atkinreport.com

Rarely, medium rare-ly, have I disliked a big-name restaurant as much as the new BLT Steak in Sunset Plaza, site of the fondly remembered Le Dome. For some unknown reason, most LA steakhouses like to completely sear an expensive cut of meat to blackness, so I always pre-emptively order it “medium rare, not charred.” I don’t mind a few grill marks, but don’t relish a filet with a burnt rind when the whole point is that a filet is supposed to be tender. After beginning solicitious service at a primo table amidst an increasingly deafening noise level, the filet was served burnt, and sent back, which seemed to throw the waiter for a loop. He insisted he told the kitchen, and wanted me to cut the steak in half to see how it looked inside. No matter….but when the second piece arrived, it was also sizzled to a crisp, although not quite to the same third-degree burn. Hey guys, turn the grill down from 800 degrees and maybe you’ll get it right next time. For $42, you really should.

                                                                                                The second burnt filet mignon

Already sucked in to “Generation Kill,” HBO’s seven-part miniseries set during the first days of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Piece is done partly through the eyes of a veteran journalist on assignment for Rolling Stone embedded with an elite Marine squadron, based on author of the book by the same name, Evan Wright. As a viewer, you’re drawn–actually thrown–into their world from the inside of a poorly equipped and not war-worthy Humvee.  in addition to the well-attended premiere, the producers last week screened it for the toughest audience of all: Marines at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Their verdict: complete thumbs up. This will likely be the first war movie to be successful, because it leaves out politics for the most part and takes you on the edge of your seat to the front lines of a war that should not still be going on.