Where's a good place for great steak? (Not the high priced places)

[chowciao]

I mean like a Frank's. Are there other places out there that you can buy a great steak without breaking the bank? Thanks!

[kittychow]

I've had a couple great steaks at Audubon Circle. It's been a while since I've been there and I hope the steak is still on menu. I recall it being in the $15 range and it always came to order. I stop in there often during the baseball season and I find that the food is usually very good and a good value.

[lipoff]

I second the Stockyard recommendation --- like Frank's, but with better beef. Also, for reasonable steak on the cheap, check out Brazilian/Portuguese restaurants, such as those in Allston/Brighton or Inman Square, Cambridge or the excellent Peruvian restaurant Machu Picchu in Union Square, Somerville.

[sailormouth]

If you're willing to venture into the ghetto, DBar's steak is pretty good. I'd have to second Brasserie Jo, it's not a fantastic cut, (it is a steak frite, afterall), but the frites are great. The also have a good steak tartare, if you feel like it.

[hiddenboston]

The ghetto? Yikes......haven't heard that term in awhile.......hey, how is DBar in general? Decent food overall? What's the crowd like there?

[Joanie]

3 of us ate there in the fall and we thought it was great. I had a really good halibut dish I think and I'm pretty sure all entrees were <$20. The crowd is fairly gay, esp. after 9:30.

[sailormouth]

Joanie's characterization is pretty fair, I think mixed drinks can be a little pricey, food's solid, service is typically but not always reasonable, the prices are in the 15-20 a plate range, which for some of the plates is eminently fair, for others is a little much, IMHO. Pretty gay after 9:30/10:00.

[heathermb]

My friend had the steak at PRB just last night. She was generous and gave me a taste - it was delicious and perfectly cooked. Only caveat is the service issues mentioned in my review. But the steak IS good and under $20.

[wittlejosh]

Metropolis does a good hanger steak with bordelaise for, like, $20

[wontonton]

Agree here. I had it last weekend and thought it was pretty good.

[BJK]

Excellent suggestions, as usual, from MC Slim JB. I'll also add that board favorite East Coast Grill has a terrific 16 oz sirloin, if you can steer yourself away from the specials.

BK

[limster]

For under $10 (I think it's around $7), Rainbow Cafe in Chinatown serves a HK interpretation of steak that's better than what you might think.

The grilled meats at La Brace are very reasonable for the high quality, but are around $30, which while pricey, is a significant bargain relative to most steak houses. I'm a fan of the bone-in veal chop.

[MC Slim JB]

I think if you like Frank's, which doesn't age their steaks or serve prime-grade beef, you might also like The Stockyard. It's similar: cheap, casual, unpretentious, with big drinks, big portions, free parking, and the game on the bar TVs. $22 for a NY strip with potatoes and a salad, not bad.

I like those places, but they're both a bit of a haul for me. I hate most of the luxury steakhouses but love beef, so I'm inclined to go to the mid-priced French places for a steak-frites, usually a nice chewy hangar or flank steak with excellent fries for under $25: Aquitaine, Brasserie Jo, the two Petit Robert Bistros, Pierrot Bistrot, Beacon Hill Bistro, Eastern Standard.

Another option: all-you-can eat grilled marinated rotisserie-grilled beef (and pork and chicken and sausages and lamb and offal) at the Midwest Grill in Cambridge, about $20. How the Brazilians do it, a real tasty bargain. There are some newer of these churrascarias around (like Cafe Belo), but I haven't tried them.

A little more expensive but still a deal: the Italian chophouse/seafood/pasta place. My favorite is La Brace. A huge Delmonico, beautifully grilled with great sides for $28. Pretty much everything on the menu is good. Casual, friendly, terrific compared to most North End places.

I also like Korean-style grilled beef (aka "barbecue"), marinated ribeye and short ribs. You cook it yourself on a gas grill set into your table, and it comes with a bunch of other tasty goodies, about $20. Korean places with grill tables include Koreana and Apollo Grill.

I can't stomach the casual steakhouse chains (Outback, Bugaboo, Lone Star, etc.) Even if the beef were any good, which I don't think it is, the atmosphere and service give me indigestion.

[chowciao]

Thanks, was thinking of places along the line of the French Bistros you mentioned. Something nice w/out the pretention. I do love Korean and Brazilian BBQ, but also get lazy...like to be catered to once in a while. :-)

Thanks again!

[ipsofatso]

outback steakhouse I sh%# you not
I'da never go there but got dragged and had a primo piso beef.

[lexpatti]

I have to admit that not all Outback's are created equal - I can ALWAYS get a phenominal steak in Lowell (just off the connector) but a lousy steak everywhere else. I've ordered rib eye at upscale restaurants, prime rib at upscale, paying almost twice as much and get really ripped that I can consistently get a phenominal piece a meat at this particular Outback. Who da thunk!!!!! And the rack of lamb - I'm bummed to order it elsewhere when I ordered it sooo many times, soooo perfect at this Outback. My step son worked there so we ate often (he didn't work in the kitchen so we didn't get any out of ordinary preferences). I know it sounds strange, I prefer non chains for dining but had to add my two cents on this.