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Originally Posted by SeattleUte
A few rules:
First of all, I'd be very surprised if a chain restaurant made anything as good as it could be. There are a few very good chain restaurants such as Oceanaire seafood restaurant, but they invariably do not have a great many locations, and they specialize in serving their secialty cuisine at the highest level. That is their whole purpose in life. But the best locally focused places are still a little better than even the rare strong chain restaurant. Mass producing food precludes its greatness. Thus, Ruth's Chris is out. Needless to say, Outback is not a serioius contender.
Second, the best steak must either be a New York or tenderloin (filet mignon) cut, depending on whether your steak must be as tender as possible and how much fat you tolerate. Ultimately, probably the ternderloin is the ultimate cut of beef, but I have picked many a New York depending on my mood. A porterhouse (T-Bone with the full eye) will give you the best of both worlds, but that's a lot of food, and you have to navigate the bone. The only caveat to the foregoing is that if you have a taste for fat (as I do) the Ribeye is an awfully good cut, and depending on my mood I have on occasion taken that over a ternderloin or a New York. This rule nixes those spitted "sirloin" cuts at the Brazilian places (but I do like the Brazilian places for different reasons).
Third, to qualify for among the best, the steak must be aged, preferably at least 20 days. Period. Again, this disqualifies the Brazilian places and most any chain. It also precludes any steak you buy in a market except the very highest end speacialty meat markets.
Fourth, a great steak cannot be fully enjoyed without a glass of decent Cabarnet Savignon. On a hot summer night try a Bombay Saphire martini with tiny shards of ice as an accompaniment.
Fifth, you cannot cook as good a steak on your grill as you can get at a great steak restaurant. No exceptions. You can cook a very good one at home, but a steak at a great steak reastaurant is always the pinnacle. You don't have the equipment, the know how, or probably the cut of meat it takes to compete.
My favorite places are Metropolitan Grill and El Gaucho, right here in Seattle.
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