PORTERHOUSE

This is my favorite cut of steak, a view that is reinforced whenever I have the opportunity to dine at Peter Luger’s in Brooklyn, which serves no other. It contains soft and rich tenderloin as well as firm-textured and juicy sirloin strip separated by a T-shaped bone. (The T-bone steak has the same configuration but a smaller amount of tenderloin.) Why settle for one type when you can sample both?

In addition to the more complex preparations of porterhouse that follow, let me share one that is simple and effective. It’s called pan-broiling, a technique the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association calls “frying without fat” in an attempt to entice calorie-conscious cooks. The steak is cooked in a preheated skillet, or better yet, if it is a single steak, in a ridged grill pan over medium-high heat. Turn it only once and—here’s the gimmick—pour off the fat as it accumulates.

I like the results of this method very much. It produces the best possible crust on a conventional stove, but there are drawbacks: You need good ventilation since the pan is likely to smoke and you need to be relatively strong to pour fat from a heavy pan. Also, I cheat and apply a thin film of oil to the pan and the meat to prevent sticking.

As for cutting up the cooked steak, James Beard took a delightfully self-serving approach: “Carve the bone completely out of the steak with a sharp knife and hide it for yourself, then cut the meat in diagonal slices as thick as you wish. Slice right across the filet and the contra filet [sic] so that everyone gets a fine piece of each part of the steak.”

Simple Pan-Broiled Porterhouse is my Best Ever preparation of this cut, though I’m easily tempted to grill a giant porterhouse or put a smaller one under the broiler while making Nicole Bergere’s Garlic Butter Sauce.

A MIGHTY PORTERHOUSE STEAK

Mark Twain has just described a European beefsteak as “the size, shape and thickness of a man’s hand with the thumb and fingers cut off.”

Imagine a poor exile contemplating that inert thing and imagine an angel suddenly sweeping down out of a better land and setting before him a mighty porter-house steak an inch and a half thick, hot and sputtering from the griddle; dusted with fragrant pepper; enriched with little melting bits of butter of the most unimpeachable freshness and genuineness; the precious juices of the meat trickling out and joining the gravy, archipelagoed with mushrooms; a township or two of tender, yellowish fat gracing an outlying district of the ample country of beefsteak; the long white bone which divides the sirloin from the tenderloin still in its place; and imagine that the angel also adds a great cup of American home-made coffee, with the cream a-froth on the top, some real butter, firm and yellow and fresh, some smoking hot biscuits, a plate of hot buckwheat cakes, with transparent syrup—could words describe the gratitude of this exile?

PAN BROILED

PORTERHOUSE

The “secrets” to the sensational taste of a great restaurant steak are the quality of the meat and the magical seared crust that locks in juices and flavor. Home broilers cannot reach the temperature (as high as 800°F) that causes meat to char so rapidly, so I obtain that essential crust by another method. I panbroil the steak on top of the stove in a cast-iron pan. All that’s needed is a very hot pan and enough strength to lift it easily, careful attention to time, and good ventilation. Garlic lovers might want to substitute garlic-flavored oil for the vegetable oil. Match great flavor with great flavor and drink a Zinfandel or Barolo with your porterhouse.

1 porterhouse steak (about 1¾ pounds), cut 1¼ inches thick

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves

2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus some for the pan

Pan Sauce (optional; recipe follows)

1. Pat the steak dry. Coat one side of the steak with half the pepper and half the thyme, patting the seasonings into the meat. Coat a plate with 1 tablespoon of the oil and place the steak, seasoned side down, on the plate. Pat the remaining pepper and thyme into the top side of the steak and coat lightly with the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil. Set the steak aside for 30 minutes.

2. Use a paper towel to very lightly coat the surface of a ridged or plain cast-iron skillet with vegetable oil. Heat the pan until the oil coating begins to smoke. Place the steak in the pan and cook until seared and nicely browned on one side, about 5 minutes. Turn the steak and cook 5 minutes more for medium-rare or 6 minutes more for medium.

3. Transfer the steak to a cutting board and let it rest for 5 minutes. While the steak is resting, make the Pan Sauce, if desired. Carve the steak into ½-inch-thick slices and serve.

SERVES 3 OR 4

PAN SAUCE

 

Next to simply placing a tablespoon of butter on top of a hot steak and letting it melt, pan sauce is the easiest all-purpose way to make a panfried steak even more juicy and flavorful. In many classic kitchens, this procedure would involve starting by making a roux with flour and whisking in a little butter at the end to provide a glamorous sheen. But this isn’t a party sauce. This one’s for you, or maybe two of you.

Steak pan with drippings

½ cup beef broth or ¼ cup broth and ¼ cup red or white wine

Salt and freshly ground black pepper (optional)

1. Remove the steak from the pan to a cutting board and let it rest before slicing or serving. Pour off as much of the fat from the pan as you can.

2. Return the pan to medium-high heat, add the broth, and bring it to a boil, scraping up the brown bits clinging to the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Boil until the liquid is reduced by half, about 4 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, slice or plate the steak and any side vegetables or garnish. Pour the sauce through a strainer into a cup. Taste and season with salt and pepper, if desired. Pour over the steak and serve at once.

SERVES 1 OR 2

Note: Elaborations tend to suggest themselves. Those I’ve tried more than once include ¼ teaspoon of mustard, Worcestershire sauce, or balsamic vinegar stirred into the sauce.

COMPOSED BUTTERS

Softened butter can be flavored with almost any combination of herbs, spices, and condiments. Such composed butters are wonderfully convenient to have at hand. I often make them with at least a stick of butter so there will be some left over. They freeze beautifully and thaw quickly to provide an instant flavored butter sauce for a steak or vegetables. My problem is that I quickly forget what ingredients these plastic-wrapped butter logs contain, so I’ve learned to label and date them. This smacks of Home Ec 101, I know, but you’ll soon realize it’s worthwhile.

PORTERHOUSE

WITH SHALLOT LEMON BUTTER

If there is anything in the spectrum of composed butters that could be called both assertive and elegant, the butter for this recipe is it. Don’t cook the steaks over charcoal or wood. Broil them so the pure sweetness of the meat and its juices can intermingle with the appealing tartness of the butter. Serve green beans on the same plate, topped with a little of the butter. The wine should have some finesse. A Merlot from France, Les Jamelles or Georges Duboeuf, will do very well.

4 porterhouse steaks (12 ounces each), cut 1 inch thick

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon finely chopped shallots

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¾ teaspoon minced lemon zest

4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 4 pieces

Salt, to taste

1. Preheat the broiler.

2. Pat the steaks dry, coat them lightly with oil, and set aside.

3. Combine the shallots, parsley, pepper, and lemon zest in a small bowl and whisk together. Add the butter and continue to whisk until the mixture is homogenous. Refrigerate for 10 to 15 minutes if the butter is very soft. (Composed butter may be made ahead and stored, covered, in the refrigerator. Return to room temperature before serving.)

4. Broil the steaks until seared and well-crusted on one side, about 5 minutes. Turn, salt the meat, and broil 3 minutes more for medium-rare or 4 minutes more for medium.

5. Transfer the steaks to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes. Slather a tablespoon of the composed butter on each steak and serve.

SERVES 4

SLICED PORTERHOUSE

WITH NICOLE BERGERE’S GARLIC BUTTER SAUCE

This is the perfect choice for a big-deal dinner involving intimate friends. Beautiful slices of meaty porterhouse (be sure everyone gets slices of both tenderloin and top loin) are presented on a silken pillow of a garlic-scented butter sauce I learned from Chicago bakery owner and cooking teacher, Nicole Bergere. The combination is both robust and sophisticated. Garnish the plate with zucchini or another green vegetable that can be coated easily with the butter sauce, then shoot the moon by pouring a wine from Pomerol or a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, such as Robert Mondavi Reserve or Opus One.

2 porterhouse steaks (about 1½ pounds each), cut 1 inch thick

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon ketchup

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon paprika, preferably sweet Hungarian

½ teaspoon dry mustard

2 teaspoons cider vinegar

3 medium cloves garlic, pushed through a garlic press

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 8 pieces

1. Pat the steaks dry. Lightly coat both steaks with oil and set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes.

2. Combine the ketchup, Worcestershire, paprika, mustard, and vinegar in a medium-size heavy skillet and whisk to blend. Place the skillet on a turned-off burner. Put the garlic in a small dish and cover with plastic wrap. (The recipe may be prepared ahead to this point.)

3. Preheat the broiler.

4. Broil the steaks until seared and well-crusted on one side, about 5 minutes. Turn the steaks, season with salt and pepper, and broil 3 minutes more for rare or 4 minutes more for medium. Transfer the steaks to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes.

5. While the steaks are cooking, warm the ketchup mixture over very low heat. When the steaks are resting, add the butter to the warm sauce, 1 or 2 pieces at a time, whisking constantly. The butter should melt but not liquefy. If it is melting too fast, remove the pan from the heat and continue to whisk. Once all the butter has been incorporated, stir in the garlic and season with salt.

6. Carve the steaks into ½-inch-thick slices and divide among 4 to 6 warm plates. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the sauce over each portion and serve immediately.

SERVES 4 TO 6

TONY TERLATO’S

PORTERHOUSE STEAK

WITH HERBS AND TOMATOES

No one turns down an invitation to the company dining room at Paterno Imports in Chicago. Not only does Paterno CEO Anthony J. (Tony) Terlato serve the best of his impressive Italian, French, and American wine selection, he does the cooking as well. The wine he poured for me with this steak and its herb-accented sauce was a California Cabernet Sauvignon, from Freemark Abbey’s Bosche vineyard.

2 porterhouse steaks (about 1½ pounds each), cut 1¼ inches thick

⅓ cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil, preferably extra virgin

3 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped ripe tomatoes or 1 can (28 ounces) plum tomatoes, drained, seeded, and finely chopped

1 large clove garlic, minced

Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves

1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

6 to 8 basil leaves, rolled tightly and cut into thin ribbons

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Preheat the broiler or prepare coals for grilling.

2. Allow the steaks to come to room temperature, pat dry, and coat lightly with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Set aside.

3. Combine the tomatoes, garlic, pepper flakes, oregano, parsley, basil, and salt and pepper in a medium-size bowl and stir well to blend. Stirring slowly, blend in the remaining ⅓ cup olive oil. Set aside for at least 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Broil or grill the steaks until seared and well-crusted on one side, about 4 minutes. Turn, season with salt, sear the second side for 4 minutes, and continue cooking for 4 minutes. Turn, season the second side, and cook 2 minutes more for medium-rare or 3 minutes more for medium.

5. Transfer the steak to a carving board, and let rest for 5 minutes. Cut away the bone and carve the steaks into ½-inch-thick slices. Divide the slices among 4 warm serving plates. Spoon the sauce over the steak and serve at once.

SERVES 4

GRILLED

GIANT PORTERHOUSE

WITH SHERRY SHALLOT VINAIGRETTE

Usually I leave the cooking of extra-thick cuts of steak to the experts at steak houses. But at least once a summer I find cooking a giant porterhouse or sirloin irresistible. It’s a commitment, though. It takes longer to cook this cut than others and you can’t just put the steak on the grill and turn it once. It needs frequent attention so the meat won’t dry out and movement on the grill so the tenderloin section won’t overcook while the sirloin section is reaching medium-rare. (It’s easier to cook the steak by indirect heat, but not nearly as satisfying.) My preference is to have a big salad as a first course and nothing, except maybe some steak fries, with the porterhouse. I always treat myself to a fine Zinfandel, from Ridge if I’m lucky.

1 porterhouse steak (about 4 pounds), cut 2½ inches thick

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 shallots, chopped

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1½ tablespoons dry sherry

1½ tablespoons sherry vinegar

⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Prepare coals for grilling.

2. Allow the steak to come to room temperature, pat it dry, and coat both sides with olive oil. Set aside.

3. Combine the mustard, shallots, and garlic in a small bowl. Whisk in the sherry and the sherry vinegar. Pouring slowly, whisk the extra virgin olive oil into the shallot mixture. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

4. When the fire is hot enough for you to hold your hand at grill level for 4 seconds, place the steak on the grill and sear one side until nicely browned, about 3 minutes. Turn and sear the second side for 3 minutes. Move the steak, to keep the tenderloin away from the most intense heat, cover the grill, and cook for 4 minutes. Then turn and move the steak again. Season the steak with the salt and cover the grill. Cook for 5 minutes, turn it, season with salt. Cook, covered, for 5 minutes more for medium-rare or 7 minutes more for medium.

5. Transfer to a cutting board and let the steak rest for 4 or 5 minutes. Remove the bone and carve the meat into ¾-inch-thick slices. Stir the sauce and, if desired, heat it briefly in a microwave oven. Divide the meat among 4 to 6 warm plates, spoon the sauce over, and serve.

SERVES 4 TO 6

SALTING

I’m a firm believer in the ability of salt to enhance flavor. I also believe it should be used judiciously and at the appropriate time. While some argue that salt added before cooking will infuse the meat, many more are convinced salt draws out moisture, resulting in a drier, less tender steak. Furthermore, some scientists say juices leached out by the salt will boil and steam on the surface of the steak, resulting in a grayish color and mushy consistency. That image is enough to convince me to salt a steak only after it has been seared and turned. As for pepper, it becomes bitter when scorched, so I usually wait to add it until the meat has been removed from the heat.

THE ENDURING MAGIC OF THE STEAK HOUSE

To fully appreciate steak, it is as essential to dine in a great steak restaurant as it is to sip the classified growths of Bordeaux to understand the possibilities of red wine or to smoke the genuine Cuban product before claiming cigar connoisseurship. Not only are the steaks exceptional, due to the use of aged prime beef and expert preparation over heat far higher than that available to the home cook, the steak house—with its larger-than-life portions and customers—offers a distinctively American dining experience.

My own introduction to steak houses occurred in my late teens. A newly arrived student at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, I was led to a now long-gone place near the grounds. There I discovered steak. Pink and thick and juicy, firm in texture, this was meat that mattered. From that evening forward, I’ve been a steak fan.

I’m not alone. The steak house is riding a wave of popularity that may prove unprecedented, if only because no one takes it for granted any more. Even in my town, Chicago, a mecca for steak-lovers, three major steak houses have opened and become fixtures during this decade: Gibsons, the Chicago Chop House, and the Saloon. All three offer a relaxed, clubby (and noisy) atmosphere and owe their success not just to superlative steak, but also to an intimacy between staff and regular customers that is rarely so strong in other types of restaurants.

Indeed, one of the appeals of the steak house is its chameleonlike character. One will be as stiff and formal as a posh men’s club, the next as relaxed and vibrant as an Italian taverna, a third loose-kneed and folksy as a country hoedown. It can be a gathering place for the family or one of the priciest dining spots in town, the last bastion of the three-martini lunch crowd or a haven for wine connoisseurs. Competition is stiff, however, and the day is long gone when an athlete could open a restaurant by putting up a sign with his name on it along with the words “Steaks and Chops” and draw a crowd.

The prototype began to emerge in big cities in the aftermath of Prohibition. The dominant styles are Italian (of which the purist example is New York City’s Palm), country rustic (I point you to the Hereford House in Kansas City), and urban elegant (Morton’s of Chicago has successfully franchised this concept).

In smaller towns, the steak house often represents your best hope of dining above the subsistence level. I still hold vivid memories of eating a giant sirloin and cooked-to-order steak fries at Doe’s Eat Place in Greenville, Mississippi, some years before it opened in Little Rock, and downing a juicy T-bone and rustic ambiance at the Ranchman’s Cafe in Ponder, Texas, a town whose only other claim to fame is that it was featured in the movie Bonnie and Clyde.

Another reason offered for the boom in steak house dining is that the generation now in its late thirties and forties, the infamous Baby Boomers, has come to appreciate—after the endless elaborations of new American cuisine—the comfort of eating food everyone can understand. A steak dinner, complete with lavish portions of salad, potato, and a whipped cream-topped dessert, is a real treat.

Furthermore, no matter how different their ambiance, the great steak houses share a similar approach to portions, personnel, and price. Any steak house worth its A.1., serves outsized, even outlandish, portions of steak, as well as salad, potatoes, and even vegetables. The great steak house does not employ ciphers as servers. Be he (or she) gruff or amiable, your server has a personality and shows it. (Rumor has it that the Palm sends its most sharp-tongued New York City waiters to train new hires in other cities.) Finally, a great steak house meal does not come cheap. Most individual steaks, in major cities at least, sell for $20 to $30 or even more. But that’s not gravy. If the beef is prime and aged, the owner would make a much higher percentage profit by selling you a slab of lasagne.

Incidentally, a classic steak house never has a chef in the French sense. The broiler man is a craftsman, a skilled technician, but the last thing an owner wants in his kitchen is a creative artist. The great steak house holds its clientele with quality ingredients and consistency in cooking. Steady customers are not looking for variety. They tend to order the same cut time and again, and if they order it medium-rare, it better not be served medium or rare.

Not all steak restaurants broil their steaks. Some use the grill method. My favorite place to watch a grill man show off his skill is at a vintage gem in St. Louis, the Tenderloin Room. The open grill is located in the eye of the Tenderloin, so it is easy to watch the cook keep an order of several different steaks in nearly constant motion to bring each one to the desired degree of doneness at the same moment.

 

A TOUR OF STEAK HOUSES

The volume leader of the prestige steak house pack is Ruth’s Chris. Founded by Ruth Fertel in New Orleans almost forty years ago, the chain now owns or franchises thirty restaurants across the nation. Her secret, other than centralized purchase of specially fed and cut vacuum-packed beef from a single Chicago firm, is a coating of hot butter that covers each sizzling steak. Beef loves butter and the Ruth’s Chris approach produces the juiciest (and thereby, for me, the best) filet mignon of them all.

The “good ol’ boy” mood that hangs in the air at Ruth’s Chris, the way cigarette smoke once did, takes on a decidedly country tinge in the old stockyard towns of the Heartland. In Kansas City, the Hereford House and the Golden Ox are both Western (steer horns mounted on the wall and cowboy boots on the customers), sparsely furnished, and dimly lit. The steaks are big. So are the drinks. No hype, no sizzle. Sad to say, according to the Zagat Survey, affluent locals prefer to eat their steaks in a posh Marriott Hotel restaurant.

Another prime example of this genre is Johnny’s Cafe in Omaha. Elsewhere in the Midwest, St. Elmo Steak House in Indianapolis, nearly a century old, offers—along with a great shrimp cocktail and giant steaks—the contrast of a stark and worn setting and a classy, up-to-date wine selection.

Ambiance has been almost as important as the food in creating the aura that surrounds the Palm in Man hat tan. It was established in the 1920s as a hole-in-the-wall under the Second Avenue El. The El (outdoor, elevated subway tracks) is long gone, but the Palm re mains, cramped, worn, and seemingly uncared for, with cartoon drawings of favored customers on the walls, sawdust on the floor, and not a menu in sight.

This is a men’s club. Only insiders are meant to know very good southern Italian fare is available (plus prime rib that some feel is the true culinary triumph of the kitchen) as well as the strip steaks, chops, and monster lobsters that everyone orders. (One way to deal with the huge portions is for two persons to split a lobster or shrimp salad and a single steak.) The twelve Palms outside New York retain the cartoon drawings and the macho mood. But they lack the patina of age, are tidier, and do offer menus.

 

THE ITALIAN CONNECTION

Gene and Georgetti in Chicago is another worn antique of the Italian school. Don’t expect, as a first-time diner—or even as a second- or third-timer—that you will be offered one of the coveted tables in the room that houses the always crowded bar or the one directly behind it. It’s likely you’ll be shown to an upstairs table instead. While you won’t go wrong ordering a strip steak here, my first choice is the T-bone. It weighs about a pound, comes hot from the broiler along with some lovely juices, and provides an intriguing contrast between the soft-as-butter tenderloin and the more textured sirloin on either side of the T.

There are other winning formats within the Italian tradition. Consider Sparks in Manhattan. Here’s a steak restaurant for the person who wants a grown-up dining experience complete with such amenities as carpeting, tablecloths, a world-class wine list, and a polite and efficient staff. The attitude is inclusionary, not exclusionary.

As for the steak, the owners, the Cetta brothers, worked as butchers before they became restaurateurs. They claim a special aging process they will not describe fully gives their steaks—especially the strip sirloin—a flavor edge. But it is the wine, visibly displayed and expertly served, that brings in customers who are not regular steak house habitués. Pat Cetta, a passionate romantic, has several thousand cases aging in the basement. My advice is to pair your steak with a California Zinfandel, Italian Chianti, or a wine from France’s Rhône valley. But why settle for my advice when you can have Pat Cetta’s?

Wine is a big draw as well at Bern’s in Tampa, which may be the most distinctive (or eccentric) steak house in the nation. Consider the wine list. It’s a book that weighs four-and-a-half pounds and it’s chained to your table! The restaurant itself is a crazy-quilt of dining rooms added over the years, topped—literally—with seating upstairs for desserts, dessert wines, and spirits and cigars. The decor has been described at “haute bordello.”

Bern’s adds up to a grand expression of another steak house trait: Have a theme or gimmick that elevates the experience beyond mere dining into the realm of show business. The ringmaster here is Bern Laxer, an intense former New Yorker who is personable, quirky, and quality obsessed. He shares his obsessions through the menu, which also contains the best one-page primer on steak and steak cookery I’ve seen anywhere.

A detailed chart presents the six cuts of beef served at Bern’s along with the thickness, weight, servings, and price. The diner learns that aging filet makes it “more flavorful and sweeter,” that by ordering a strip sirloin for two or more (same price per person), “you’ll get far more flavor from the slower, longer exposure to the coals.” There’s also a warning for those who order steak well done. “Aged meat is already tender,” Laxer writes, “(and never bloody) … it becomes tougher the longer you cook it.”

For all Laxer’s dedication, his is not my favorite steak house trophy. The steak of my dreams is the porterhouse served at Peter Luger in Brooklyn. Cut from sides of beef hand-selected by the (female) owner, it emerges from the furious flames of a basement broiler remarkably crusty and moist. It is quickly sliced into serving pieces and presented with the bone in a pool of juice. The relative handful of Luger nay-sayers complain the sliced meat loses juice and cools off too quickly. The standard answer is to tell them to stop talking and eat faster.

The turn-of-the-century decor at Peter Luger is German and genuine, while many of the convivial waiters appear to date from the same era. Do not ignore the bread (German rye from a nearby neighborhood bakery) or the thick-cut fried potatoes (surely anointed with a little beef fat). On my most recent visit, a friend won a bet from me by ordering—and getting—a rack of beautifully tender lamb chops. The lamb, of course, was served as a warm-up course before the steak.

Nostalgia does not have a role in the Morton’s of Chicago concept. Instead, each of the thirty-four Morton’s could be the setting for a Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous telecast. Elegance is the keynote, but there’s nothing understated about the way in which famous-name wines are positioned to catch the eye as you enter. Lights are low, colors are primary, and banquet seating adds a touch of formality. The tuxedo-clad waiters push silver carts that display the richness of excess: gleaming cuts of beef, an outsized potato, the spearlike asparagi. The servers are restrained, the food as good as it looks in the uncooked state, with the strip sirloin and porterhouse offering unparalleled tenderness. A meal here is a pricy but very soothing massage.

Al’s in St. Louis is a similarly classy place, while Chops in Atlanta and The Grill in Beverly Hills—both stylish, bright and brassy—express a more contemporary vision of luxury. Finally, I would point those seeking not just a perfect steak but an all-around expression of the steak house ethos to Gibsons in Chicago. It has become the most popular of the city’s steak palaces by combining an appeal to the past (Gibson girls, the Gibson cocktail, art deco decor, and antique photographs) with a vibrant (meaning noisy) and diverse bar crowd, “outsized but not overpriced” drinks and portions, a menu that offers genuine, tasty options for those who choose to skip the steak, and an attentive wait staff. As for the choice of steak, I’m partial to an off-the-menu special, a bone-in rib steak called “W.R.’s Chicago Cut.”

Whatever the cut, however, and wherever the setting, the most beguiling aspect of a great steak house is its pride in product. No matter how much “sizzle” is provided by the decor, the staff, or celebrity customers, management knows it’s the taste of the steak that counts, that lingers in the memory and prompts diners to return. So the question asked at the end of the meal, “Wasn’t that the best steak you ever tasted?” is always rhetorical.

STEAK HOUSE LIST

Here are names and addresses of significant and reliable steak houses across the nation, including those I have cited in the foregoing pages. Many cities also now offer a clone of one or more of the three leading upscale steak house chains—Morton’s of Chicago, Ruth’s Chris, and the Palm—but I have listed each only in its home city. In suburban locations, look for very satisfactory casual-dining chain steak houses such as Outback and Lone Star.

ATLANTA:

Bones
3130 Piedmont Road
(404) 237-2663

Chops
70 West Paces Ferry Road
(404) 262-2675

BALTIMORE:

Polo Grill (The Inn at the Colonnade)
4 West University Parkway
(410) 235-8200

BOSTON:

Grill 23 & Bar
161 Berkeley Street
(617) 542-2255

Hilltop Steak House (the largest volume steak house in the country, serving 30,000 customers a week)
Route 1
Saugus
(617) 233-7700

CHICAGO:

Chicago Chop House
60 West Ontario Street
(312) 787-7100

Gene & Georgetti
500 North Franklin Street
(312) 527-3718

Gibsons
1028 North Rush Street
(312) 266-8999

Morton’s
1050 North State Street
(312) 266-4820

The Saloon
200 East Chestnut Street
(312) 280-5454

CINCINNATI:

The Precinct
311 Delta Avenue
Columbia-Tusculum
(513) 321-5454

DALLAS:

Del Frisco’s Double Eagle
4300 Lemmon Avenue
(214) 490-9000

Chamberlain’s Prime Chop House
5330 Belt Line Road
(214) 934-2467

DENVER:

The Buckhorn Exchange
1000 Osage Street
(303) 534-9505

DETROIT:

Carl’s Chop House
3020 Grand River
(313) 833-0700

FORT LAUDERDALE:

Raindancer
3031 East Commercial Boulevard
(305) 772-0337

GREENVILLE, MISSISSIPPI:

Doe’s Eat Place
502 Nelson
(601) 334-3315

HOUSTON:

Brenner’s
10911 Katy Freeway, 1-10W
(713) 465-2901

INDIANAPOLIS:

St. Elmo Steak House
127 South Illinois Street
(317) 637-1811

KANSAS CITY:

Hereford House
2 East 20 Street
(816) 842-1080

Jess and Jim’s
135 and Locust
(816) 942-9909

LOS ANGELES:

The Grill
9560 Dayton Way
Beverly Hills
(310) 276-0615

MADISON, WISCONSIN:

Smokey’s Club
3005 University Avenue
(608) 233-2120

MIAMI:

Christy’s
3101 Ponce de Leon Boulevard

Coral Gables
(305) 446-1400

Schula’s
15400 NW 154 Street
Miami Lakes Golf Resort
(305) 822-2324

MILWAUKEE:

Sally’s
1028 East Juneau Street
(414) 272-5363

MINNEAPOLIS:

Murry’s (home of the “silver butter-knife steak” for two, so tender you can cut it with a you-know-what)
26 South 6 Street
(612) 339-0909

Manny’s Steakhouse (huge portions served by huge waiters)
Hyatt Regency Hotel
1300 Nicollet Mall
(612) 339-0201

NEW ORLEANS:

Ruth’s Chris original location
711 North Broad Street
(504) 486-0810

NEW YORK CITY:

Palm
837 Second Avenue
(212) 687-2953

Peter Luger
178 Broadway
Brooklyn
(718) 387-7400

Sparks Steak House
210 East 46 Street
(212) 687-4855

Smith & Wollensky
201 East 49 Street
(212) 753-1530

OMAHA:

Johnny’s Cafe
4702 South 27 Street
(402) 731-4774

PONDER, TEXAS:

Ranchman’s Cafe
(817) 479-2221

PORTLAND, OREGON:

The Ringside
2165 West Burnside Boulevard
(503) 223-1513

ST. LOUIS:

Al’s
1200 North First Avenue
(314) 421-6399

Tenderloin Room
212 North Kings Highway
(314) 361-0900

SALT LAKE CITY:

The New Yorker Club
60 West Market Street
(801) 363-0166

SAN DIEGO:

Rainwater’s on Kettner
1202 Kettner Boulevard
(619) 233-5757

SAN FRANCISCO:

Harris’
2100 Van Ness Avenue
(415) 673-1888

Vic Stewart’s Steak House
850 South Broadway
Walnut Creek
(510) 943-5666

SEATTLE:

Metropolitan Grill
820 Second Avenue
(206) 624-3287

TAMPA:

Bern’s
1208 Howard Avenue
(813) 251-2421

WASHINGTON, DC:

Sam & Harry’s Steak House
1200 19 Street NW
(202) 296-4333