Grass-fed beef available in Chicago?

[tommy]

i recently had grass-fed beef for the first time (at craftsteak in NYC). i'll be in chicago soon and figured since it's the heartland and all maybe there's a restaurant with grass-fed beef? my friends and i are interested in a steak dinner, but i want to make it unique (read: grass-fed) rather than just another steakhouse (we have plenty of them in NY).

short of that we'll just eat hot dogs and beef sandwiches and be damned thrilled with it.

[ronnie_suburban]

Grass-fed beef from Bill Kurtis' Tallgrass Beef Company is served at Prairie Grass Cafe in Northbrook, IL and also at these venues (scroll down for restaurant venues).

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[ryanj]

You can also get it at Harry Caray's. I believe they have a filet, new york and ribeye from Bill Kurtis.

[LAZ]

Grass-fed beef from Bill Kurtis' Tallgrass Beef Company is served at Prairie Grass Cafe in Northbrook, IL and also at these venues (scroll down for restaurant venues).

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Schuba's! Wow, that's a fascinating item on the list. Has anyone eaten there lately?

Tommy, would you comment on the differences you experienced between the grass-fed and regular corn-fed beef?

If you want the most "Chicago steakhouse" experience with grass-fed, Harry Caray's will likely give it to you. I think it would be a pity to go to Prairie Grass and order a steak -- not that I don't think they'd do it well, but there are so many more creative options.

Edited July 6, 2006 by LAZ (log)

[elfin]

OK, I am ready to get slammed but here I go.

Is the premium designation based on Kurtis' fame or is the beef really that special?

[gmi3804]

OK, I am ready to get slammed but here I go.

  Is the premium designation based on Kurtis' fame or is the beef really that special?

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Both, but not in that order.

[ronnie_suburban]

OK, I am ready to get slammed but here I go.

  Is the premium designation based on Kurtis' fame or is the beef really that special?

←

I enjoy grass-fed beef but I'm not sure I like it better than standard-issue, prime, aged beef.

Grass-fed is considered to be more ecologically friendly, so I do applaud Mr. Kurtis for putting his bucks behind something in which he believes.

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[tommy]

thanks for the info, everyone. the heartland always pulls through!

Tommy, would you comment on the differences you experienced between the grass-fed and regular corn-fed beef?

laz, to quote myself, i found that the grass-fed beef was minerally, assertive, beefy, and had herbal notes. It also reminded me of the steak i've had in Florence, which to me blows away anything offered here in the US.

i was so moved by my taste of grass-fed beef that i immediately started doing research and looking for online resoures. i ended up buying a couple of strips from Niman Ranch, who do in fact feed the cows grain for "finishing". i was very excited to get those steaks in the mail and was looking forward to duplicating my experience linked to above at craftsteak. when i peeled off the plastic shrink-wrap and put my nose to the meat, expecting, of course, to smell the prairie and the greeny grassiness and all of that good stuff, i got a nose full of corn flakes. the damned meat smelled and tasted like corn. a more pronounced corn flavor i've never had.

perhaps my next internet order will be for 100% grass-fed, if there's such a thing.

Harry Caray's sounds like fun.

[tommy]

You can also get it at Harry Caray's. I believe they have a filet, new york and ribeye from Bill Kurtis.

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Had a nice lunch at Harry Caray's. Thanks for the rec.

wasn't blown away by the grass-fed strip, but the experience was enjoyable nonetheless.

[allenkelson]

OK, I am ready to get slammed but here I go.

  Is the premium designation based on Kurtis' fame or is the beef really that special?

←

I enjoy grass-fed beef but I'm not sure I like it better than standard-issue, prime, aged beef.

Grass-fed is considered to be more ecologically friendly, so I do applaud Mr. Kurtis for putting his bucks behind something in which he believes.

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Alas and alack, it goes deeper and further than that, sorry to say ('cause I like the taste of corn-fed). Cattle, being ruminants, are "designed" to live off grass. Grass doesn't supply all the nutrients needed to sustain them, however, so their gut harbors bacteria that do the rest of the nourishing. Take cattle off grass and put them on corn, as feed lots do, and they get sick. The bacteria don't get or supply what they have to to keep the cattle healthy. So the sick, fattening beeves get medicated. All this affects their flesh, of course, which affects you--who is "designed" to eat grass-fed ruminants. Not a few people think this is why corn-fed beef pumps up our "bad cholesterol" and does other nasty things to us. Probably affects milk, too.

Read "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and weep.

BTW, beef is more carcinogenous the more it's cooked beyond medium rare, so whatever it is, learn to love it less brown. (Don't we all?)

[bbqboy]

Here's our local(for the PNW) "Natural" Beef, Painted Hills, from rural Oregon.

Kind of a combo technique.

http://www.natural-beef.com/

[ronnie_suburban]

Some additional information about Tallgrass Beef Company's grass-fed beef from Kansas.com:

As he began studying the cattle business, [bill] Kurtis said he discovered a trend toward grass-fed beef as a healthier option.

There were two limitations he would have to overcome, though. First was taste - grass-fed beef had a reputation for being tough. And second was supply. Can you produce enough?

Taste was the first obstacle he looked to overcome.

Enter Allen Williams and Matt Cravey, who had been studying grass-fed cattle and were looking for a way to solve the taste conundrums. The answer, they found, came in the form of an ultrasound machine.

Using the machine, they were able to identify animals that have rib-eye muscle that is consistent with the qualities that make for tender, juicy steaks. They determined that breeds like Red Angus and Black Angus, which have genetic lines largely unaffected by the crossbreeding which as become the standard in the cattle business, are perfect animals for creating tasty been on an all-grass diet.

The second issue, supply, is one that the company has made strides with in the short time it has been in operation. But there is still work to do.

New ranching techniques borrow from old-school methods by Doug Armbruster.

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[ronnie_suburban]

Thanks to molto e for sending me a link to this piece at Slate.com:

But is marbling all there is to a good steak? Doesn't, say, a cow's diet have something to do with the way a steak tastes? And can someone please explain why that gargantuan USDA Prime strip loin I ate in Las Vegas last year had about as much flavor as a cup of tap water? I decided to find out for myself. My mission: to taste steaks from cattle raised in very different ways and see how they stack up.

To understand good steak, it helps to know a thing or two about how it gets on your plate. These days, most calves are born on ranches, suckled by their mothers, and then sent out to pasture. When they reach 6 months, they're sent to a feedlot where they're "finished" on grain, usually corn. Grain isn't a cow's natural diet, but it's the feed of choice for two reasons: It makes cattle gain weight quickly, and it results in well-marbled beef.

But according to the ranchers and food scientists I spoke to, there's a lot more to a good rib-eye than intramuscular fat. A few other factors to consider . . .

Raising the Steaks - If you feed cows grass, does the beef taste better?

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