Best steak houses in the country?

Some strange choices; for example, I don’t think anybody goes to Bern’s for the steak.

OMG, I do. The Bern’s steak is sensational.

Seriously? You need to tell me precisely which steak you’re ordering, preparation and the whole nine yards. I have yet to have a steak at Bern’s I consider sensational and I’d like to have one this time when I’m there in September.

Ya know, those Top 10 lists in the airline mags aren’t real either.

House of Prime Rib…for steak? And while Gibson’s is good, I don’t think it’s really exceptional.

No Sparks, BLT steak, Palm etc.

Apart from Bern’s, which I have to say had a really mediocre strip, the one that really got me was the Kansas steakhouse, where they didn’t season their meat.

steve plotnicki’s lists are always pretty good

http://www.opinionatedaboutdining.com/2013/top25-625.html

and personally i was surprised by the food at bern’s
was actually pretty darn good in my mind

A big part of the steakhouse is ordering the right steak. I had a wonderful “special” chateaubriand at Berns. When I go out to steak places with a group of friends, one guy always orders the wrong steak for that restaurant and ends up pissed off.

As for the list, they didn’t even pick the best steakhouse in Minneapolis…

You don’t consider prime rib a steak? If you cut the rib roast before cooking, it’s a steak, but after cooking it isn’t?

I guess I never thought of it in those terms – but no I don’t. Steaks involve grilling and prime rib is cooked in the oven. Of course, when prime rib is finished on the grill it’s simply sublime. flirtysmile

If I cook my prime rib on a spit (which I sometimes do) what is it? neener

But yeah, prime rib is a roast, not a steak. Doesn’t mean it’s not terrific, but it’s not a steak…

Well, whatever. House of Prime Rib rocks. [snort.gif]

A martini or two, hot sourdough bread, house salad (tossed tableside), creamed spinach, potato and prime rib. [winner.gif]

Yeah, I love House of Prime Rib. f*cking delicious. [good.gif]

King Henry VIII cut! Thought they have been making that cut smaller and smaller in the last 10 years…

I can’t imagine. The smallest cut for me, and I still have left-overs.

your stomach just getting bigger and bigger :smiley:

Lists like this one make me a little nuts. Take the #9 choice which is Jess & Jim’s in Kansas City. It’s a cool place but the meat struck me as being choice and not prime. Meanwhile it is sitting on the list ahead of a number of restaurants that serve prime beef. Another way that these lists often get it wrong is by putting places that wet age their steaks (which is like not aging at all) ahead of places that dry age.

The single best steak in the U.S. that I have found (not including Kobe or Wagyu) is the 9-month dry-aged reserve steak at Carnevino in Las Vegas. It’s not on the menu so you have to ask for it. Depending on the day you are there, they have different cuts available. When I was there last September they had ribeye. I think it was $78 which is not bad considering how much aging has taken place. It was amazing. Sort of like eating a steak that had been infused with a mild blue cheese. I can’t remember what wine I brought but it’s a better Bordeaux/Rhone experience than Burgundy (even though I usually drink Burgundy) as a less fruity wine works better. Unfortunately, the steaks on the regular menu, and the rest of the food are sort of meh.

I like dry age beef and also prefer it. But I realize not everyone does. What some perceive as a concentrated beef flavor, others think of as being spoiled. I’ve never heard of beef being aged for anywhere near as long as 9 months. Since referring to dry aging beef is a more palatable way of expressing decomposition, 9 months seems like an extreme length of time to still have a viable product at the end.

To this, I have had 60 and 72 day dry aged strip loins from Flannery. The texture is what gets me, not the beef funk. The meat just plain falls apart and has no ‘tooth’ to it. I need to know that I am chewing some and it does not just fall apart…which is different than buttery tender Wagyu.

I am in the camp of 52 day dry aging being the uppermost limit with 45 right in my sweet spot.

Michael - And some people prefer white Sangria to Montrachet.

Bill - I have never seen dry-aged meat, that has been aged properly, fall apart. In fact if anything, the aging process removes moisture from the meat which makes it less likely to fall apart. That is unless it has been aged for such a long time that it turns to dust.