Get Your Steak & Whisky in Hermosa Beach

Need a steak? How about a whisky?

Those two hardcore culinary pleasures merge with a locally sourced menu and handcrafted cocktails at the hip, new Steak & Whisky, housed in a 1920s historic brick building near the ocean in downtown Hermosa Beach.

Open since February and now well established, Steak & Whisky takes the storied steakhouse concept and turns it into a haven of contemporary interpretations of American classics. The eatery features beef, pork, duck, lamb, poultry and seafood, all delivered with the inventive culinary finesse Chef Tin Vuong has become known for.

“Steak & Whisky is an exercise rooted in a ‘back to the basics’ attitude in terms of cuisine, hospitality, and feel,” says Partner Jed Sanford. His Blackhouse Hospitality runs other popular local establishments including Abigaile, Dia de Campo, and Ocean Bar and Lounge in downtown Hermosa Beach, Little Sister in downtown Manhattan Beach, Wildcraft in Culver City and an upcoming "reimagined" Little Sister in downtown Los Angeles.

As with these other hallmark restaurants, Steak & Whisky excels under the capable culinary hands of acclaimed Chef/Partner Tin Vuong who is joined by 27-year-old Executive Chef John Shaw, most recently of Tavern on the Green in New York City. Their menu blends cultural influences with modern American steakhouse classics, reflected in dishes such as a 30-day dry-aged prime bone-in ribeye and an A5 Japanese Miyazaki Wagyu. 

"French technique serves as the foundation for all plates at Steak & Whisky," says Vuong.

"From the sauces to the way in which we cook the steak, which starts with the quality of the meat, high heat, and the resting process, we want to create a menu that is straightforward yet thoughtful, with unexpected ingredients. For instance, we're reintroducing the use of caul fat. It's an old technique you don't see often, used to circulate fat." 

As its name suggests, Steak & Whisky offers an impressive selection of premiums whiskys, including Japanese whiskys. The bar program also features fine wines, crafts beers and housemade cocktails that use seasonal fresh ingredients that change quarterly. Wines include the steakhouse "musts" from Napa Valley and Bordeaux, and a sizable discovery of the last decade's greatest cult cabernets from Northern California from a local collector's cellar.

About 12 wines available by the glass rotate on the Coravin Wine Access System, which draws out wine without allowing air inside. Steak & Whisky also offers 10 whisky lockers above the bar that can house high-end bottles from one's own collection or exclusive varieties not found in the restaurant. 

Steak & Whisky, with its world-class culinary sensibility and American steakhouse sophistication, is already gaining acclaim and notice with recent write-ups in Forbes Magazine, Los Angeles Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times. The restaurant is located at 117 Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach, and is open daily for dinner beginning at 5 p.m. Reservations can be made online via Open Table. The restaurant's phone number is (310) 318-5555.