Thursday, July 27, 7:00 pm
Members $100, guests $130

Executive chef Suzanne Tracht opened Jar in 2001, and it wasn’t long before the restaurant shot to the head of the pack, leaving the rest of the steakhouse herd in the dust. Five years later, Jar remains one of the hottest meal tickets in a city filled with an ever-expanding field of competitors. In March of this year, GQ’s John Gillies recommended the restaurant as one of only four “new-breed” steakhouses across the country that “make the cut.” The secret to Jar’s enduring popularity? Tracht and chef de cuisine Preech Narkthong rely on top-notch meat, fish, and produce, prepared simply but with acute attention to detail.

Tracht began her career while still in college, serving as an apprentice at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa and working her way through nearly every station in the kitchen. After paying her dues, she relocated to Los Angeles and assumed the role of sous-chef at Noa Noa. Tracht went on to do a stint as sous-chef at the legendary Campanile, after which she won raves as the executive chef of Jozu. With Jar, she was finally able to realize her lifelong dream of having a place to call her own. In 2002 Food & Wine recognized Tracht’s triumph by naming her one of America’s Best New Chefs.

A Bangkok native, Narkthong came to Jar with a strong background in hotel cooking, as well as experience running his own restaurant. His influence is evident in the menu’s deft incorporation of several signature Asian ingredients. Together, Tracht and Narkthong have proven to be a successful culinary team, attracting a stampede of loyal customers that includes family diners and serious gourmets alike.

Critics have been equally loyal. S. Irene Virbila of the Los Angeles Times awarded Jar three stars, calling the food “not only good, [but] absolutely reliable.” When Los Angeles Magazine’s Patrick Kuh named Jar to his 2005 list of L.A.’s Top 25 Places to Eat, he summed up the reason for the restaurant’s success: “Tracht hasn’t interpreted the chophouse so much as reinvented it for our times.” Now that’s the mark of a true pioneer.