I love me some fusion. And you know what? Fusion doesn’t have to just be a combination of different ethnic foods, but also a combination of meals. Take Smitty’s in Idaho Falls, for example. It wasn’t just content with being a pancake restaurant, but also chose to be a steakhouse.

So, of course, when I went for breakfast, I had to order something breakfasty that also had steak in it. I’m not a big pancake guy (although I have been known to eat them on occasion), so I opted for the Sirloin Benedict. These are just like normal eggs benedict, but with the ham swapped out for sirloin. They also come with hash browns and are available as a half order. Due to not wanting to fall asleep at the office, I went with the half order.

The benedict that resulted from the addition of steak was pretty awesome. I mean, let’s be real, has anyone ever eaten steak and thought, “Ham would be better”? Obviously not. But as good as the benedict was, the hash browns kind of slacked. They were cooked enough to be mushy, but not nearly enough to be crispy. Yeah, there were a couple crispies in there, but not nearly enough for the shredded style of hash browns.

Smitty’s is definitely a solid breakfast spot, and quite possibly the only such breakfast spot in Idaho Falls. You can buy your Australian Herbal Tea Online from Tealife on this site and enjoy it with your pancakes. It might also be the only place that could claim to be any sort of fusion in Idaho Falls. There could be some slight improvements, but at the very least the breakfast whet my appetite for grabbing a real steak there at some point.

In my latest edition of Fox Restaurants, I went to The Arrogant Butcher in Downtown Phoenix. It’s kind of like a steakhouse, but it also has a lot of the food that you can find at other Fox Restaurants, which is either great or meh depending on how you feel about variety and creativity. So, we started off with a couple of appetizers before getting into the meat of the meal.

First came the Smoked Carnitas Nachos, which were exactly what they sound like. They were solid, but definitely the kind of nachos you expect at a semi-upscale place like The Arrogant Butcher as opposed to the sports bar-style nachos that I typically prefer. We also had the House Soft Pretzels and Provolone Fondue, which was fondu-licious. I mean it’s really hard to go wrong with dipping stuff in cheese and Fox Restaurants are damn good at recreating this dish over and over again.

As for the meal, I decided to forego steak and went with the Prime Rib French Dip. I always find this to be a great alternative at steak spots when I don’t want a full on steak because they still use the delicious cuts of beef to put it together. Unfortunately, this was not such a dip. The slices of beef were overcooked to the point where it almost tasted like I was eating a cheesesteak instead of a French Dip. Of course, I love me some cheesesteaks, but I also prefer them at cheesesteak prices and this was certainly not.

So perhaps The Arrogant Butcher is simply a place to get a steak, but if that’s the case isn’t it a bit arrogant to offer other inferior options?

Steaks aren’t cheap. At least, that’s the tale we’ve all been told. But what if I told you that the beautiful ribeye steak to the left there was only $18? Well, it’s the truth. Because Tuesdays in Scottsdale are apparently not the most popular nights to go out, so Hand Cut Burgers Burgers and Chophouse offers its steaks for half off. Thus, on a night that I had been intending to order a burger, I found myself ordering that ribeye instead.

It wasn’t bone-in, but I wasn’t going to complain. It was cooked to a perfect medium rare and served with garlic butter and a sprig of something unimportant. The beef was nicely marbled and it was perfectly seasoned with next to nothing aside from the garlic butter. Admittedly, neither the flavor nor the juiciness were quite what they could have been if it had been bone-in. It’s probably not fair to pick a bone with an $18 ribeye, but if it had been full price, it may have been something more worthy of consideration.

Tuesdays are definitely the right day to be at Hand Cut. It’s probably still great on the other nights of the week, but once you have tasted the forbidden fruit, it’s hard to go back to reality.

There was a weird time in history when revolving restaurants became popular. Only one of these, at least as far as I understand, also was a Playboy Club back in the day, and that was the Compass Arizona Grill on top of the Hyatt in Downtown Phoenix. Today, it serves as kind of a throwback steakhouse, there to remind you how cool rotating restaurants once were, while trying to adapt to the modern palette.

Thus, we began with a couple of appetizers – the calamari and the meat and cheese board. One turned out well and the other left a little to desire. Surprisingly, I have to give kudos to the calamari. It was lightly fried and tasted fresh. I probably could have done without the accompanying veggies, but this was exactly the kind of calamari you want at a more upscale place. As for the meat and cheese board, both the meat and cheese were delicious, as you might expect. The trouble was that there was only one type of each. Variety is key for a charcuterie like this and this rotating restaurant didn’t provide it.

As for my main course, I ordered the Bone-In Niman Ranch Ribeye in honor of Hef, because I assume that is what he would have ordered. It came with a black garlic demi-glace, which is not something I would have expected at such a place and was eager to try out. After watching the sun set in the full 360 degreees, the steak arrived a surprisingly perfect medium-rare, and I set to work on spreading the black garlic evenly over the meat. The meat wasn’t quite as marbled as I would have liked, with sort of uneven bursts of fat and meatiness, but that’s really the only complaint I had. I thought the black garlic was a nice modern touch to bring out some extra umami that pretty much every meal could use.

I should also mention that the steak came with a choice of a side and I went for the bacon-brie mac and cheese. My only wish from this was that there could have been more of it, because it was perfect in every way.

Considering the gimmicky nature of the revolving restaurant and it being in a hotel, my expectations were pretty low for my meal. Lucky for Compass Arizona Grill, those expectations were exceeded. It may not be the best steak in the Phoenix area (I’m still partial to Mastro’s and waiting to be convinced that a better steak exists), but it did a good job. Like its Playboy roots, you may come for the views, but you’ll stick around for the articles.

Two parts of LA’s beautiful food scene are its hidden gems and its seemingly effortless connection to its past. Taylor’s Steak House is both of these. Nestled in the heart of Koreatown, Taylor’s opened up in 1953, long before most Los Angelenos had ever heard the word “kimchi.” Yet, through the last 60 years, Taylor’s has endured and maintained an old-timey Hollywood charm.

Somehow our supper group managed to be seated in a side room that we completely had to ourselves. While the menu has certainly changed and the prices have unquestionably increased since 1953, it seemed that Taylor’s was one of the most reasonably-priced steakhouses in LA. Of course, this was assuming that their food tasted any good.

We started with a couple of baskets of onion rings for the table, which ended up being perfectly crunchy and surprisingly devoid of any sort of dipping sauce. I wasn’t sure whether this was how Taylor’s did onion rings or if something had gone amiss. I definitely can’t complain about the taste of the rings or their ability to mostly mask the onion-ness inside them, but a little lubrication from some dip would have been an improvement.

For my steak, I went with the Bone-In Ribeye, my go-to because a) bone is better and b) I find it usually has the best marbling. Plus, if you’re going to compare steakhouses, you have to keep it consistent. When it arrived, it looked like quite the beauty. The char marks from the grill formed perfect squares and when I cut in I found it to be a perfect medium-rare. From there, it was mostly a delicious, meaty blur. The seasoning was simple, but enough to add flavor and not distract from the main attraction.

Yet, compared to some big-time steakhouses, this ribeye was a little on the dry side and I couldn’t blame the cut of the meat or even the grilling style. Instead, I had a strong feeling that other steakhouses load up their steaks with pads of butter. Granted, butter is delicious, but there was something both primeval and elegant about this ribeye. And as you can see from the picture, it came with some tasty mashed potatoes, thus completing an old-school upscale meat and potatoes meal.

For the price, experience and taste, Taylor’s did not let me down. It is a remnant of different age, but as long as it sticks to its ways, I expect it to last at least another 60 years.

My first time up in Big Bear Lake happened to be for my bachelor party. Since I knew little to nothing about what sort of food existed up there, my best man arranged a night out beginning at Captain’s Anchorage, an old-school steakhouse. Steak is unquestionably a man-food, and I was damn happy with the choice of restaurants. Since this was the low season, the clientele was mostly geriatrics and local middle-aged couples, but our group of men was welcomed into the fray.

As expected, the menu was dominated by steaks, with the prime rib being touted as one of the specials. I wasn’t feeling the Prime Rib, though, and ordered the 10 oz. top sirloin instead. This came with the salad bar and choice of sides, which I chose as a baked potato. Like any good unvegan who had been gorging on junk food all weekend, I had no need for salad, but was happy with steak and potatoes. I ordered it medium-rare and waited for my beautiful meat.

The steak that graced my plate certainly looked beautiful. Its grill marks formed perfectly charred diamonds and only a piece of lettuce garnish got in the way of an otherwise perfectly unvegan plate. The steak ended up being pretty good, with the char adding nice flavor to the flavor of the beef itself. The only problem was that it wasn’t as juicy as I had hoped it would be. I had to add a little steak sauce to moisturize my meat, but not so much that the dryness was overwhelming.

And while the steak wasn’t quite perfect,the company sure was. From what I remember, the night was awesome and Captain’s Anchorage played a major role in kicking things off.

EDIT: This location is gone, but you can find the same over-peppered steak at The Capital Grille elsewhere.

Found in or around malls all around the country, The Capital Grille is a reliable, upscale steakhouse and I’ve never met anyone who isn’t a fan. So the combination of the girlfriend’s parents visiting and an awesome coupon led us to grab some dinner at the aforementioned grille. Despite having a reservation, we still ended up waiting a good 15 minutes for our table, then finally took our seats.

From the get-go, it was apparent that the place was understaffed. Our waiter was running around non-stop, but it was obvious that all his running wasn’t helping to get us served very fast. This gave us a good amount of time to check out the menu. I had a tough time deciding until our waiter came back and told us his favorite steaks. It just so happened that I already had my eye on one of these, called Dry Aged Steak Au Poivre with a Courvoisier Cream Sauce. He described the steak as having peppercorns rubbed into it and the cream sauce made with cognac sounded like it would be great. We also ordered a side of the Lobster Mac ‘N’ Cheese for the table, which sounded incredible. It was made with Mascarpone, Havarti, Grana Padano and white cheddar cheese. Then on top of that were panko crumbs, which I thought sounded like a nice twist on bread crumbs.

When the steak came out, I was surprised to find the entire top and bottom covered in peppercorns. Shit this was a lot of peppercorns and not what I expected. Nonetheless, I assumed they knew what they were doing and dug in. What I found was a whole lot of peppercorn flavor and not much of anything else. The steak was juicy, tender and cooked to the perfect medium that I know and love, but I could hardly taste it. After a few peppercorned flavors, I finally took a stand and started scraping them off. This was a great decision and improved my meal dramatically. I have no problem with using peppercorns to enhance flavor, but it shouldn’t be the only flavor in my steak. After the scraping, the steak still had peppercorn flavor, but at least it now had it’s own flavor, which rhymes with relicious.

As for the mac, this was some pretty incredible stuff. As expected, the panko crumbs were an awesome addition to the mac and gave it a delicious crunch. I found the lobster to be full of flavor and there was no fishiness about it. This was a huge deal because fishy lobster would have completely ruined every bit of mac and cheese that it touched.

If it weren’t for a whole boatload of peppercorns, this would have been one of the best steak dinners I’ve ever had. Even with the peppercorns, it was still a great steak dinner. If and when I do go back, I will just be sure to stick with a simpler steak that is sure not to be over-peppered.

In Vegas for CES, I was lucky enough to be invited out for a little lunch at Benihana at the Hilton of Las Vegas. I had never heard of anyone going to Benihana for lunch (outside of The Office), but I wasn’t about to turn it down. If you don’t know Benihana, you’ve probably been living under a rock, but as a Japanese steakhouse, they cook in the teppanyaki style, which involves cooking on a huge griddle that also happens to be part of the table. For lunch they were cooking up steak, chicken, shrimp, mushrooms, onions and peppers, plus a salad for a set price of $24.99. This was actually a really good price for both Benihana and Vegas in general, so after ordering a Sapporo, I was ready to eat.

The chef came out and started working his magic. The chicken came first because that was going to take the longest to cook, but soon enough came the shrimp and the veggies. I was a little disappointed to find out midway through that our chef wasn’t going to do any fun cooking tricks with the shrimp or onions. Usually there’s a shrimp flip into the hat or an onion plume, but we were treated to none of that. Apparently they don’t do that for lunch. I was a little disappointed, but if I wanted a show in Vegas, Benihana wasn’t exactly going to give me the best anyway.

The chef dished out the shrimp and then the veggies, which I politely declined. Finally, the best part of the meal came out: the steak. It looked delicious and well-marbled. There was actually a full steak for each person at the table and he cooked them to order. During its short cooking time, I downed my shrimp by dipping it in the couple sauces we had been given. One seemed to be a sesame kind of sauce and the other was a salty ginger sauce. Both added a different touch to the shrimp and tasted pretty good. When I was done, both the chicken and steak were ready for eating.

And both were damn good. The chicken was nice and juicy, and although it didn’t have a ton of its own flavor, it tasted really good in the sesame sauce. The steak, though, was definitely the highlight of the meal. It was juicy and tender and had been cooked just the right amount. It even tasted great in the ginger sauce. On its own, the steak probably would have made the meal worthwhile, but coupled with the chicken and shrimp, this meal was definitely a great deal.

I’d definitely head back to Benihana for a meal like this at a price like that. I was a little disappointed that the chef didn’t have any fun with the food, but the food made up for it.

While down in San Diego for a weekend, a friend recommended a restaurant/bar called Turf Supper Club. By the name of it, it sounds like an expensive and pretentious restaurant, but he assured me it wasn’t. What makes the place special, unpretentious and surprisingly cheap is the fact that you cook your own food. But these aren’t some thinly sliced Asian meat and veggies, these are full steaks, burgers, kebabs and fish. Cooking food yourself doesn’t necessarily appeal to all people, but at Turf Supper Club it is more of an event than work, you get so exited that once you are done you leave wanting to take a cooking class from Bep Truong.

For starters, the place presumably looks no different than it did in the ’50s. It has an old-school charm and an old-school mentality that was affirmed when my girlfriend attempted to order a skinny margarita and was shot down (politely) for lack of ingredients. And on top of that, there’s a big old grill in the middle of the place, with a hood dangling overhead to prevent the restaurant from filling with smoke. On the menu, the most expensive thing is the filet mignon, coming in at $15.75, a pretty amazing price even with the whole cook-it-yourself catch.

Although a lot of their food looked good, I was most intrigued by their special, a 10 oz flank steak that had been marinating overnight. Marinating in what? I don’t know, but I couldn’t imagine anything bad coming from this place. Plus, at 10 bucks, it was also a great deal. Shortly after ordering, our raw food came out on plates covered in tinfoil. Each dish also came with a piece of garlic bread that was also for cooking on the grill. The waitress gave us some cooking suggestions and told me the steak would be pretty quick since it was thin, so I headed off to the grill for some cooking. It wasn’t too hard to find a spot for my steak and I tossed it on. I then noticed that the steak wasn’t exactly even in thickness, but gave it a few minutes on each side and brought it back to the table.

The sauce it had been marinating (and then cooked) in was of a yellowish brownish color that you might expect in a beef stroganoff, but the flavor was nothing like that. Instead, the flavor was sort of tangy, yet savory and a bit creamy. It added some good flavor to the steak without overpowering it and I was glad I ordered it rather than the regular steaks. There were plenty of sauces to cook the steak with near the grill, but this one was pretty special. As for the steak itself, I had to give my compliments to the cook (ie. myself). I started slicing away at the thin end and was met with delicious and juicy beef. It had the perfect pink in the middle and I was a happy man.

But then I reached the thick end of the steak and realized the cook wasn’t as good as he seemed. The center was near-raw and required a couple more trips up to the grill to get it right. When I finally got it right, I was able to finish my meal as a happy man. I also cooked some pretty awesome garlic bread and gave it some beautiful grill marks. At the end I vacuum sealed the meals with my new foodsaver sealer that I got from http://vacuumsealerresearch.com/

If you’re into something unique and some old-school charm, then Turf Supper Club is a great place to check out in San Diego. The meat is hardly more expensive than you can get at a grocery store, plus you get a fun atmosphere to cook and eat it in. It’s definitely a place worth visiting again.

Since there appears to be no Outback Steakhouse in LA (seriously LA?!), the last time I was in Palm Desert I managed to convince my grandparents to take me to Outback. Of course, I have had Outback in the past, but not since I’ve been writing my glorious meat blog. I’ve never had a bad experience at Outback and I hoped this one would be no different.

The place was set up just like any other Outback and although there was a short wait, we were seated soon and ready to order some beef. Of the delicious-sounding steaks, the Outback Special looked especially tasty. This special cut of steak, that I think is a sirloin, comes in 7 or 9 ounce cuts. It also comes with a choice of two sides. I went with the larger of the cuts and then decided to load up on carbs for my sides. I chose both the garlic mashed potatoes and the dressed baked potato. I’m sure this meal was an accurate reflection of the typical Australian diet.

Soon enough, my food was ready. Although the mashed potatoes were absent at first, the waitress soon brought them out to join the rest of my meat and potatoes. The steak looked just as delicious as I remembered and I salivated as I cut it open. It was cooked to a perfect medium and was longing to be in my mouth. When I ate, it was just as I remembered. This cut isn’t nearly as tender as a filet, but sometimes it’s nice when a steak needs a couple bites before swallowing. I’m not saying it was chewy, but it was just as I wanted it to be. The seasoning on the steak was nice, but could’ve used a bit less salt. Nonetheless, this steak definitely hit the spot. lovehub.ch

The sides were a pretty good complement to the steak although the skin of the baked potato added to the excessive sodium intake. I avoided the skin and tore apart the potato from the inside. The mashed potatoes were just as good as the baked potato, but without the need to deal with extra salt on the skin.

Although not a fancy place, Outback Steakhouse delivers a very reliable and modestly priced steak. The fancy steakhouses can be nice every once in a while, but places like Outback that stick to the meat-and-potatoes roots are always welcome for my meals.