Had a couple $300 dinners recently. The centerpiece of both was the Platonic form of steak–one with nothing but a Bordelaise sauce on the side, the other topped with a small pat of maître d’ butter.
I am hopelessly addicted.
Where can a non-restaurateur purchase cuts of meats like these?
Niman Ranch also does mail order.
Your local Costco probably sells Prime steak more cheaply than you might expect.
Any clue what cut(s) of beef you were served? Most likely they were prime tenderloin but there are other options.
There’s not a lot of prime beef out there and most of it get snapped up by major steakhouses. Shop around and talk to your local butchers. Ask for the best available.
The ribeye and strip tend to be the signature cuts at most serious, serious meat emporia.
Yes. Costco prime steaks are wonderful and at a great price. Costco, in general, is just a very good source for quality meats.
However, if you can find a butcher that dry ages its steaks–that’s what you want. In the Chicago area, there’s a couple places you can find this: Fox & Obel, Zier’s Meats in Wilmette, and you can also order online from the local Allen Brothers.
I’m not sure where you are located, but if you’re in a major metropolitan area, I would hope there’s at least one butcher that can help you out. Otherwise, the online sources work well, too, and don’t forget about Costco (although they don’t have dry-aged steaks).
ETA: Come to think of it, I’m almost positive I’ve seen dry-aged steaks at Whole Foods as well as Treasure Island.
If you don’t have a decent butcher shop near you, try your local natural foods store/co-op. Sometimes they have amazing beef (and other meat) that’s been locally raised and butchered.
Farmers markets too, if you’re lucky enough to have one robust enough to attract meat farmers and not just greengrocers.
In connection with both of those suggestions – we’ve been telling you to look for Prime grade beef, and we’re (IMHO) generally right to do that. An exception might be the artisanal/specialist sources we’ve also mentioned – some may not go to the trouble of getting USDA Prime certification (maybe it costs money/paperwork? who knows), but can still be great. I mention this because Niman Ranch is very good quality but I do not think it technically qualifies as (or is certified as) Prime – they’re selling on straight reputation/quality.
I should also add, that if you’re going for filet mignon, choice grade is pretty much indistinguishable from prime, at least in my experience. It’s not worth the money to spring for prime with this cut. Filets are very lean and don’t have much marbling to begin with, so the difference between choice and prime is minor.
Now, with a real cut of steak like a ribeye or strip, there’s quite a noticeable difference between prime and choice. Although if the choice is between a dry-aged choice ribeye vs a prime (not dry-aged) ribeye, I’d go with the dry-aged choice.
I can think of a number of small, generationally owned meatmarkets within a hundred mile radius in my Midwest town. They are in towns of less than a thousand people and the reason they have survived is because their meat is, as a rule, locally raised or hunted, their methods are clean and reliable and they’ve had a reputation far beyond their town for decades. It’s also cheaper than you can buy in larger areas.
I go to the last remaining on in my town of 60,000. It’s been around so long that it was grandfathered in to what is now an area of homes. Once I developed a working relationship with the family members who worked there I discovered that they would bend over backward to supply me with whatever I needed.
Over the years they have provided me with buffalo steaks and roasts, pheasants from South Dakota, giant lobster tails and even Dungeness crab from Washington state. They definitely want to please as their existence depends on it.
A further bonus is that they remember me from my last visit and greet me by name asI enter. I like that atmosphere of trust and friendliness where I do business.
ETA: So my suggestion is to seach the smalltown phonebooks in your area. You could also make a request at Chowhound on line.
Side note: “Filet mignon” and “tenderloin” are two different names for the same cut of meat.
I lied. They do have a few Prime-certified offerings.
http://store.nimanranch.com/c-21-ribeyes.aspx
As well as dry-aged, which I’ll echo as making a difference.
http://store.nimanranch.com/c-3-dry-aged-steaks.aspx
None of it at all cheap (Costco for that) though they occasionally run specials.
Yes, Whole Foods does have dry-aged prime steaks - I get them there from time to time.
Depends. Filet mignon is supposed to be a certain part of the tenderloin, but in the US, the term is often used for the whole tenderloin.
Filet mignon is a steak cut from the tenderloin.
ask.com breaks it down thusly:
If you want to really take the plunge there are a lot of farms where you can buy a calf and have them raise it for you for a monthly fee. Some allow you control over diet (grain vs. grass, what kind of grain, what kind of grass), some will even allow you to see your beast in person in case you want to name it, massage it with beer, take pictures or whatever. Check your local community-supported agriculture / farmers market scene.
Yes. A particular cut.
Actually, Huerta88, I know filet mignon to be from the small end or somewhere up from the small end to the central part of the tenderloin.
Lobels defines it as a center cut of the tenderloin (or Chateaubriand cut into steaks.)
The best steaks I ever cooked at home were purchased from Whole Foods, I think the ones I bought were around $18 a pound. Gorgeous ribeyes. The WF by me has beautiful aging cases right behind the butcher counter. Their meat-counter people are very knowledgeable. If a smaller, locally-based butcher or co-op isn’t available to you, WF is your next best bet, IMO.
Target sells damn good T-bones for very good prices. Kroger on the other hand … how the hell do you get ALL the taste out of meat before you even cook it?
And shop there and you will find why they call it Whole Paycheck. 
Really expensive meat, but quality way above anyplace else around me.