Best Steakhouse

[melkor]

NY has Lugers, Smith and Wolenskey, Sparks and countless other steak houses. What does California have to offer for the hungry carnivore?

Coles Chop house in Napa has the best steak I've had in California, but there has to be better steak somewhere in this vegitarian filled state.

Vic Stewarts in Walnut creek, Harris ranch near Bakersfield on I-5, and Ruths' Chris are all reasonably good, but not quite as good as Coles'

I need to make it over to SF to check out the Acme Chop house. Where else should I be looking to find the ultimate California steakhouse.

[winesonoma]

Mac Arthur Place in Sonoma. Pricey but excellent

[dfunghi]

Many fine steaks here in LA if not at a "Steak House".

Jar, Campanile,Opaline, Michaels, Fathers Office ( steak fritte).

Steak House type. Balboa,Pac Dining Car, Taylors. There are others but here's a start.

D

These are just the ones I frequent with high quality Aged beef. There are many others.

Edited February 16, 2004 by dfunghi (log)

[melkor]

Many fine steaks here in LA if not at a "Steak House".

Jar, Campanile,Opaline, Michaels, Fathers Office ( steak fritte).

Steak House type. Balboa,Pac Dining Car, Taylors. There are others but here's a start.

D

These are just the ones I frequent with high quality Aged beef. There are many others.

Sure, there are countless places in California that serve fine steaks. But there has to be someone somewhere in this state providing a meal to rival what the NY steak houses are offering. Of the places on your list, would you consider any on par with the NY crowd? (excluding Lugers)

[Malik]

I don't think there's quite the market in California for steakhouses, locals just don't seem to be into it. I find it very difficult just to get a steak properly cooked medium rare in a restaurant out here, even in steakhouses. I end up cooking at home to satisfy my steak cravings, and then pigging out on steakhouses when I find myself in Texas...

[dfunghi]

Sparks and S&W, are fairly corporate and Pacific Dining Car is close to that on a food level I guess. What you wont find is the" expense account " driven type of steak house like those mentioned above. The counterpart of the NYC Steak house scene is SUSHI here. So if you are looking for the "scene " try Roku or Matsuhisha, or Crustecean(sp) . So now you have your choices of great steaks or great scenes. lastly we do have a Ruths Criss(sp) here now.

D

[NVNVGirl]

For some reason, the southern Ca desert is rife with steak houses.Vicky's of Santa Fe, LG's Prime Steakhouse, Flemings, Sullivan's, The Chop House and Ruth's Chris. All good, but not as good as Greg's Cole's Chop House.

[melkor]

For some reason, the southern Ca desert is rife with steak houses.Vicky's of Santa Fe, LG's Prime Steakhouse, Flemings, Sullivan's, The Chop House and Ruth's Chris. All good, but not as good as Greg's Cole's Chop House.

Greg's Cole's Chop House = Cole's Chop House in Napa? I'd be really suprised, but not the least bit upset if the best steak house in CA is right here.

[jschyun]

Morton's is also good, just had it Sunday night. However, it's a chain and quite expensive. Double cut filet mignon. Mmmm. Also, haven't been to Luger's (yet) so can't compare.

I think Flemings is homegrown Californian, if you're interested in that stuff. Paul Fleming also started P.F. Chiang's (shudder), and perhaps some other ventures that I don't care about.

[Carolyn Tillie]

In SoCal, I ate at Morton's, Ruths Chris, and Nik & Stef's. Have yet to go to Cole's here in Napa.

Interestingly, I can't get past the fact that a "good" steakhouse steak is in the $30 to $40 range (sans side dishes) and the best grass-fed, Humboldt beef at Sonoma Market is in the $10 to $15 a pound range - it doesn't get better than doing it at home, IMHO.

[melkor]

I'm no fan of Ruths' Chris or Mortons. Good steak costs real money, you simply can't get excellent meat for $15/lb - you can get good steaks, but they won't hold a candle to what you can buy at Lobels. Besides, anyone who believes they can make a steak at home to rival what the top steakhouses are putting out either has a 1500*F+ broiler, prime+ steaks, and a lot of skill - or they are wrong.

An excellent meal at a top-notch steak house is going to cost $75+ per plate, there aren't any corners to cut to avoid that and still end up with an outstanding meal.

[dfunghi]

Beef prices are on the rise and have been for sometime now. Stands to reason a good steakhouse would have to charge 30% higher for their food as well. Of course there is always Harvey Guss and the Webber.

D

[FoodZealot]

Cole's Chop House is now on my list to check out. Thanks, melkor.

It seems we're talking about two different segments of the market - dry aged, prime beef, and everything else (which might still be a delicious and satisfying steak). Carolyn, I agree with you that it's possible to make a damn fine steak at home. And I would say that a $15/lb grass-fed steak will probably be delicious, but it's not quite the same thing as dry aged, prime.

IMHO, when talking about prime grade, dry aged meat, for one or two people, it's a wash. Just getting the meat at retail, you're probably looking at $40-45/lb, then you still have to prepare all the sides and clean up [feh]. It might be worth doing for a special reason, but not to save money. DIY looks a little more cost effective when you compare 10 people at home v. 10 people at a steakhouse, plus wine, etc. But it will certainly be challenging to get 10 steaks exactly right, and serve them at the same time. Then again, this is sometimes a pretty big problem in a restaurant, too.

Just depends on the situation and occasion, I guess...

[melkor]

It seems we're talking about two different segments of the market - dry aged, prime beef, and everything else (which might still be a delicious and satisfying steak). Carolyn, I agree with you that it's possible to make a damn fine steak at home.  And I would say that a $15/lb grass-fed steak will probably be delicious, but it's not quite the same thing as dry aged, prime.

I agree completely, I've got a quarter of a cow left in my chest freezer from Chileno Ranch in Petaluma, it's grass fed and dry aged and it's really really good. That said - it can't hold a candle to the dry aged prime beef Lobels and the top steakhouses sell.

[winesonoma]

Sonoma market has dry aged beef the they age right there.

[melkor]

Sonoma market has dry aged beef the they age right there.

What grade? From what source? Most beef will improve with some amount of dry aging, the more marbling in the meat the longer it can be aged. The only place I know of to get Prime beef near by is in Rockridge, at either Ver Brugga or the butcher in Market Hall - neither place has dry aged prime beef and the quality of their prime beef is nothing like Lobels. I'm sure there are other sources, but if I'm paying $30/lb for meat, I might as well pay $50 and have someone cook it for me and clean up afterwards.

[winesonoma]

I'll check. Maybe I'll bring one to the potluck and we can taste test.

[Carolyn Tillie]

I'll check. Maybe I'll bring one to the potluck and we can taste test.

Now wouldn't that be fabulous! Sonoma Market is where I buy my beef -- from their dry-aging cabinet!

Maybe Melkor could thaw out some of his cow and we could have a taste comparison, n'est pas?

[melkor]

I'll check. Maybe I'll bring one to the potluck and we can taste test.

Now wouldn't that be fabulous! Sonoma Market is where I buy my beef -- from their dry-aging cabinet!

Maybe Melkor could thaw out some of his cow and we could have a taste comparison, n'est pas?

The cow I've got I use for burgers, stews, and braises - the steaks aren't anything special. It's not that they aren't good but they are much leaner than a prime graded steak. I think you've completely missed my point - have a look here at the picture of the strip steaks Lobels is selling, it's a completely different product.

[dfunghi]

Ahh. So many choices. Just some listed below

http://www.nationaldirectory.com/Shopping/Food/Meat/Beef

D

[melkor]

Last night we had dinner at the Acme Chop House in SF. They serve pretty good steaks, to me it's a toss-up between Acme, Vic Stewarts (walnut creek), Ruth's Chris, and Mortons for best steak house I'm not likely to go back to. The quality of the beef they are using is pretty much on par with the steak winesonoma brought to the last Northern CA potluck, good but not outstanding. It would be a spectacular steak if it was made in someone’s home, but I expect more from a steak house.

Having only had one meal at Acme it's not really fair to write them off, but I can't really get past their use of Niman beef - Niman certainly sells good beef, but they sell all their meat as the same (ungraded) product. Clearly there is variation from the most marbled carcass to the least, but there is no process in place to direct the most marbled meat to places where it would be put to good use.

[badthings]

Melkor, you're better off just flying to LaGuardia and taking a cab to Luger's.

I went there for lunch the other day and had a hamburger -- who knew? Best burger ever, period, and it was like $7. Take that, Boulud.

I am quite fond of the meat at Café Rouge in Berkeley, though it's no steakhouse. They dry-age Niman that they claim is prime (I think). Maybe they grade it themselves? Not Luger, obviously, but it will distract you from thinking about flying to NY for lunch for a few hours.

[NVNVGirl]

I'm no fan of Ruths' Chris or Mortons.

I'm with Melkor on this one. I forgot that we've got a Morton's here too....talk about expensive, Carolyn! I guess the thing that actually bugged me about them other than their inflated prices for piece of meat that resembles brontosaurus steaks, is that they neglect to inform you that the side dishes are more than enough for 4 people. It kind of ticked me off that they didn't mention this when as a party of 4, we ordered 2 orders of the mushrooms. It was the first time I'd been to Morton's so I had no clue that the portions are gigantic. I just don't think it's right that they try to pad the bill by allowing you to order way too much food without at least letting you know and then letting you decide if you really want that much. There's too much waste in the world and hungry people and the food at Morton's is costly enough without that sort of thing.

[NVNVGirl]

I think Flemings is homegrown Californian, if you're interested in that stuff. Paul Fleming also started P.F. Chiang's (shudder), and perhaps some other ventures that I don't care about.

Yep, Paul Fleming started Flemings Prime Steakhouse in Newport Beach CA, but there are now locations in Alabama, AZ, FL, MD, MA, NJ, NV, OK, TN, TX, UT, and VA. The really nice thing there is that they've got 100 wines available by the glass. And yes, he also started PF Chang's...the sad thing about that is, it's the best "Chinese" food we've found in the desert.

BTW, does anyone remember Jonesy's Steakhouse out at the Napa airport? It was the greatest! People actually used to fly in there just to have a steak there when Hugh Jones owned it. It's not the same since he's been gone

[steakas]

I like steakhouses. I've eaten at some of the best on the eastern seaboard. What is steak like out in CA? From what I've read, I hear good things about Harris' and Cole's. Are they the dominant ones out there? Are they the best ones on the west? Is there better ones?

I'll be heading out there soon (Northern CA). Please give me your thoughts. Thanks.