Baleen

My friend Cindy remembered my blog on Baleen and how you can get a free Surf and Turf on your actual birthday if you dine there. She was off yesterday and she had asked me and Sandi if we wanted to come along. We didn't have to think about it too long. The answer was yes of course. Sujata's plans changed so she was able to come. Amy who was supposed to come home from her Las Vegas trip at night, came in earlier so I offered to pick her up. The four of us ended up celebrating her birthday.

There were not too many people when we arrived so getting a table was not a problem. When our server Rachel came to greet us, she informed us that they were participating in the dineLA and asked us if we would be interested in seeing the menu; yes of course. The three-course menu looked good. I immediately knew what I was going to order and so did Amy. Sandi and Sujata ordered from the regular menu.  Cindy had her Surf and Turf. Sandi ordered the Pork Schnitzel with creamy polenta, herb salad, mushrooms which she distributed to me and Amy, and marsala sauce.

Sujata had the Simply Grilled Salmon with salad which she loved except for the pink pickled veggie. Amy and I started off with the Shrimp Cocktail which was delicious. For our main entrée, we chose the Skirt Steak which included the balsamic glazed Brussels sprouts, aji Verde and potato purée. It was so good that I had nothing on my plate to take home. I was shocked to see Amy's plate which turned out to be like mine....clean. She loved it as well.

Both Sujata and Sandi didn't want dessert. The dineLA menu included a dessert. Amy chose the Bread Pudding with butter pecan gelato. I chose the Affogato (Sandi's worst nightmare), espresso, vanilla gelato, and caramel. The espresso was sure strong and went well with the vanilla gelato along with the sweet caramel. It was a nice ending to a steak dinner. I had a bit of  Amy's bread pudding and it too was good. Rachel was a great server. She never missed a beat. She was always there to refill our wine which Cindy brought.

Baleen is located at 260 Portofino Way in Redondo Beach, California.