Grill Your Own Steak Restaurants

[Toliver]

You want me to pay how much for a steak and then you want me to cook it myself?

This seems to be a new disturbing trend...steak houses where you grill your own steaks. Here's one example. Here's another example. And yet another.

The original idea with these grill-it-yourself steak houses in San Diego came about thanks to the new baseball park being built in downtown (opening in Spring of '04). There isn't going to be a huge parking lot prime for tailgating as with the current stadium and the downtown parking garages aren't quite appropriate for the next-to-the-car dining experience. So someone got the bright idea of creating a grill-your-own steakhouse so you could still get that do-it-yourself-tailgating-but-also-pay-us-for-the-privilege-to-eat-here dining adventure.

Now the trend seems to be growing beyond the Gaslamp district.

What's next? Really have it your way and don a Burger King uniform to make your own burger (but pay us for the privilege)?

I know there are some Korean restaurants with the grill built into the table (or the hot pot is brought to your table) and you cook your own food...but this just seems so wrong.

Oh, and you'd better watch out....there have already been reports of steaks being stolen when the cook/patron makes the mistake of leaving their meat unattended while it cooks. How do you call that one in to the police?

[malcolmjolley]

Fondue can't be far behind.

I agree with your premise and prefer to have someone skilled make my dinner if I'm paying for it.

[Mark Sommelier]

There was a faux-Swiss restaurant here in Washington, DC once upon a time. I ordered a veal chop. The gimmick was that it was cooked on a white hot stone in front of you. Literally. The waiter set this thing down in front of me, burning fat spitting on my tie, and said "turn it over after 2 minutes". My reply: I think not.

[bilrus]

I went to college in a small town in the Middle of Missouri (Westminster College, Fulton, MO) and hte nearest "big-town" was Columbia where the University of Missouri is located. One of the more popular pre-formal dance date restaurants to go was a "grill-your-own" place that I have long since forgottne the name of.

After having the salad bar, You went up to a cooler, picked out your steak and they gave it to you on a platter along with a partially pre-baked potato. You would then go to a huge communal grill and cook your steak and potato.

It probably was somewhere slightly above a Longhorn or Outback type quality.

I remember it being good, but that was a long time ago before i really knew what was good or bad. But it was kinda fun (although in retrospect I probably wouldn't think so any more). I guess a lot of college experiences are that way.

Edited to rearrange things to make more sense.

Edited August 20, 2003 by bilrus (log)

[MsRamsey]

There are a bunch of these places in Iowa. I've been, and it doesn't make for a very relaxing dinner.

[Jinmyo]

The waiter set this thing down in front of me, burning fat spitting on my tie...

Great description.

[Rachel Perlow]

Not quite the same thing, but a lot of Korean BBQ restaurants leave you to grill your own bulgogi or galbi. Sometimes the waitress would offer to help, but I thought she was only offering because we weren't Korean and I would insist on doing it myself. Eventually, I noticed that many of the other other (Korean) patrons were having the servers man the grill -- like they expected or demanded it. Since then, I have decided to relax and allow them to do the cooking.

They usually lose less meat down the grill than I do anyway.

[nervousnelli]

Cook my own food? If I pay extra will they let me wash the floors too?!!!!

[torakris]

There are a lot of these cook it yourself (Korean BBQ style mostly) and fat spitting stone /griddle cooked places in Japan. Almost all shabu-shabu, sukiyaki and other hot pots are do it yourself. They even have do it yourself kushiyaki (deep fried panko'd skewers of food), now that is an accident waiting to happen

[tommy]

i don't mind cooking for myself. i have fun at korean places and at "hot stone" places. it's the cleaning up that i detest. i haven't seen any "clean your own dishes" places however. seems that cooking is a bigger draw.

[Jinmyo]

I often serve bulgogi and kalbi with tabletop grills and people love it. It allows each person to get the kind of beef they deserve.

Inattentive?

Well done. Too bad. Pay attention.

No, seriously. It allows each person to get exactly what they want, how they want it.

Grilling whole steaks on the other hand is a different matter. Instead of seconds spent grilling the next piece in between eating the last, one is left just hanging around.

[wattacetti]

You want me to pay how much for a steak and then you want me to cook it myself?

This seems to be a new disturbing trend...steak houses where you grill your own steaks.

I just have this vision of Dan Ackroyd pimping Mel's Char Palace on Saturday Night Live: "You select your cow. You stun it, you cut it, you charbroil it. Over 3000 stunned!"

But seriously, I'm not thrilled with this particular trend. Bulgogi and shabu-shabu places are quite different than steak houses since they're communal meal experiences, with most of the savings coming from not having to do all that prep work yourself. Can't see why people would want to pony up to a grill-your-own.

[tommy]

i'm assuming at least some of these places offer the option of having the kitchen make your steak. if that's the case, what's the big deal? i can see the draw for some of going up with a group of friends and throwing meat on a fire. afterall, it's a bonding experience.

seems like it's not only like korean bbqs, but also like those mongolian grill places, where you pick all of the ingredients and have some guy throw cook it. and, of course, it's not that far from the good ol' salad bar.

time will tell if they're successful, and by extension, if there's a market for them. but clearly everyone has the choice of going or not going.

[slowday]

Hi, my name is slowday and I'll be my waiter tonight.

And don't even think of returning the steak if it isn't cooked right. You know what a temper the cook has when things don't turn out right.

Coming next is a self service checkout like McD's is planning. The grill marks on the steak is actually a bar code listing the weight and the legnth of time on the grill (well done costs more due to increased cooking time) .

Slowday

[fifi]

About 25 years ago I was staying at The Pioneer Inn in Lahaina, Maui. The courtyard restaurant was a grill-it-yourself kind of place. I had never seen that before.

[Toliver]

i can see the draw for some of going up with a group of friends and throwing meat on a fire.  afterall, it's a bonding experience.

So is a barbecue in my backyard and I get better cocktails there.

I am still mystified by this new trend.

[Stone]

I went to one of these places in the Bahamas. It was the best food on the Island, but that's not saying much.

"Season it first", I tell my dad. "No, put it on the hottest part first." "Don't keep turning it. Stop pressing it." "Move it to the cooler side to finish so it doesn't burn." "Wait. Wait. It needs to rest."

Needless to say, my steak was better than his. But father's never learn, do they?

The biggest problem we had was the flames that started shooting up, with no squirt bottle of water to beat them back.

[Fresser]

i'm assuming at least some of these places offer the option of having the kitchen make your steak.  if that's the case, what's the big deal? i can see the draw for some of going up with a group of friends and throwing meat on a fire.  afterall, it's a bonding experience.

A bunch of commodity traders I once worked for had our holiday party at a restaurant called The Butcher Shop. For some of the burly traders & clerks, it was indeed male bonding at its finest, as they poured beer on their steaks and grunted, "Ugh! Cook beef on fire!"

Honestly, it was kind of a nice novelty, as the restaurant offered (for a fee) to cook our steaks for us.

[tommy]

i can see the draw for some of going up with a group of friends and throwing meat on a fire.  afterall, it's a bonding experience.

So is a barbecue in my backyard and I get better cocktails there.

I am still mystified by this new trend.

but no one has to clean up at the restaurant.

i can see both sides. i'm hoping everyone else can as well.

[mikey]

Fresser, were you in Little Rock? There's been "The Butcher Shop" here for about 20 years or more. They started out with 'grill your own' as the main gimmick, with an option for them to cook it for a buck or two. Now they have evolved into a conventional steak house with 'grill your own' as a no-credit option. Ahead of their time??? (If I want to mis-cook a steak, I can do it a lot cheaper at home)

[foodie52]

Here, it was STEAK AND ALE...

It was the classiest restaurant in town back in 1976.

[Dave the Cook]

There's nothing new about this. Fifi and mikey note, and I recall, places like this going back quite a bit. It's an idea that seems to surface every ten years or so -- but I personally have never seen one of these places last more than about a year.

It's probably easier to get your head around if you abandon the equation:

restaurant = good food

and instead adopt the formula:

restaurant = entertainment

It may not be how you think of eating out, but it's a valid concept, IMHO.

[fresco]

A few months ago, on my way out of town, I joined friends at a restaurant in a shopping mall in Whitby, a bedroom community east of Toronto. At the next table was a family of five--mom, dad, three kids all under the age of 10. In front of mom was a cast iron plate that I think had been heated in or on an oven, but perhaps not enough or a while ago. Mom was trying to cook strips of chicken breast for the kids.

The kids did not seem amused. Mom seemed quite frustrated and dad seemed like he was waiting for the whole ordeal to end.

Can't say that my meal was in any way memorable (in fact, can't remember it at all) but at least I was spared the indignity of trying to cook something that was guaranteed not to please on a device that was engineered not to cook.

[Lan4Dawg]

there have been a few of these places in the Atl area in the past few years but none recently. You would not believe the number of people who told me what a wonderful idea it was. My response was that I would go to the market, buy a cut of not really good meat, light my grill, & charge them three times the cost of the meat & 6 times the cost of the beer for them to have the opportunity to grill their steaks. I had very few takers. The place closed after a few years.

The draw was that a bunch of guys could stand together & drink beer, grill their steaks, watch sports on TV, & talk about their wives w/o worrying about the incidentals.

[Oceangroveguy]

At Valenca, a Portugese place in Elizabeth, they offer "Steak on a Stone" - a choice of filet or strip - that is brought to the table having just been put on a hot piece of rock (or ceramic). The sides arrive separately. I assume they'll cook the same piece of meat in the kitchen if you prefer. My wife likes the self-cooking option as she rarely eats beef but wants it just about mooing when she does.

The other food at Valenca is mighty fine, too.