11/2008

Dennis Ray Wheaton
Chicago Magazine

From: 20 Best Steak Houses

I come from a long line of Oklahoma beef eaters, people for whom a good bloody piece of meat was less a luxury and more a God-given right. But discerning beef loyalists like me are under fire these days. Prime steak is an environmentally suspicious luxury item, one that my vegetarian friends view with the scorn of a Prius owner staring down a Hummer driver.

Corn prices are going haywire around the world, and taking the price of corn-fed prime beef along for the ride. The last time I did a steak-house roundup, in 2000, prime steaks cost somewhere in the mid-$30s; now it's the $40s, $50s, and beyond. Yet prosperous chains like Morton's continue to multiply, and downtown standouts keep expanding to the suburbs. Why? It's tempting to say something flippant about the rich getting richer, but the answer may be even more obvious: When Americans splurge in a down economy, they're not up for the mental gymnastics of a cutting-edge chef who serves Parmesan frozen air. For better or worse, they want the indulgent, uncomplicated glory of prime steaks.

Another reason: Steak houses have joined the new millennium. Used to be they all had the same menu, and you could order without opening the thing: shrimp cocktail, wedge salad with blue cheese dressing, and either filet mignon, a porterhouse, a T-bone, or a New York strip. Throw in a baked potato or creamed spinach and cheesecake to top it off, and that was the whole show. Now, led by Laurent Tourondel's BLT Steak in Manhattan and Wolfgang Puck's Cut in Beverly Hills, we've got "New American" steak houses popping up from top chefs all over the country. Their interiors are glam, their steak options extensive, their extras creative. Locally, Keefer's and David Burke's Primehouse in River North and Tramonto's Steak & Seafood in Wheeling have the contemporary style down pat. And everyone has eased up on the relentless porterhouse pushing that once dominated Chicago steak houses; in 2008, the rib eye and the bone-in Kansas City strip, with their superior flavor, are king.

KEEFER'S
20 W. Kinzie St.; 312-467-9525
When you get your menu at Keefer's, close your eyes. Then point to a steak and order it. Doesn't matter which one: The New York strip ($44), bone-in Kansas City strip ($45), porterhouse ($50), and the bone-in rib eye ($47) are all wet-aged for 21 days, and all are first-rate. The French-trained chef, John Hogan, made his mark at Kiki's Bistro and Savarin, and he's got talent to burn at this sleek, modern spot—just look at the creative extras, offerings you don't expect to find on steak-house menus. Sure, there's an impeccable jumbo shrimp cocktail, but it doesn't compare to the grilled calamari, cut into thin tender rounds and served with teardrop tomato confit and baby arugula with balsamic vinaigrette. Forget the humdrum au gratin potatoes and pair your steak with braised Belgian endive with Parmesan-Swiss cheese sauce or "Hogan's peas," a casserole with baby onions, lardons, and cream sauce.

Best Wine Bet
2007 Doña Paula, malbec, Mendoza, Argentina ($35)

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