Martinis and Steaks Come Second to Windows’ Grand View

It is surreal, driving through the darkened downtown streets to a 32-story Tower, the Transamerica Building, that stands all alone, a wallflower at the party where all the prettier skyscrapers are huddled, blocks away. We valet the car and enter the building’s lobby. Before we can even ask the question, a kindly gentleman directs us to the two elevators at the back. All the way up--where another gentlemen waves us into yet another elevator for the final two floors to the top.

The view, as we walk toward the host’s station, is breathtaking. Windows is the new restaurant that replaces the former Tower, and windows it is, every which way you look. I’ve rarely seen the city like this--the freeways a necklace of lights and the humming blue glow of the new Staples Center with the mountains beyond. Tables are lined up along the wraparound view, with a row of plush booths just behind in the middle of the room. The place is half-empty and quite dark. “Perfect if you don’t want to run into anyone you know,” whispers my dining companion, who is in a diabolical frame of mind. The concept is one that keeps popping up all over town: martinis and steaks. It’s back to the ‘60s all over again. Indeed, Windows offers a mind-boggling list of more than 50 “martinis”--are you ready for French Kiss Martini (Stolichnaya Vanilla Vodka with a splash of Cognac finished with a Hershey’s Kiss) or the Mad Nut Martini (vodka and amaretto with a splash of Frangelico)? All this, and yet the bartender can’t make a decent classic martini: Bombay gin straight up with a twist. When it comes, it’s not cold enough, and when it’s sent back, it returns only a hair’s breath chillier, and this time with an olive instead of a twist.

First courses--black tiger prawns with a fluff of salad, warm spinach salad, lobster bisque--aren’t very inspiring, and the murky French onion soup is truly awful (it needs to be made with better stock).

But we really came for the steaks. The Porterhouse for two comes already sliced from the bone, but you do get that lovely bone with it. When the waiter informs the one of us who was looking forward to tackling the Diamond Jim Brady cut of prime rib that the chef doesn’t have any medium-rare pieces left, the rib-eye is ordered instead. To someone who lives for well-aged, well-marbled prime beef, this would not inspire raptures, but if you’re packing protein on the Atkins diet, this might do. The broiled veal chop is ordinary but fine.

The sides, most presented in small cast-iron skillets, include some nice blackened-olden tomatoes, steamed asparagus with hollandaise and garlic-horseradish whipped potatoes.

The restaurant has got some work to do if it’s going to go up against the best of the Southland’s steakhouses. Fortunately, it has that view. But if the kitchen was ever to excellence, Windows could be more than a convenient spot for a steak before an event downtown.

BE THERE

Windows, Transamerica building, 1150 Olive St., Los Angeles; (213) 746-1554. Open for dinner daily; for lunch Monday-Friday. Closed Thanksgiving weekend. Appetizers, $6 to $13; main courses, $15 to $29. Full bar. Valet parking.