Why don’t you order steak tartare more often? Does it intimidate you? Do you find uncooked beef strange or even dangerous? Or is it simply that so few restaurants do it well, and fewer still do it spectacularly, leaving you feeling like, “Why bother?”
The good news is, any doubts you might harbor toward the dish evaporate the second you taste a transcendent tartare. There’s a certain electric energy that comes with eating raw meat. The flavors are more intense, more urgent. “My god,” you mutter, “this is bliss.”
That’s the most natural reaction to the Vietnamese-inspired beef tartare prepared at chef Tin Vuong’s new Orange County concept, LSXO. Like the dimly lit, semi-secret restaurant that serves it, this dish is full of surprises, revealed slowly. The gradual rise of herbs, the gentle smokiness infused by smoldering bamboo, the umami-laden steak – they’re flavors that open up with each bite.
The tartare itself is accompanied by lobster crackers. Unlike most dishes, which a casual food fan could basically puzzle out (even if they couldn’t execute them), these delicate crisps are a riddle. They feel like the result of ancient alchemy. How could so much flavor possibly be infused in a cracker? What wizardry is this?
There’s no easy answer to that mystery, but the crackers, the herbs, the bamboo and the seasoned beef all conspire to answer our original question: Why don’t you order steak tartare more often? The fact is, if they could all taste like LSXO’s rendition, you probably would.
BEEF TARTARE at LSXO
3 Tbsp minced tenderloin
2 tsp minced salted mustard greensr
1 tsp chili oil
2 tsp minced chive
2 tsp minced pear
2 tsp toasted pine nuts
2 tsp red nuoc cham
Sea salt to taste
Cracked Sichuan peppercorns to taste
Garnishes
4 small pieces puffed tendon
2 tsp eggplant puree
1 quail egg yolk
1 tsp bone marrow vin
Pinch of micro celery/rau ram leaves
7-8 lobster crackers
1 bamboo strip
Method
Mix top ingredients in a small bowl and taste to adjust seasoning. Plate on bowl using a ring mold. Drizzle the bone marrow vin onto the meat and place the quail egg yolk in the center, season with sea salt. Carefully squeeze the eggplant puree into three spots, place the tendon puffs at random. Top with some micro celery and smaller rau ram leaves. Gently torch the bamboo sheet until smoking and glowing. Place the lobster crackers on the plate and serve immediately.
LSXO
21016 Pacific Coast Highway, Suite D200, Huntington Beach :: dinebluegold.com
