Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Best National Steakhouse Chain?

Outback seems to be using pumped meat for some time now and that is an absolute turnoff for me.

May have a generically tenderness that helps with the tenderness consistency on a large scale but that texture is not natural.

Of the chains mentioned, TX Roadhouse doesn't have phenomenal steaks but they are tasty and everything I have had on the menu is flavorful and consistently good.

Corporate seems to have it right when they train management because in my experience, the managers at the different roadhouses I have been to are excellent with their customer service.

I agree it is too dang loud for conversation though.

Everybody knows Texans like tube steak best.

Someone got a pay raise.....

Best steak ever camp Clark Afghanistan chow hall! Then again might of been we were in Afghanistan our cooks sucked ass and we didn't know any better. We moved to Camp Clark the head cook for kbr was a chef at one of the big name hotels in Vegas. He said he was to old to join but wanted to serve his country so he got a job with kbr running a dining facility..

Reata's is worth a mention but not just steaks. I think there are only two locations that I know of....

Ate at a capitol Grille on business GA. Couldn't believe it was a chain. Fantastic.

Haven't been to a ruth Chris in a while. Last was a cattle call (no pun intended) meeting invite. It was mediocre. That must of been 10 years ago.

Last good high end Steakhouse was a few years back in Chicago. The bone in ribeye was great. Don't remember the name of it. It would never meet fire code. Place was packed.

We've got a couple of local places that do decent steaks, so can go there with no wait, take the fam, and have a martini or two and a good meal.

Morton’s or the Palm. Not a lot of outlets, but they serve prime beef.

The best steak I have had was at a place in San Antonio in 1968 I ate at while TDY in the army for a few days. I don't remember the name of the place but it was a good steak. I ate at Ruth Chris in Salt Lake 14 years ago with my supervisor and remember him asking if they had any healthy food there. The waiter puffed his chest out and stated "We do not serve health food at Ruth Chris." I have eaten at several Outback"s. They were pretty good steaks but the first time I ate at one of them was in Anchorage and the steak was horrible. The last time I ate there was in Cupertino across the street from Apple and it was also horrible. All of the ones in between were decent. The absolute worst steak I have eaten was in the mess hall at the 50th Engineers at West Point in 1968. But that is the only mess hall that ever served steak while I was in the army.

I used to buy a New York strip roast from Costco or Smart and Final and age it in the fridge up to it's expiration date and them cut it into steaks and freeze them. That made for some good tender steaks. I haven't eaten beef in a couple of years as my freezer is full of good elk steaks now.

I found a Prime, whole strip loin at a reputable butcher shop yesterday for under $9 a lb. Guess I won't be in a steak house for about 8 more weeks.

Remsen, is that you?

Some basic industry knowledge for discussing steaks.

90%+ of the beef in the U.S. comes from cattle that are raised on grass, and then finished on corn or another grain for a few months.
Corn is much richer and causes the cattle to put on weight in the form of fat.

At the time of slaughter, the U.S.D.A. inspects all carcasses for health reasons.

The packing house has the option to pay a fee to have each carcass “graded” for marbling.
This grading process determines the amount of fat mixed in with the lean beef.
Beef with higher amounts of fat “marbled” through the beef is considered desirable and sells for more money per pound.
The carcass is then “roll stamped” with a grade such as “Select”, “Choice’ or “Prime”.

If the packing house does not think a carcass will grade very high, they can choose to not pay the fee, and the carcass will be considered “No Roll”, or ungraded.

*No Roll or ungraded beef is used everywhere for canned and frozen processers like the premade beef stew you see in grocery stores to dog food and typical ground beef.

*Select graded beef is utilized everywhere a customer is looking for consistent quality at a reasonable price. Most of the products you see in average grocery stores is select graded.

*Choice is a noticeable step up in tenderness and juiciness.
Many grocery stores sell choice beef, and most decent steakhouses will use only choice or better.

*USDA graded “Prime” is a step up from Choice. Typically, only the top 2% of cattle will grade out as Prime. It is reflected in the price. A Prime steak can cost 50% more than a choice steak.
High end steak houses buy up almost all the USDA Prime middle cuts like Ribeye, Striploin (New York steaks) and tenderloin (Filet Mignon steaks).
Names like Ruth Criss, Flemings and Mortons. They typically charge $50 or more for an “ala cart” steak.

*Grass fed, refers to beef that has not been grain finished.
Grass fed is only a tiny fraction of the beef on the commercial market.

I know that it is possible to get a tender, juicy steak from grass fed beef, but that is the exception, not the rule.
For the most part, grass fed beef will be dryer, tougher and slightly gamey tasting when compared to it’s grain finished counterpart.

Some people prefer grass fed beef. I won’t argue with them, To each his own.

Outback

This is a really good post.

To those that have money and care:

My wife and I decided on Capital Grille for last night's dinner.

A+ all around. Martini's were off the charts good. I arrived drunk so only had two.

Service was impeccable. And I am a royal ass hole when it comes to service.

I wanted my ribeye cold in the middle and that is exactly how they brought it to me. Perfection.

Out the door cost:



Thanks again to the OP for posting that video. It was helpful.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

There are starving kids in China!

Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse.

And, hey, Conrad, [bleep] the kids in China.

I barely give a schit about my own kids.

Don't expect me to worry about a buncha sawed off chinamen.

Hahahaha!

Bastards!


I remember hearing that all the time when I was a kid. "Starving kids in China!".

Clean your plate.....starving kids in blah blah....


Anyway....230 plus probably a 50 dollar tip is more than I make a week.

And you're on here talking stupid with regularity...........

Advance your education my friend and help out your crew..................They deserve it.