Paul Martin's American Grill Awards

Paul Martin's American Grill Restaurant Review:

About the restaurant: The team behind Paul Martin's --- Paul Fleming, founder of P.F. Chang’s China Bistro and Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, along with Brian Bennett, formerly head of operations at Chevys Fresh Mex --- has spent lots of time and effort looking for purveyors with local, peak-of-the-season, organic and sustainable produce. There are numerous seating options in the restaurant: booths, two large communal high-tops, the bar, the private dining room that evokes a wine cellar, and the regular tables --- all under soft lighting, enhancing the browns and caramel tones of the brick walls and distressed wood.

Food & Drinks: You may start with small plates (house-smoked salmon, buttermilk-battered calamari with chili aïoli), fresh shellfish (wild white prawns, Maine lobster), soups (wild mushroom), or salads (warm bacon and spinach with feta and pistachios). Continue with the classics where meat dominates; choose between marinated hanger steak, Prime New York or blackened rib-eye with mashed potatoes. From the sea, ask for the Idaho trout with heirloom spinach, or cedar-plank roasted salmon. The desserts are nothing adventurous, with a pear-huckleberry crisp, devil's food cake or banana cream pie. Wines follow in the same vein with primarily California selections from smaller wineries and also well-known labels, some of them organic.