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Washington, DC's Steakhouse Reputation: Fact, Fiction, or Thing Of The Past?


DaveO

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There's still an old-school steakhouse culture in this town, but it's a hell of a lot smaller than most "big city" chefs seem to think. 

I'm not sure what the above means.

A reference in the Coastal Flats thread here provided a link to a list of 100 largest independent restaurants by volume  (estimated but also updated and published annually).

Go through that list.  Many steakhouses and other expensive restaurants, and also many of them in tourist destinations (Las Vegas had 19 of them).

A significant element to steakhouse dining are corporate expense accounts and travelers.  InsideDC's city limits over many years the number of steakhouses has increased significantly over time.  Many more have opened than closed.

Sort of revealing in the corporate connection was the expose from recent campaigns wherein ex Congressman Cantor's campaign revealed they spent $168,000 over time on two steakhouses in DC.  That isn't meant to be political.   You'll just never get to read how much a corporation or major law firm spends on meals (or steak houses).  Its simply demonstrative of the corporate expense account context.

I leased the first Ruth's Chris in town in the early '80's on upper Connecticut.  Its sort of an out the way location.  Main attraction to them was being so near to the huge Washington Hilton.

Currently though the downtown 9th street Ruth's Chris's is located more main stream, more accessible to daily business and does significantly more volume on an aggregate and per square foot basis (from what I've been told)

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There's still an old-school steakhouse culture in this town, but it's a hell of a lot smaller than most "big city" chefs seem to think. 

I understand what you mean (it's ironic, or I suppose a catalyst, that we both went to steakhouses last night). Anytime I happen across an article entitled, "DC - It's Not Just Steakhouses Anymore!", I immediately leave the page.

What I do find interesting is the onset of "ethnic steakhouses" that started within the past ten years.

 

I'm not sure what the above means.

A reference in the Coastal Flats thread here provided a link to a list of 100 largest independent restaurants by volume  (estimated but also updated and published annually).

Go through that list.  Many steakhouses and other expensive restaurants, and also many of them in tourist destinations (Las Vegas had 19 of them).

 
I don't understand what you don't understand :), but of the 9 "100 Largest Independent Restaurants By Volume" in the area, 4 (3 in DC, 1 in MD) are owned by Clyde's Restaurant Group, 4 (all in VA) are owned by Great American Restaurant Group, and 1 (in DC) is owned by Ark Restaurants, and none is what I would consider to be a steakhouse - the region has become too ethnically diverse to support mega-steakhouses. It was the public perception of politicians having three-martini lunches at steakhouses (while taking bribes from lobbyists) that created the stereotype - .001% of the population was responsible for 100% of the reputation. In terms of actual restaurants (not just reputation), it took decades of ethnic influx to get people to step out of their comfort zone of risk-free dining, and the majority of people still haven't (witness this list, which is the culinary equivalent of 100 Walmarts (when did Wal-Mart take the hyphen out of their name?) - incidentally, I find it utterly fascinating that Walmart has an intentionally cheap-looking website: I guess people want to "feel" like they're in a discount store so they'll spend with confidence - that is ingeniously manipulative to the point of being creepy).
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To answer your question, Don:  I don't understand a definition of "old school steakhouse" mentality  as opposed to current mentality about steakhouses.

There are a lot of them in DC:  2 ruth's chris, 2 mortons, the prime rib, the palm, 2 Bobby Vans, McCormick and Schmicks, Charlie Palmer, Bourbon Steak, Charlie Palmer, District ChopHouse,  Smith & Willensky, Capital Grille, plus others plus some with a different twist.  Then there are the plethora in Tysons, they've expanded over time in Bethesda....and then add Ray's and its group which beat prices on the others.

Its a lot.  Its also probable that the reason DC steakhouses are not on that list of biggest revenue restaurants is simply because they are not enormous in size.  Entire size has a lot to do with that list  (and of course filling the seats.)  You can't serve 500 diners/night if you only have 100 seats.

I don't understand Rich's definition.  "what is an old school steakhouse culture"?   and I'm curious how he came up with the "its smaller than big city chefs seem to think" phrase.  I'm not sure what he means by that either.

For a large part of 2 decades I happened to eat at a good variety and had many steakhouse meals.  The vast majority were expense acct meals, invariably with corporate clients, often with out of town corporate clients.  It was somewhat de rigueur.

...and with that...I'd like to hear some further definition from RWBoone, Jr.  ;)

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