ALTO

Walk past Alto Fire to Table in Studio City without knowing about it and you might just miss it, unless the Pampas Omakase experience happens to be taking place on their terrace, for which they haul out an entire asado. A whiff of short ribs or pork is all you need to draw you inside the unique Uruguayan-Argentine steakhouse focusing on the Rioplatense traditions of open-fire cooking and sobremesa—the art of lingering after a meal, perhaps in their ski-lodge-esque drinking den complete with a cozy fireplace. Chef-owners Esteban Klenzi and Juana Castellanos met while working at Mugaritz, just outside San Sebastián, and while Alto certainly leans theatrical, most of its menu stays grounded. Klenzi is Argentinian, Castellanos is Uruguayan—both tracing back to the same colonial homeland along the Río de la Plata. Today the river divides the two countries, though much of their culinary tradition overlaps. Alto is a testament to that shared past: asado, empanadas, bread, dulce de leche—all daily staples of Rioplatense cooking, and all at the forefront of the Alto experience. Bread is so central that it takes up the first section of the menu. Each of the four wildly different breads is an adventure in its own right and worth the indulgence, but you'll want to pace yourself—unless you come with a group, which, in my opinion, is how Alto is best enjoyed. If you're here on a date, it's a tough call between the modernist take on the cheesy chipa and the buttery, flaky-yet-fluffy criollo. Every bread comes with its own specialty butter: a creamy tomato butter with toasted hazelnuts (for the chipa) rocks my world every time I have it, though the textured herb butter (for the criollo) is just as nuanced. The fun is in mixing and matching butter and bread—and holding some back for the proteins to come. The only meat imported from Argentina is the braised beef in the empanadas, which are made by hand daily. They are a must, and just the thing to whet your appetite for the beef to come. Do get your own or you’ll regret it. 

As for whetting your whistle, Alto prides itself on a vermouth and wine selection that highlights the most authentic offerings of the Río de la Plata, plus inventive cocktails, including one with fresh yerba mate cold brew, served in a custom leather mate cup. Though you can still get a proper negroni (with 48-hour macerated pineapples) or a martini (with house-smoked pepper juice). Don’t worry, you won’t regret it.

It's worth mentioning that Alto recently celebrated a year of service. If you happened to be one of the early birds and were turned off by the substantial smoke emanating from the wood-fired grill showpiece in the back of the long, narrow dining room, you'll be thrilled to know that they've rebuilt the extraction system to solve the problem. It's a total non-issue now, even at the tables with a front-row view of the action.

Steak is offered à la carte, with an emphasis on sourcing, seasoning (or deliberate lack thereof), and resting. Klenzi considers resting the most important part of the meat-cooking process. Wet-aged New York strip sits in a warm, high-airflow zone on top of the grill, on a tray coated with infused tallow to keep it moist and shiny. Indeed, it arrives at the table glistening and oozing with flavor from the house beef tallow (rendered from ribeye and NY strip trim) infused with koji rice and roasted garlic paste. A fatty ribeye gets the same seasoning treatment, only it's been dry-aged, resulting in richness and tenderness, with delicate charring around the edges. There's also the classic Argentine cut: asado de tira (short rib). Alto uses only the center cut—the best three bones of a ten-to-twelve-bone rack, cut to a precise one and a half inches thick. It's dry-aged and cooked over the fire with no seasoning. Zero. Nada. Zilch. Klenzi aims for pure beef flavor, which he earns by cooking it medium, allowing for a less chewy but still tender texture. But the sleeper on the menu—and Alto’s greatest hit—is the pork chop. Pork is brined and cold-smoked over almond wood on day one, wrapped in kombu seaweed on day two, then sous vide and ready to serve on day four or five. It's as rich as it is laborious.

All mains have a suggested side-dish pairing. Grilled little gem lettuce doused in lemon vinaigrette to cut the beefy intensity of the short rib. Glorious confited (in beef tallow) and slightly charred piquillo peppers play on the umami of the NY strip. Potatoes cooked in ash for 12 hours and layered with crème fraîche foam almost overpower the richness of the ribeye.

Should you still have room for dessert, a dulce de leche soufflé topped with dulce de leche ice cream proves that too much dulce de leche is never enough.