gin AND vodka together but I was happy that I did, it was stiff and delicious. The table also had a filthy vodka martini, a dirty vodka martini and an old fashioned. Everyone was happy with their drinks (the old fashioned had a little too much vermouth in it but my husband was still pleased).
We decided to just order a few small bites and share so that everyone was able to try a few things. For people like us, 555 is more of a special event dinner so we sampled the cheaper route. We decided to start with the steak fries ($7) that were served with a warm blue cheese. These fries weren’t greasy, they were crispy and the seasoning was so spectacular, they didn’t even need the cheese sauce. Of course we all dipped away anyway, the cheese was perfectly creamy and salty. We couldn’t have asked for more (literally, the portion was pretty large).
The baked brie was served with toast points and apple slices for dipping and on top of the brie there were almond slivers and a garlic sauce of some type. When we ordered it they had told us there wasn’t any garlic but right when it arrived we could all smell it and so we sent it back, the chef said that he was certain there wasn’t any. My friends tried it and they all confirmed that there was definitely garlic. Sadly, I wasn’t able to try it because of my allergy but everyone else seemed to enjoy it.
We almost ordered the bacon wrapped scallops, but thankfully our sweet server told us that it was only 2 scallops and for $13, and with 6 people that just wasn’t going to work. She suggested the New York steak appetizer ($17) instead because it was a full steak that was cut up and served with seaweed salad, so we could easily share it. We ordered it medium rare and it was cooked perfectly. The seaweed salad wasn’t something that I had seen come with a steak before but it was sweet and refreshing. The steak was so flavorful that I can’t wait to come back for a full meal. Another cool thing is the steak app was so good, and we had such a good time, that we ended up staying a long time (with SEVERAL rounds), so our friends decided to order the steak again later in the night.
If these appetizers are anywhere near as good as their full menu, we will be coming in soon to celebrate something special.
555 East American Steakhouse
555 East Ocean Boulevard
(562) 437-0626