Chicago best steakhouses (Gibson, Mark: movies, living, store)

[chet everett]

While I have to agree that a nice steak can be done quite competently with relatively modest levels of skill (in fact I recall teaching my kids to do just that when they were still in middle school...) it would be hard to argue that steakhouses are not a nice experience for certain kinds of dining.
The various categories that Thrillist has listed mostly cover the sorts of "events" that tend to be appropriate for steak house outings, and the relatively simple menu tends to be the kind of thing that fussier eaters who object to fancier fare will not quibble with. In addition to signature steaks you can count on their being some really top notch simply prepared seafood, a chicken dish, and quite often some kind of "lighter" vegetarian dish, probably some classic sides as well as apps and salads.

While I like all kinds of food and embrace ethnic cooking from every part of the planet there are a depressingly large percentage of people too whom anything with even so unexotic a herb as rosemary is "too spicy" to say nothing of the heat found in some Thai or Indian dishes or the elaborate and often tiny tastes that the city's most innovative chefs strive for...

[via chicago]

Originally Posted by chet everett

to say nothing of the heat found in some Thai or Indian dishes

this is my parents

[emathias]

Originally Posted by via chicago

not to mention, its one of those foods that any home chef can replicate "restaurant quality" as long as youre shelling out for a good cut and know how to cook it to your liking. theres not much to it

My husband decided last week that, instead of buying steaks he'd buy these enormous prime chuck roasts that had been trimmed in the rough shape of steaks. They were almost 2 pounds each. I tried to convince him we should just make pot roast with them, but he insisted we make them like steaks, so I grilled them to a beautiful medium-rare to medium and, what do you know, they were delicious!

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by emathias

My husband decided last week that, instead of buying steaks he'd buy these enormous prime chuck roasts that had been trimmed in the rough shape of steaks. They were almost 2 pounds each. I tried to convince him we should just make pot roast with them, but he insisted we make them like steaks, so I grilled them to a beautiful medium-rare to medium and, what do you know, they were delicious!

Sounds like your hubby is either pals with the butcher or maybe just got lucky as I suspect that you what really got was more than likely the "chuck eye" which is from a more tender sub-part of the chuck and is excellent for grilling, but typically only yield two or three per primal portion -- Beef Chuck Cuts | meatshop101

Steakhouses have to rely on the more consistent RIB and LOIN to yield the dozens of similar-in-size steaks they need to keep the customers happy. Primal and Subprimal Cuts of Beef & the Steaks They Produce

I have a pal whose dad owned grocery stores and he gets quite a kick out of the "cowbody ribeye" that is now heavily marketed as some ultra mucho cut. It is kind of a mess as it includes the whole bone exposed with the skirt steak peeled off, apparently once upon a time his dad tried to get the butchers in his grocery to sell these as Flintstones inspired "Yabba-daba-doo" steaks -- it's all in finding the right marketing angle:

[jonnynonos]

Originally Posted by chet everett

The lists that I linked to at Thrillist, where they only have local spots and even Chicago Mag, that has several chain spots listed, fail to give many points to places like Ruth's Chris. For me, the scoop of butter on top of the steak is worse than a gimmick, it is sort of an abomination. The traditional wet edged Chicago steakhouse cut of Ribeye, Strip or Sirloin ought to have your plate positively swimming in wonderfully beefy natural juices -- those juices, with an unmistakable balance of salty, fatty, and char are a delight sopped up with baked potato.

I also can give props to places like Burkes that really do a superlative job with their dry aged cuts, and the price almost makes sense given the time and weight loss that effects such preparations. You need different sides and wines to really accentuate the much more distinctive flavors of a dry aged steak and again those are nicely done at Burkes and other spots high on the list.

While I agree that Ruth's Chris does use mostly quality cuts, there is a certain kind of disrespect for the product when the end result is having meat sitting in a pool of butter, which let's not kid ourselves is just fat afterall, and it sort of tells me that the folks that run the place almost have contempt for their customers...

Doubt they are covering up anything; they have the same meat distributor as Mastro's. Probably just a style/southern thing; I think they're from NO.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

Doubt they are covering up anything; they have the same meat distributor as Mastro's. Probably just a style/southern thing; I think they're from NO.

Any place whose corporate overlords are also responsible for Rainforest Cafe is not worthy of my dining dollars... Landry's Inc. buys Mastro's Restaurants LLC | Finance content from Nation's Restaurant News


BTW -- Important / relevant thoughts about certain merged meat suppliers: Pride and Passion in a Conglomerate World | Buedel Meat Up

[jonnynonos]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Any place whose corporate overlords are also responsible for Rainforest Cafe is not worthy of my dining dollars... Landry's Inc. buys Mastro's Restaurants LLC | Finance content from Nation's Restaurant News


BTW -- Important / relevant thoughts about certain merged meat suppliers: Pride and Passion in a Conglomerate World | Buedel Meat Up

Eh... I suppose I will be unimpressed unless you showed me a steakhouse with some sort of demonstrable difference.

From what I understand virtually all steakhouses/high end seafood restaurants have the same distributors.

I guess Burke's is different because they own the gene to their bull or some crazy s$it.

This apparently is the guy who supplies Mastro's, Ruth's Chris and the Ritz:

Healthy Gourmet Guy, Best Seafood and Meat

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

Eh... I suppose I will be unimpressed unless you showed me a steakhouse with some sort of demonstrable difference.

From what I understand virtually all steakhouses/high end seafood restaurants have the same distributors.

I guess Burke's is different because they own the gene to their bull or some crazy s$it.

This apparently is the guy who supplies Mastro's, Ruth's Chris and the Ritz:

Healthy Gourmet Guy, Best Seafood and Meat

It is not that they are "hiding" anything. It is the same sort of contempt that might be shown by like a clothing maker that sort of intentionally makes things that are just not very attractive but are maybe sort of comfy in an ugly way...

There has to be people that understand not everything should be "Paula deaned to death", I mean butter is nice for bread, wonderful on popcorn, nice on lobster, steak ?!? Please, just stop...

Yeah, umm...

[lenniel]

Wow, hard to believe my eyes, but we actually have a thread here on CD that hasn't decayed into a name calling, race baiting, finger pointing pout fest. Excellent discussion folks.

I agree with the steak swimming in butter. Sure, I like butter as much as the next guy, but come on......That's akin to someone who squeezes 3 lemons onto their piece of seafood to get rid of the fishy taste.

I also don't agree that you can produce as good a steak at home as you can at most of these places, at least not as consistently. While I consider myself a very good grillmaster, a lot of these places only even use the grill to sear the steak, then cook/finish it in the broiler.
However, if you're going to do steaks at home, I'd suggest your local corner butcher, not a grocery store (although I'm been pleasantly surprised with Costco steaks). I used to visit Paulina Meat Market and Gene's for my beef.

[eating while walking]

Originally Posted by emathias

My husband decided last week that, instead of buying steaks he'd buy these enormous prime chuck roasts that had been trimmed in the rough shape of steaks. They were almost 2 pounds each. I tried to convince him we should just make pot roast with them, but he insisted we make them like steaks, so I grilled them to a beautiful medium-rare to medium and, what do you know, they were delicious!

You are right. Chuck steaks are a really underrated steak cut. They turn out a bit chewy but if you get a good charcoal sear on them the flavor is top-notch. They are good cut thick and cooked medium-rare like the luxury cuts are, but if you cut them thinner and cook them well done all the way through they are still quite tasty in a different way. I'd not say that for any other steak cut.

Originally Posted by lenniel

I also don't agree that you can produce as good a steak at home as you can at most of these places, at least not as consistently. While I consider myself a very good grillmaster, a lot of these places only even use the grill to sear the steak, then cook/finish it in the broiler.
However, if you're going to do steaks at home, I'd suggest your local corner butcher, not a grocery store (although I'm been pleasantly surprised with Costco steaks). I used to visit Paulina Meat Market and Gene's for my beef.

As for the larger subject of steakhouses, I have not noticed a correlation between price, dry aging and meal quality. I've had a mediocre dry aged steak meal at David Burke's and a great mass market steak at suburban Outbacks. So much depends on the skill and timing of the cook that I don’t put much stock in the over-hyped aspect of meat provenance. If you learn to hit that perfect 120F internal temp at home every time, combined with a hot charcoal fire or cast iron pan to sear, I don’t think you're giving up anything to even the priciest steakhouse dinner.

I do like Paulina Market, that place is great. That was the only place I could find curing nitrate salt for home-smoked bacon