THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED C & L

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED C & L Restaurant Review:

Laurent Manrique and Charles Condy began their partnership at Aqua a few years back and have now set their sights on the American steakhouse. The restaurant took over the former digs of the stately Charles Nob Hill and retains the handsome atmosphere of a private club with a healthy dose of cozy warmth. The menu is unique in its attempt to traverse the country, highlighting eight cities' quintessential steakhouse starters, entrées, sides, vegetables and desserts. For example, the San Francisco starter is a mixed green salad with Dungeness crab cake and mussels cioppino vinaigrette while the Miami starter is a mini grilled Cuban sandwich. Steaks focus on the Painted Hills natural beef but offer interesting accents like andouille gumbo sauce for New Orleans or, for some strange reason, béarnaise sauce with a New York strip for Chicago. While the steak is stellar, the real stars are the sides---go to Atlanta for creamy caramelized onion grits topped with crispy sweet Vidalia onion rings or head east for Boston baked beans sweetened with brown sugar and molasses then spiced up a bit with linguica sausage. For dessert, save room for the delightfully too-fun make-your-own Campfire S'mores and toast homemade marshmallows and graham crackers topped with rich dollops of chocolate over a tiny tableside grill. The cocktail list also includes a signature mix from each of the eight cities, while the wine list spans the globe with many options available by the glass, half-bottle, bottle and even magnum.