Best steaks in L.A.?
Hi,
Can anyone recommend some restaurants with the most tasty steaks in L.A. Am willing to go all around L.A...SGV, Santa Monica, whatever. :) Thanks so much!
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Steak for two at Lucques.
NY 35 day aged at CutNothing else has come close for me. And before there was Cut there was ONLY that steak for two at Lucques. Better than all the steakhouses. Again, until Cut, which kind of redefines the American steakhouse, at least in LA, in terms of quality.
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This may come as a shock to the board, but the best steak in LA is at LA's best fish/seafood restaurant (and perhaps LA's best restaurant overall):
Providence.
Now, I must admit that my favorite restaurant in LA is Lucques (I just adore Caroline Styne and think Suzanne Goin is the best chef anywhere), but I have never tried their steak for two which is probably pretty amazing. I just can't bring myself to order steak at Lucques when Suzanne is the master of preparing any piece of meat from a pig (especially her roast suckling pig when it is available). But the best steak I have ever had in LA is at Providence. Cut was second best (and not far behind). I was very disappointed by Mastro's, but that is a whole long story.
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In descending order - Cut, Mastro's, Dan Tana's, The Palm, Pacfic Dining Car, Boa, and Morton's. I don't care for Ruth Chris, having had a very bad dining experence in Hawaii. Of course all of these are very expensive. I'm on my own hunt for the best under $20 steak frites in town.
By the way, I second the recommendation for How's market if you cook your own. Great prime beef cut steakhouse thick.
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First post.
Arroyo Chophouse, Mastros (amazing, but overpriced), Palm are my favorites, but I have had some great steaks at Pacific Dining Car Downtown, Cut, Boa, even Flemings. Cut is a place to try, at least, just to order a few oz of some premium beef. Otherwise, it's just painfully overpriced, even for the lesser meats.
I get nice cuts at Bob's on Ocean Park.
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Mr. Gohan
Apr 1, 2008 01:11 PM
I've been to Morton's, Ruth's Chris, Arroyo Chop House, Cut, Peter Lugers, Sparks, Dal Rae, Nick & Stefs, etc. my vote still goes to Cut. but i heard that Capo in Santa Monica has a good steak too.
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re: namstermonster
Mr. Gohan
Apr 1, 2008 04:02 PM
IMO I think Cut is the best. i know its two different types of steaks, but I enjoyed the american new york steak at Cut much better. don't get me wrong, lugers is awesome and worth the trip. I just went to NY for a food vacation, you could check out my blog. keep in mind that the entries are all out of order. I labeled my trip by days 1 thru 4
http://eatgohan.blogspot.com/ -
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My choice, How's Market. Prime grade ribeyes or Porterhouses occasionally on sale for as little as $6.99 per pound. Compare this to the high-end places mentioned, where a goodsized steak begins at about $35 and can easily approach or exceed $50, served a la carte. Make sure your grill is preheated thoroughly and has sides or levels with blazing and low heat, so you can blast it for a good char and then finish more slowly. (Alton Brown suggests doing this in the reverse order -- interesting concept.) Now you can feed four, including baked potato, vegie side, and simple green salad for considerably less that the cost of a steak for one at the aforementioned steakhouses, not even considering wine, tax, tip.
Now some will argue that the retail customer simply can't procure meat close to the quality the restaurants can. I disagree. I find that having established a relationship with the butcher at my local Ralph's, which sells choice grade, I can get properly thick steaks with good marbling. And considering the sale prices and prime grade often available at How's, this is the route I prefer. There are a lot of cuisines where restaurants have the skills, product, resources, and tools to cook me dishes I can't or won't prepare myself. Steaks are the furthest from this category.
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re: nosh
Yeah, every time I order a steak at a restaurant, I always feel a pang of guilt knowing I probably could have purchased just as good a cut of meat at HOWS, and made/prepared all of the sides myself (twice-cooked fries, creamed spinach, iceberg wedge w/blue cheese, even a shrimp cocktail) for a fraction of the price. But then I'd have to clean up, too, and sometimes I just want someone else to do all the work.
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re: nosh
bernardo
Apr 1, 2008 09:46 PM
The "ordinary" filets on sale at Albertson's or Ralph's are usually as good as their higher priced versions. Stater has some buffo filets too. The trick is to find or cajole them into custom cutting thick center cuts that grill up perfectly at high heat on a barbie. The steaks at Bristol and high end restaurants can be better but not always, and certainly not by the multiple in price.
We love to grill thick slices of bermuda onion and whole mushies to accompany our thick medium rare steaks. Large bags of red onions and smaller cartons of mushies are usualy available at 99 cents apiece at the 99 cents store. Or you could splurge at How's or F&E. Kick it up a notch with Seventh Moon wines (produced by Blackstone, read the fine print) for 3 smackers a bottle at Grocery Outlet instead of them boring 2 buck chucks (yawn).
Bottom line, sure, you can of course piss away as many buckos as you wish, but just about everyone can eat fine steaks and nice wines for a song if they'd only shop wisely and not be too lazy to work the barbie and uncork a few flasks. Folks, this is definitely not rocket science.-
re: bernardo
The steaks at Ralph's vary by store, and sometimes within a store. The two that I frequent most, in Westwood Village and on Wilshire at Bundy, both carry USDA choice. But the store on Olympic at Barrington carries mostly USDA select, which for the steak cuts we've been discussing is definitely and perceptibly inferior. The steaks on special sale in the weekly flyers from Ralph's are sold in the "value pack" of three and sometimes four. But I've never had any trouble asking the butchers there to cut me thicker steaks and sell me two for the discount price, as the total weight is about the same. (Note: I have not bought prepackaged hamburger for decades -- I always choose a chuck that is on sale and they will grind it, single grind for me, free of charge. If it is a bone-in cut they will give me back the bones, too, if I remind them I want them for stock.)
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re: nosh
bernardo
Apr 3, 2008 07:46 PM
Every few weeks including this one Stater Bros has fillet for $10/lb, generally an excellent product, with 6 to 8 oz per person generally sufficient except for lumbermen and gluttons. Insist on well trimmed thick cuts for the grill, kick it up a notch by marinating very briefly in balsamic, olive oil (shaft that cloying Ruth Chris butter, this is steak, not lobster}, mashed garlic, coarse black pepper and a dash of soy sauce. To die for at a song. Unless you're a vegan of course..
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This might be a tough sell - but Dan Tana's has a great New York cut steak. The rest of their food pretty much sucks, though the lamb is pretty good. And the atmosphere is pretty great. Cut is very good, but I was a little disappointed with the sides - french fries (Wolfgang has never been able to do great fries? ) are very potato-ey tasting (which is interesting), but the crispy stuff is what makes a great french fry.
Nick and Stef's downtown is also very good - and they do a great tableside Caesar.
Hands down for the worst steak in town; The Pantry. They were never great, only passable and cheap, but the last two times I've been there the meat was livery tasting and just awful.
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I haven't been yet to Mastros or Cut, but of the other steakhouses, Ruth's Chris wins hands down. However, I don't care much for the Beverly Hills location--it seems hit or miss. The one in Woodland Hills is the best. Also, their side dishes have always been perfect.
Also, if you're willing to drive a long ways (I usually do once or twice a year), check out Hitching Post in Buellton.
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re: ipsedixit
Just went to Cut last night and was very disappointed with my dry-aged $61 rib eye. It wasn't very flavorful, smallish, and a little on the tough side. I'm not impressed with the gimmicky Wagyu cuts either since I think they are too fatty to enjoy as entrees. Service was excellent, but overall this place is completely overhyped and overpriced hotel food. I've been to Mastros, Morton's, Ruth's Chris, LG's Prime in Palm Desert, Hitching Post, Sparks in NYC, etc. and my rib eye at Cut was simply not up to par and at least 20% more expensive.
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re: Ernie
ipsedixit
Apr 1, 2008 10:59 AM
I have to agree with you on the Wagyu/Kobe stuff. I've never understood the fascination with eating Wagyu in steak form -- just too fatty. It's best reserved for shabu-shabu, where it's sliced thin and enjoyed with a quick swirl in the hotpot.
As for the rest of the offerings at Cut, I've had the NY, the Porterhouse and the Filet, and have never been disappointed. Expensive? Yes, no doubt. But then, I consider Cut an "expense account" only restaurant.
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re: ipsedixit
A couple at our table ordered the wet-aged NY and bone-in rib eye and both were superior to the dry-aged cut. They were much thicker and more tender than my dry-aged rib eye, which also lacked most of the characteristic deep beefy aged flavors I prefer at other steakhouses
For those of us without expense accounts, $60+ is a lot to pay for a thinnish and not very tender à la carte steak
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The best steaks I've had in L.A. have been at Mastro's but I didn't like the noise, the price or the crowds. I only go now when others are insisting and paying.
I find Ruth's Chris quite variable. When they're good, they're very very good. They aren't always good though.
At Taylor's the meat isn't quite as wonderful but the value and comfort go a long way towards making up for it.
I've had about a dozen steaks over the years at Musso-Frank's on Hollywood and never had one I didn't enjoy tremendously.
Porterhouse Bistro on Wilshire is also quite good. They have a price fixe dinner which gives you a good piece of meat at a good price, especially if you order the Porterhouse for two and share it with someone who likes their steak cooked the same way you do.
I've only been to Cut once but I decided that if I wanted to overpay and wait a long time, I could go to Mastro's.
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Sometimes the best,sometimes just good, Taylor's Steakhouse on Foothill Bl in La Canada or better, the original Taylor's in Koreatown. Not as good as Arroyo Chophouse/ Cut but good value for less money. Here's a wierd one, i had a miniature steak (4 oz.) with outstanding flavor/ texture at El Portal, the Mayan-Yucatan Restaurant on Green in the Pasadena Playhouse District (nice al fresco patio seating, too.).
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re: laurie.hunter
EatinThePizzaNaked
Apr 1, 2008 11:55 AM
I went to the Taylor's in Koreatown the other night and everyone at our table received their steaks overcooked. My porterhouse was pathetic and wasn't cheap. I sent it back (asked for rare, received medium). Maybe they had their B team in the kitchen since it was a Monday.
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