EST Prime Steakhouse Provides Prime Cuts In San Gabriel

Mallory Carra|June 4, 2018 12:43 am EST

The new Sheraton San Gabriel hotel is bringing two new concepts to the Los Angeles area: steakhouse fine dining and robots. Yes, robots.

Earlier this year, the Sheraton San Gabriel opened its doors on East Valley Boulevard featuring EST Prime Steakhouse and helpful, efficient robots in its lobby.

The San Gabriel Valley is a region filled with a significant amount of Asian eateries and not many steakhouses. According to a report by Asians Americans Advancing Justice Los Angeles, there are more Asian Americans living in the San Gabriel Valley than in 42 states in the country.

EST Prime Steakhouse is led by Executive Chef Joseph Mills and Chef de Cuisine Carlos Bojórquez. The hotel restaurant boasts a menu with an emphasis on shareable dishes that are influenced by Asian and Latin cultures of Southern California.

Bojórquez said that so far, the most popular dishes have included the poached shrimp and crab salad and the massive 34 oz. American Wagyu tomahawk ribeye steak (which serves 2-3 people) with EST's Salvadorian Chiltepe Chimichurri. EST's made-from-scratch selection of sauces includes peppercorn and cognac, lemon and virgin olive oil vinaigrette, and Szechuan sauce.

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Photo by Mallory Carra

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Photo by Mallory Carra

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And the community has embraced the restaurant's blending of influences so far, amassing a lot of buzz in San Gabriel.

"There aren't as many steakhouses in the San Gabriel Valley, but I've been amazed at how business has been increasing day by day," Bojórquez said. "It was like boom — we became really busy."

Bojórquez has worked for 35 years as a chef and has worked 20 of those years in the hotel industry. At age 25, he worked as the banquet chef de partie at LA's Saint Regis hotel and then worked in the kitchens of the Westin LAX and Westin Bonaventure, where he became Chef de Cuisine at the LA Prime Steakhouse.

"Once you work in the hotel industry, you don't want to leave," Bojórquez said. "It's like a family."

And as a veteran of the hotel restaurant industry, Bojórquez said he appreciated the modern innovations of the Sheraton San Gabriel, citing the hotel's robotics. It's not usual to see the rectangular robots, which have a cute blue and pink butler-like designs on them, rolling around the lobby.

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Photo by Mallory Carra

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Photo by Mallory Carra

Guests can access the robots in the hotel's lobby to help bring luggage to their rooms, as well as guide guests to meeting rooms, EST Prime Steakhouse, and the hotel's Lobby Bar and Lounge. The robots are also bilingual and able to guide guests in both English and Chinese.

"The restaurant is getter better and better and more modern every day," Bojórquez said. "It's a steakhouse and that is the next step up."

The meal and hotel stay that are the subject of this review were provided at no cost to the contributor.