Fine Dining: VUE’s Guide to the Right Steak Houses and the Right Cut

By Ashley Kromrey

Fine Dining: VUE’s Guide to the Right Steak Houses and the Right Cut

A nice steak dinner at a novel steakhouse is quite a luxurious experience, fine dining with VUE’s guide to the right steak houses (and the right cut) is sure to help you make the right decision. Cuts such as sirloin, flank, and skirt steak are very flavorful at a decent value. However, opting for grade A cuts like hanger and flatiron, are more readily available at higher-end restaurants. The best and finest steakhouses offer a decent amount of cuts that come primarily from two major muscle groups on a steer, the Longissimus dorsi and the Psoas major. The tenderness of a steak is determined by the amount of work that a muscle does during the animal’s lifetime. An unused muscle, the Longissimus dorsi or “loin” is extremely tender and the ideal best tasting cut. Filet Mignon and tenderloin are the most tender pieces of meat on the steer, part of the Psoas major, a pair of shorter muscles.

A Rib eye cut can also be referred to as a Beauty Steak, Market Steak, Delmonico Steak, Spencer Steak, Scotch Filet, or Entrecôte. Rib eye is highly marbled (red meat that contains different amounts of intramuscular fat) with a large swath of fat separating the muscle. Fat is where a lot of the distinctive flavor of beef comes from, making the Rib eye one of the richest, and perhaps beefiest and even tastiest cut. For ultimate succulent and desirable cut meat, there is the Cote De Boeuf, similar to that of a Rib eye for two. This top tier meat has more fat and is a thicker cut with great flavor.

The T-bone is a two-part juicy cut– a piece of tenderloin and a piece of strip separated by a T-shaped bone (also known as Porterhouse). A Porterhouse steak,  is cut from further back and has a section of tenderloin at least 1 1/2-inches wide. The advantages of the porterhouse are that it has the bone, it can be cut thick and it serves several people. The River Palm Terrace offers a tasty Prime Porterhouse steak for two.  The River Palm Terrace has been consistently rated as one of the best New Jersey Steakhouses and is considered one of America’s top restaurants. Their butchers hand-cut each steak on a daily basis. Steaks there are dry-aged-to-perfection for 28 days, sourced from specific ranches and are 99% Black Angus Prime.

In addition, Searhouse serves a phenomenal Porterhouse steak for one, two, three or more. Or try a Bone-in Prime Rib-eye (Cowboy steak), braised short ribs, to name a few zesty options. Searhouse offers excellent steak and seafood cuisine that add to its already incredible dining experience. All steaks are dry-aged-to-perfection for 28 days in house and are USDA prime beef.

Strip steaks (commonly called a New York Strip or Top Sirloin) are moderately tender, the meat has a more taunt texture with a definite grain, not a delicate chew. The strip offers good marbling and a strong beefy flavor.  Though not as robust as Rib-eye, it’s much easier to trim with no large pockets of fat. Fleming’s steakhouse offers a Wagyu New York Strip (14 oz) or a savory Prime New York Strip (16 oz). Using hand-selected USDA Prime, Certified Angus and Wagyu beef, expertly aged a minimum of 21 days, their meat is prepared with a light seasoning of kosher salt and black pepper, then broiled at 1600 degrees and finished with butter and fresh parsley.

Extremely tender, mouth-watering with an almost buttery texture is the Tenderloin (better known as Filet Mignon). Tenderloin is  zesty, and is cut from the central section of the Psoas major muscle in the Short loin primal of the steer. Tenderloin is very low in fat, and correspondingly low in flavor, which is why it is often paired with flavorful sauces or compound butters. Positioned in Lincoln Harbor with a view of the Manhattan skyline, Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Weehawken recently completed an extensive renovation. Ruth’s serves USDA Prime beef, sizzling on a 500 degree plate.

Voted Wall Streets Favorite Restaurant by Business Insider 2013,  Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House is the king of high-end dining. This restaurant is an energetic, luxurious three-story restaurant, is located in the heart of Midtown Manhattan. Featuring floor-to-ceiling windows with breathtaking views of Sixth Avenue and nearby Rockefeller Center. Their chef-driven cuisine, like the Wagyu Long bone 32 oz steak, is enough for two.

After you select the perfect cut of juicy steak, you may want to consider a wine. A glass of bold red wine such as a Californian or Washington Cabernet. Bordeaux blend can also be great with an herb condiment or rub. If you like more Cab-dominated blends a Bordeaux from Haut-Médoc or Graves is a delightful choice. California Bordeaux pair well with rich, buttery sauce. Argentinian Malbecs have rich, round, earthy reds and sometimes even smell beefy. Malbecs are a good alternative to Cabernet.

Did You Know?

Flavor enhancers like a specialty rub are an instant way to enhance your meat. A specialty rub, which is dry spice or spice and herb mixture used to coat the meat before grilling. Rubs add strong flavor and a crunchy texture. American cuisine when it comes to matters of meat, believe our beef doesn’t needs anything more then salt and pepper. The Italians use lemon and olive oil, the French compound butter or even béarnaise. Fleming’s steakhouse offers rubs like the porcini mushroom black truffle butter with gorgonzola cream, black and white  peppercorns with F17 sauce, genuine kona coffee with orange-shoyu demi, béarnaise, cabernet-mustard.