I ate at David Burkes restaurant in Chicago and had a 40day dry aged ribeye. it was pretty yummy. I didn’t much like the side dish I got (vegetable medley of mostly crunchy root vegetables with the leaves still attached) not really worth the $10.00 for the dish. The steak was much better than say Lonestar or Colton’s but not twice as good since it was about twice the price. The service was excellent. My biggest complaint is the low lighting and tiny print on the menu I literally could not see the prices even with holding the candle up near the menu.
I have eaten at Ruths Criss a couple times but that was before I knew to order ribeyes and had the filet mignon which was pretty much tasteless.
As a once in a life time sort of thing it was good but not something I would do regularly. Same with the $50.00 hamburger in NYNY. It was awesome but not that much awesome to justify eating there a lot.
The thing is, you’re not really paying for the food alone. It’s part of it, but you’re also paying for the setting, the server, and to some degree, you’re paying higher prices to keep the riff-raff out. It’s the experience- top notch food, great service, great setting, and for the most part, polite and well dressed people in the restaurant.
If you’re a decent cook, you can likely reproduce anything on their menu, and you can definitely duplicate any cocktail, unless, perhaps, it has some kind of Booker and Dax-style liquid nitrogen shenanigans going on.
I have had some pretty good steaks at Outback. Indeed, I had better service at Outback than Mortons, and comparing the two steaks - the Mortons steak was slightly better, but not three times better. Ruths/Chris/whateverthefucktheyarecallingit was about the same.
I find chains dont give the best steak. Henrys in San Jose is great, so is Steakhouse 55 at Disneyland.
I’d say if you get the best porterhouse or ribeye and they grill it right, then the difference is small.
I had the occasion to eat at the one in Savannah earlier this year (on somebody else’s dime, which is the only time I eat at an upscale steakhouse) and I looked up the history of the name.
The place was originally called Chris Steak House. At some point, a woman named Ruth bought it. Since it belonged to her at that point, she renamed it “Ruth’s Chris Steak House.”
Nitpicking: Ruth Fertel bought the Chris Steak House in 1965 and ran it under its original name. Then the restaurant burned down in 1976, Ferteal wanted to reopen in a larger location a few blocks away but her contract with Chris Matulich to use the Chris Steak House name only covered the original location. So Fertel reopened at the new location with the new name, which she intentionally kept as close as possible to the original name.
Thank you for this tidbit. I always had some vague notion that the owner’s name was someone named Chris who had a mother named Ruth (or something). God help me, I may have even *told *someone that :smack:
You’re also paying for the experience. The chance to dress up a little, be pampered, have your chair pulled out for you and the napkin placed on your lap, the sense that this is something special.
I took my dad to Texas de Brazil for his birthday. It meant a lot to me that I was able to do that for my father and know that he enjoyed it (especially the carrot cake.)
Not many places can compete with my Costco steak, properly seasoned and grilled over real charcoal. With added mesquite chips. And a baked potato, cooked at 450 degrees, with a crunchy skin and a kilo of butter. Steamed asparagus and a salad.
But then I have never had a 40 day, dry aged rib eye. And would love to try one.
Yes, and I’ve eaten at most of them. I love steak.
Peter Luger’s is definitely a cut above all the others. I don’t know why. Maybe they have a better source of meat, maybe it’s something about the way they cook it, but it is the best of the bunch.
Keen’s is actually my favorite. There isn’t anywhere else I know of in New York where you can get a mutton chop, and their steaks are fantastic.
The Old Homestead is good, but not in Peter Luger’s league. The same is true of Smith & Wollensky.
And let me put in a word for the much lower-budget Argentine steak places in Queens – Chivito D’Oro, La Portena, and a couple of others. They rival the more famous American-style steakhouses at a fraction of the price. Different cuts of meat, but fantastic.
If you’re ever in the Bozeman, MT area, I can recommend a couple of places where you can get a damned good steak dinner (including baked potato, salad, garlic bread, veggie appetizers, and ice cream for dessert) for under $20. I doubt I’ll ever eat anywhere that charges $75 a plate, so I can’t say how they compare, but they’re so far beyond Outback or the like that it’s like a completely different food.
That said, that’s only the second-best steak I’ve ever had. The best was made by the husband of one of my classmates in grad school. Dude was a grill god.
I’m not really a big steak eater, but I’ve eaten steak at Outback and I’ve eaten steak at Peter Luger’s in Brooklyn and there is a huge gap there. I’ve never eaten at a steak chain like Ruth’s Chris.
The biggest difference is that a prime steakhouse will age the steaks and do their own butchering on the premises (as opposed to getting them unloaded off of a Sysco truck).
Another interesting fact: Chris Matulich successfully operated the Chris Steak House for thirty-five years - and during that time, he sold the restaurant seven times. But the first six times, the new owners couldn’t keep the restaurant going and Matulich ended up taking it back over. Fertel was the first person who bought the restaurant from Matulich and was able to maintain his success.
Back in the 80’s/90’s when my mom worked for the gas company, she would regularly get taken to Morton’s and Ruth’s Chris by the Enron guys. Which then suddenly stopped, for obvious reasons.
Berns in Tampa is the best steakhouse I have ever been to. Even though they have the Onion Soup in 80 gallon tubs it always tastes fresh and delicious. However, what I enjoy the most is Châteaubriand as a single serving (not having to have other people want that cut too).
One of the things I enjoy is the presentation of the food – the baked potatoes are broken open at tableside and butter sour cream added then, as an example. I admit the I get a thrill touring the wine cellar and seeing the 30K bottle of wine. It is extra things like that, that make Berns an experience not just a meal.
Your post reminds me of Lawry’s in LAS-they have an elaborate salad-making ceremony…it involves spinning the salad bowl in ice, while pouring the dressing on. Since they serve nothing but prime rib, I suppose that counts as a steakhouse.
I go to Outback a lot. I would still consider it a steakhouse (since, ya know, the title of it is Outback Steakhouse) but it’s definitely a lower echelon from Ruth’s Chris, etc. But still good, it hits the spot for me. Ruth Chris is my favorite of the “$50 steak” level… my family goes to Fleming’s a lot, which is also good, but I prefer Ruth Chris personally. My friends had some bad experience there, though.
Tried Morton’s once, felt like I overpaid. Black Angus is priced similarly to Outback but seems worse - I’ve had chewy steaks there, or one’s with way too much fat. Service is good though.