# Do restaurants get superior cuts of beef than most grocery stores? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 30, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-restaurants-get-superior-cuts-of-beef-than-most-grocery-stores/310528 "2005-06-30T15:21:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-restaurants-get-superior-cuts-of-beef-than-most-grocery-stores/310528/41 "2006-09-20T08:11:49Z")
[QUOTE=longhair75] following the link, i found that they are charging $88.73 per pound for steak. kobe beef has a pretty good reputation, but this price is absurd. of course, i live in omaha, where i can buy usda prime, corn fed, dry aged beef at our local butcher shop for $10.00 to $15.00 per pound depending on the cut. [/QUOTE] And it doesn’t even look like particularly well marbled wagyu. [This](http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1153877304/gallery_18727_3315_2632.jpg) is what I used to be able to buy when I was in Sydney for the equivilant of $15 USD a Lb. [this](http://www.luciesfarm.com/artman/uploads/beef-in-japan.jpg) is real japanese kobe and what it should look like if it’s the very best quality. Try matching that with your fancy prime beef! ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-restaurants-get-superior-cuts-of-beef-than-most-grocery-stores/310528/42 "2006-09-20T10:15:50Z")
Around here, restaurants get their cuts from grocery stores. Well, some do it from grocery stores and some from supermarkets, but in any case, from the same places as everybody else. But since restaurants ask for specific cuts, those cuts are much harder for “the common citizen” to find. For some of them, you have to make a reservation. One example I find terribly silly: many butchers around here will have chicken and turkey drumsticks or whole legs already cut; if you want the breast, they’ll have to cut a whole bird. Why? Because most restaurants only want breasts… ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-restaurants-get-superior-cuts-of-beef-than-most-grocery-stores/310528/43 "2006-09-20T14:26:40Z")
> [@](#): > > [this](http://www.luciesfarm.com/artman/uploads/beef-in-japan.jpg) is real japanese kobe and what it should look like if it’s the very best quality. Yech. That looks like slabs of fat back with an extra hunk of pure fat on top for decoration. I’ve seen leaner slabs of grade-F bacon. I’ll try it if I ever get the opportunity but that picture is off-putting. I hesitate to buy prime meat because it’s so easy to ruin it with my stupid electric range - cast iron griddle notwithstanding. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-restaurants-get-superior-cuts-of-beef-than-most-grocery-stores/310528/44 "2006-09-20T16:24:44Z")
The restaurant near our Renaissance Faire advertises Kobe burgers. Are they insane to grund up Kobe into hamburgers? Or are they rotten lying cheap buggers that just sprinkle a smidge of Kobe into the burger meat? Either way, with that fat content, I just can’t see it working well for burgers. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-restaurants-get-superior-cuts-of-beef-than-most-grocery-stores/310528/45 "2006-09-20T16:38:52Z")
[QUOTE=gotpasswords] The restaurant near our Renaissance Faire advertises Kobe burgers. Are they insane to grund up Kobe into hamburgers? Or are they rotten lying cheap buggers that just sprinkle a smidge of Kobe into the burger meat? Either way, with that fat content, I just can’t see it working well for burgers. [/QUOTE] It’s my understanding that what you’re getting isn’t exactly the “Kobe” beef you’re thinking of. You’re getting meat from a breed, not from a cow that was massaged all day and fed beer and all that other fancy stuff. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-restaurants-get-superior-cuts-of-beef-than-most-grocery-stores/310528/46 "2006-09-20T17:19:36Z")
Is it possible to buy Canner grade? I’m just curious as to what the bottom end looks like. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-restaurants-get-superior-cuts-of-beef-than-most-grocery-stores/310528/47 "2006-09-20T17:38:18Z")
[QUOTE=Patty O’Furniture] Yech. That looks like slabs of fat back with an extra hunk of pure fat on top for decoration. I’ve seen leaner slabs of grade-F bacon. I’ll try it if I ever get the opportunity but that picture is off-putting. I hesitate to buy prime meat because it’s so easy to ruin it with my stupid electric range - cast iron griddle notwithstanding. [/QUOTE] See, that’s a problem with our society today. Fat is bad, Butter is bad, whole milk is bad. This stuff _isn’t_ bad for you, it’s the processing, fat-removal, and amounts that are bad for you. Dija know hot Tamales (the candy) are low in fat? I had a pretty crummy steak once…cooked in lard. Great googly moogly did that hit me on a carnal level. I suspect a LOT of food today would taste better with a little more fat in it. And you’d feel fuller with less. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-restaurants-get-superior-cuts-of-beef-than-most-grocery-stores/310528/48 "2006-09-20T18:47:20Z")
[QUOTE=Unintentionally Blank] I had ‘American Kobe’ beef at the Brown Palace in Denver. $7 an oz. It was the most unfriggingbelievable gustatory experience of my life. sigh. I also spent a few days in Wisconsin this year, I had an excellent Ribeye…in a restaurant…smothered in Bernaise and Crab lumps. For $16! That’s about what we pay at the grocery store for mediocre, raw, ribeyes here. I’m hoping that sence exportation as been re-opened following the mad-cow scare, that beef prices fall, but I doubt it. [/QUOTE] _“It was the most unfriggingbelievable gustatory experience of my life. sigh.”_ Is this good? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-restaurants-get-superior-cuts-of-beef-than-most-grocery-stores/310528/49 "2006-09-20T19:15:08Z")
[QUOTE=Shalmanese] [this](http://www.luciesfarm.com/artman/uploads/beef-in-japan.jpg) is real japanese kobe and what it should look like if it’s the very best quality. [/QUOTE] Wow, you’d have to hurry and kill the cow before it dies from a heart attack. I’m sure it’s delicious but shouldn’t there be some muscle? Recently, I compared like cuts from our grocer, Kroger, and steakhouse Vic and Anthony’s on my home grill. They both were filets, I believe about 2.5 or 3 inches thick. Those from V&As were a little more tender, although the flavor was very comparable. The cost though was quite lopsided. Kroger was $17 a pound and while I don’t know the ppd price for V&A’s, they were $120 for 4 shrinkwrapped, vacuum sealed filets. I’m guessin’ that comes out to around twice as much. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-restaurants-get-superior-cuts-of-beef-than-most-grocery-stores/310528/50 "2006-09-20T19:16:56Z")
[QUOTE=Jake] _“It was the most unfriggingbelievable gustatory experience of my life. sigh.”_ Is this good? 🙂 [/QUOTE] yesh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-restaurants-get-superior-cuts-of-beef-than-most-grocery-stores/310528.md?page=2)