Steak Joynt Harks Back to Meat ‘n’ Potatoes Era

Anyone old enough to remember Jackie Gleason’s character Joe the Bartender should appreciate the friendly, familiar glow given off by a new NoHo restaurant called Steak Joynt. If you’re not that old, well, you’ll just have to content yourself with a good meal.

This dimly lit “joynt,” formerly Wellington’s, divides into two parts. One half is your basic neighborhood watering hole, with what appears to be a regular clientele socializing at the long bar. The other is a trellised, plant-filled dining room, all white wood, white tablecloths and dark booths.

The food is consistent and comforting, just as it is at Steak Joynt’s sister restaurant, Oyster House in Studio City. (They are under the same oy-oriented ownership.) Steak Joynt’s menu is tiny by late-’90s standards but self-assured: a salad, a soup of the day, half a dozen steaks, two kinds of fish and plain roast chicken.

Entrees automatically come with a pile of grilled eggplant, carrots and squash and a choice of hand-cut steak fries (skin on) or a baked potato. Amen.

By the way, when one of the white-aproned waitresses approaches your table, inquire about the appetizers. This place is so geared to regulars, the appetizers aren’t even listed on the menu.

The best of them is the sauteed mushrooms--plump, perfectly cooked whole mushrooms glistening in a white porcelain casserole, sauced with a reduction of butter, garlic, beef stock and sherry. The order also includes garlic cheese toast: six hunks of crunchy sesame-studded sourdough.

The potato skins, stuffed with bacon and melted Cheddar, are served with chives and sour cream. The rather ordinary chicken wings are pan fried and served with a tame barbecue sauce.

Back to the menu. Soup and salad are a la carte but worth it. Some days there is a delicious black bean soup with an intensely smoky aftertaste. French onion soup, available every day, is a beefy, mildly sweet concoction topped with a thick crust of melted cheese.

The salad (mixed greens, red onion, tomato wedges and sliced mushrooms) comes with a choice of dressing: green goddess, Gorgonzola cheese or balsamic vinaigrette. The cheese dressing is especially good, a simple vinaigrette dotted with tiny pieces of the pungent cheese.

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Steak is the name of the game here. (Would you come to a place called Steak Joynt for fish?) The beef is Eastern USDA Choice, neither as tender nor as nicely marbled as Prime but very good when aged 21 days, as it is here. The result is extremely flavorful meat.

The entree that attracts the most attention is the 20-ounce T-bone. It’s a nice piece of meat, but hardly a bargain at $18.95, particularly when you consider that the far more flavorful, and boneless, 8-ounce top sirloin is only $9.95. (The equally fine 16-ounce top sirloin is $14.95.)

All steaks are char-broiled, and Steak Joynt is good about cooking them as you request. I asked for the top sirloin medium rare; it came with a nice browned crust. I ordered the T-bone rare, and it came up juicy and red on the inside, but without a hint of rawness.

There’s a petite filet mignon that’s tender enough, but no bigger or more flavorful than the top sirloin--and it’s $15.95. Of course, for $8.95 you can get a 16-ounce chopped sirloin steak, which is (as the menu tells us) charbroiled to perfection. Bear in mind, though, that a pound of hamburger, even relatively lean meat like this, amounts to more cholesterol than is recommended for one day.

If you really don’t want steak, there are other choices, such as a somewhat fishy chunk of grilled Pacific Northwest coho salmon or a plump whole roasted chicken.

Desserts (all from the Cheesecake Factory) are limited to a plain New York-style cheesecake, bland and creamy, and a surprisingly good chocolate layer cake, which must have as many calories as a 12-ounce steak.

Not to worry. In the days of Joe the Bartender, we didn’t fret a moment about concepts like calories or cholesterol. And throwing caution to the wind is the whole point to a place like Steak Joynt.

DETAILS

* WHAT: Steak Joynt.

* WHERE: 4354 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood.

* WHEN: Open 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 5-11 p.m. Sunday.

* HOW MUCH: Dinner for two, $23-$45. Suggested dishes: sauteed mushrooms with garlic cheese toast, $6.95; soup du jour, $3.95; 8-ounce top sirloin, $9.95; 16-ounce top sirloin, $14.95.

* FYI: Full bar. Limited parking in rear. American Express, MasterCard and Visa accepted.

* CALL: (818) 761-9899.