Boy I gotta tell you 5 pages of talking about steak has got me hankering for a nice medium rare steak.
Hey lissener I’m Seattle this week, want to go get some dead cow tonight or tommorw? Maybe a nice glass of red to go with? 
Let me know, e mail is in profile
This arguing about steak theory and cooking gradients is a waste of time.
Why don’t you all just pick up the yellow pages, call your best local steakhouse, ask to speak to the chef ( I reccomend between the hours of 2-4pm) and ask him or her if they’ve ever held aside lesser cuts for the well done orders. Promise you won’t quote him, tell him it’s to settle a bet or something.
Get back to us with how many say “yes”.
Hell, I’m gonna do you one better. I’ll go to a steakhouse and ask the chef tonight.
Stay tuned, film at 11.
Well, again, if you go to the type of restaurant where the chef sets the rules, fine. BUT, likewise, if it’s not that type of restaurant, then I want what I paid for.
I’m not saying the “customer is always right”, just that people have a right to like what they like. If you don’t want to do that for someone, turn them down, as lissener does. He’s honest, he says, “I don’t do that, I’m sorry.”
Agreed - with the proviso that I decide whether or not I am paying immediately upon learning which kind of restaurant it is.
And if it happens after I finished my salad and half the carafe, tough toenails, Escoffier. If you don’t want to work for me, you don’t have to. But you don’t get to tell me what I like.
Regards,
Shodan
I accompanied Rick on his research expedition. (Can we get a grant for this?)
I’ll let him present the results.
Shit, I thought you were taking notes. 
OK, Lissener and I did a field trip to the Keg Steakhouse a small chain (Canada + a few states here in the US) For those of you unfamiliar with the Keg, they serve prime beef, 28 day aged along with a few other items for the non-cow eaters. To give you a frame of reference it is about 3 good levels above Outback, and one or maybe two rungs below Ruth’s Chris.
Anyway because this was Lissener’s first time the manager stopped by the table to greet us. So we explained about this thread, Kitchen Confidential’s claim, and started asking questions, here they are:
Do you have more than one grade of beef in your building?
No, all of it is prime
So you don’t have any grade Z meat in the back for the guy who wants extra well? <-(This was Lissener’s question )
No
Well out of say 100 prime NY steaks a few may be nicer than average, and a few worse than average, do you sort them for the worse than average for the well done customers?
No, we do sort them, but not in the way you are thinking. To get 100 prime NY steaks, some will be thinner, and some will be thicker than average. If we get a request for a well done steak we will look for a thinner cut, for the simple reason that a thinner piece of meat is easier to cook to a greater degree of doneness. The thickest cuts will be used for blue rare and rare; the average will be med-rare, and medium.
Are there any cuts that you will not cook to well done?
Yes, we won’t cook a baseball sirloin beyond medium rare. This is because it is so thick we just can’t get it cooked past that point (In case you don’t know what a baseball sirloin is, it is a small steak that is about as thick as it is wide, about 7" in all directions just like a baseball.)
Well, other than the baseball sirloin are they any cuts that you won’t cook to well done?
No
Do you or your staff ever make fun of how a customer orders their steak cooked?
No, not at all, taste is a personal thing. We don’t care how you want it done, we are here to serve you. Personally I like my steaks medium, hot all the way though and some pink in the middle.
Is there any difference in preparation between say a medium rare, and a well done meal?
Yes, the well done meal will take a little longer to prepare, since the steak has to cook for a longer period of time.
Well what she said sure made sense to me. Particularly the part about looking for a thinner cut for a well done steak. Speaking as a guy that has done a lot of cooking, this makes perfect sense.
Oh and as far as the rest of the field trip went, I have a 7 oz filet and Lissener had the New York. Both were ordered medium rare. Both were cooked perfectly, and did the beef industry proud.
Oh yeah one more thing, where can I apply for a grant to do more research in this topic?
Don’t you think it was rude of you not to invite the OP on this expedition?
<pout>
:smack:
Sorry, get to Seattle tonight and we can do some more research.
or
Next week we can do research in the SF bay area when I am there.
Wrong area of the country for me, but it is nice to be invited.
This thread reminds me of a story from my waitering days. I was working at a country club at this time and our special of the night was Prime Rib. A particularly rich, self-important, snobbish customer demanded the end piece of the Prime Rib AND he wanted it cooked well done. The chef at first refused, but the manager intervened and the customer got his wish.
I brought out the nicely cooked piece of Prime Rib to this prick and he looked it over and insisted it was far too rare for him to eat. (not a speck of pink on it) So I brought it back to the chef, who was more than slightly ticked. He plopped the meat on the grill and burnt the thing down to leather. I brought it back out to the jerk and he said, “Oh this looks much better.” Then, before even tasting it, he opened up a ketchup bottle and upended it, completely drowning the Prime Rib.
When I told the chef, he had to be physically restrained by a couple of the other cooks. He was ready to rush out to the guy’s table with a butcher knife in hand.
Hmmm… I’m a big Keg fan, but I never thought that they were three levels above the outback… possibly two, but I thought to get three levels higher you had to go beyond being a ‘chain restaurant’ entirely. 
(Not that I’ve ever particularly wanted to go that high.) Also had the impression that the prices would be about 40% higher for that third level.
For the record, I’m a ‘medium-well’ man. I do find that tastier than well done, but almost all places will do medium well so that it chews like it’s cooked. On the other hand, the one time when I ordered a steak ‘medium’ I was slicing off little bits as thin as I could, and they were still very hard to chew and swallow. 
I know that that’s probably an anomaly, but still. I stick with medium well.
Damn, now I want some steak.
It surprised me that a pp listed Ruth’s Chris as a fine steakhouse - I thought it was pfffffffffffffft. And that was having used a gift certificate - if we’d actually paid $100 of our own money for that meal, I’d’ve been quite pissed.
There’s a grill-your-own steakhouse chain in Madison & Janesville that, I thought, featured really outstanding cuts of beef. It’s called The Prime Quarter. (if you’d ever weathered a Wisconsin winter, you’d understand the attraction of standing near a grill, sweating a little, with a beer in your hand, in the middle of February).
Well, IMHO Outback = shit with good advertising. They soak their steaks in tenderizer and once you are past the part of the steak that has been disvolved by the tenderizer they are tough as shoe leather. We have had threads on this feel free to search.
Anyway in IMHO here is how the different steak houses rate:
Lowest to highest
level 1 Outhouse etc
Level 2 Sizzler etc
Level 3 Black Angus etc
Level 4 Keg etc
Level 5 Ruth’s Chris etc
Level 6 Mortons, Pacific Dining Car, Ringside
As in all things of taste, YYMV and your personal list may vary. My experience with Ruth’s Chris was excellent it was one of the best meals I have ever had. Again YMMV. If you had an inferior experience with R’sC you would probably rate them lower.
I will say this, the steak I had last night was almost as good as any steak I have ever had.
If you are going to be anywhere near Cupertino, check out www.alexanderssteakhouse.com Maybe see if they will serve the $100 Kobe steak well done
Grr… that steak house is either importing Kobe illegally from japan or they are serving Wagyu and mislabelling it as Kobe. Not only that, but they seem to give an active impression that what you are getting is the real deal (I read a review that waxed lyrically about how it was real kobe and which read like a press copy). Given that if it really was being imported from japan a) every foodie steak hunter in America would know about it and b) the USDA would shut it down, I find it highly doubtful that they are the only steakhouse in the entire country who manages to get real Kobe.
Sorry, but it’s a particular pet peeve of mine. Wagyu is the breed of cattle. Kobe is the region of Japan from which Kobe beef is produced. Wagyu cattle grown and raised in the US cannot be classified as Kobe beef.
Some of the best Porterhouse (AAA Alberta Beef) I’ve ever had was as the Keg in Banff. My wife and I went, and split a 16oz (maybe more, I don’t remember). I ordered it rare, and it came out perfect. We went back the next day, ordered it again, and it came out a bit over-done. Sent it back, and it came back perfect once more. It’s way better than Outhouse…
Really? Next time I’m in Edgerton I’ll trek over. Looks fun!
Ahh, I think this is the source of the confusion. The one outback that I’ve been into, (meadowlands center in stoney creek,) I would qualify as a level 2 without hesitation. The steaks there seem to be of a pretty good texture and pretty damn tasty. I don’t like how much spices they insist on slathering over the meat, but even considering that I usually enjoy the experience as much as going to swiss chalet or Kelsey’s.
Of course, I suppose it’s possible that they just insist on spicing the meat so heavily to cover up something else… isn’t that “the medieval treatment?” 
And then, it could be said that I’m a sucker for even a mediocre steak. Meat fire good!!
PS: I will be in San Fran from the 14th - 16th of November and Seattle from the 17th - 18th. Anybody who would like to join me for a meal out (although not steak), feel free to email me. My email is in my profile.
For you people in Seattle, I highly recommend Daniel’s Broiler in Bellevue, WA for steak. It’s some of the best steak ever.