A Swanky Steakhouse Opens Inside the New San Gabriel Sheraton

EST Prime Steakhouse quietly opened in mid-January inside the rather upscale Sheraton hotel in San Gabriel. The new hotel restaurant brings on journeyman chef Joseph Mills, who worked at the Millennium Biltmore, as well as the Westin Bonaventure in Downtown LA. At EST, he’s leaning on seasonal ingredients, dry-aged steaks, Japanese wagyu, and pristine seafood for a relatively unknown concept for the area: a fine dining steakhouse.

The interior boasts high ceilings, sleek midcentury modern furnishings, and a multi-faceted layout conducive to private dinners and business meetings. It’s a bit buttoned up in a business traveler sort of way, though EST is certainly trying hard to cater to the well-heeled Asian clientele likely to come through this part of town. Start with a seafood tower with caviar, king crab legs, prawns, and whole lobster, or just opt for the massive poached prawns, a sort of throwback dish that’s rarely celebrated these days.

A poached shrimp and crab salad looks straight out of an early 2000s hotel playbook, but the shishito louie sauce and plating keep it modern. The gem on the steak menu is the 35-day dry-aged Kansas steak, which retains a tender texture with a measure of funk, like a mid-album Bruno Mars tune. Prices are fairly reasonable too, less than Mastro’s but a touch more than a garden variety Ruth’s Chris.

EST comes alongside the Sheraton’s more area-friendly Chinese restaurant Ba Shu Feng, which sports a large dining room closer to the lobby entrance of the hotel. EST Prime Steakhouse is open for lunch daily from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., with dinner from 5:30 to 10 p.m. Reservations on OpenTable.

EST Prime Steakhouse. 303 E. Valley Blvd. San Gabriel, CA. 626-607-2012.