I wanted to take my friend out for dinner on his birthday and decided to go to a place neither of us had ever tried before. I decided on The Smoke House in Burbank. I had heard good things about it and passed by it hundreds of times but for some reason just never got around to stopping in.
On entering the restaurant I liked the somewhat dark yet inviting atmosphere. It reminded me of one of my favorite restaurants which I had actually considered for the evening. As we walked through the bar we noticed a table set up for happy hour, which included potato skins with lamb as well as a few other goodies. We passed on the happy hour offering and went straight for the menu.
The first thing on the menu that caught my eye was the “world’s greatest garlic bread”. I’ve always been a sucker for really good garlic bread and this seemed to be quite a claim. So we got a half order of it and drinks. The wine list was quite extensive, but we decided on cocktails instead. It seemed like a good match with the vibe of the place, which had been in the same place since the 1940’s. You could just picture all of the stars over the years coming across the street from Warner Brothers studio and having a drink.
My friend ordered a margarita and I got a vodka martini. The garlic bread and drinks were excellent. I tasted his margarita and it was indeed better than I have had in a long time. And the bread was great – not too overpowering on the garlic and cooked to perfection. I could get hooked on it. The entrées offered were all tempting, but after much deliberation we made our choices and I ordered the Prime Rib and the Birthday Boy chose the Porterhouse Steak. Each dish came with a choice of two sides. There were 16 sides from which to choose. We both chose sautéed vegetables - I got the twice-baked potato and he got the pasta marinara.
The prime rib was excellent – tasty and tender. The Porterhouse was huge. It spread out over the entire platter. It was cooked to perfection. The only slight disappointment was that we had expected it to be a bit thicker. It seems that our waiter Alberto had really good hearing and overheard my birthday toast. As we ordered our after dinner decaf he showed up with a delightful surprise in the form of a piece of cheesecake with raspberry sauce drizzled over it.
The final surprise of the evening came with the check. Apparently since we made it an early dinner we got 25% off the bill. What a bonus! It was a great evening, a great meal and I will definitely be returning to try additional offerings. The Smoke House is located at 4420 West Lakeside Drive in Burbank – directly across from Warner Brothers Studios. Open for lunch and dinner, the Smoke House also offers a Sunday Brunch. For reservations call 818 845-3731.
Photo by ™bluhousworker via Flickr
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