Steakhouses

[Bart]

Steakhouses.  They are the epitome of expense account restaurants.  When the business is paying who cares about the price.   But consumers do want to visit these places.  No prices.  I find that insulting.  

Ridiculous.  What year is it?!!?  What decade is it??!?!?

[Keithstg]

Steakhouses--> ridiculously expensive and so connected to corporate business they don't even feel the need to post prices.

This is news? In the DC area?

[DonRocks]

15 hours ago, DaveO said:

Anyway its a big "steak city"

DC is not a big steak city; it's a big *chain* steak city. Other than Ray's the Steaks, what do we have? One local steakhouse does not a steak city make. 

Does anyone even remember how *good* Ray's the Steaks was when it had Landrum, Hartzer, and Slipp in one small restaurant? Granted, that was a temporary situation while Michael was prepping to expand, but it still lasted about a year. I may have even raised Ray's the Steaks to Bold for a period of time, because the side orders had gotten so strong; those days are gone, I'm sorry to say.

I was just discussing this with a friend the other day: We trail New York, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas for sure, and maybe some other cities, too - I think it would be a badge of honor to be considered "a steakhouse town" if it was organic product; this overpriced chain stuff is no more impressive than Seasons 52.

[DaveO]

Quote

DC is not a big steak city; it's a big *chain* steak city. Other than Ray's the Steaks, what do we have? One local steakhouse does not a steak city make.

It is a "steak city" in terms of dining and in terms of the types of people that often dine at these restaurants as is any other city.  Much of the customer base is expense account business.  Not all; a very large percentage.  Possibly a larger percentage than most cities;  DC has an enormous visitor population, a significant level of the visitor population is business oriented, it has of course an enormous lobbyist/national issues basis and its percentage of corporate attorneys is significantly higher than most cities, on top of which its convention and meeting business population is far higher than most cities. 

As to the native steak houses versus other cities;  I've never thought about it.  "Back in the day" when Duke's then Mel Krupin's and some other steak restaurants had fame and a significant business the awareness of food was simply far less than today. 

I would suggest the Prime Rib as a very long term local restaurant (even as there is one in DC and one in Baltimore).  The Prime Rib has outlasted the other older steakhouses that were local.

---

Urban Butcher (pras)

[Kibbee Nayee]

On 12/22/2016 at 9:58 AM, DonRocks said:

DC is not a big steak city; it's a big *chain* steak city. Other than Ray's the Steaks, what do we have? One local steakhouse does not a steak city make. 

Monty's Steakhouse in Springfield is in the minor leagues, maybe the upper minor leagues, of independently owned and operated steakhouses, but it's darn good if you're in the area and hankering for a good steak.

We still have Ray's, although not exactly the same as it once was, and as pras notes, there is Urban Butcher in Silver Spring. That brings us to three independent steak houses....any more out there?

[Kev29]

On 12/22/2016 at 3:28 PM, Kibbee Nayee said:

there is Urban Butcher in Silver Spring. That brings us to three independent steak houses....any more out there?

Just down the street from Urban Butcher, in the more traditional steakhouse vein, The Classics. 

[dracisk]

On 12/22/2016 at 3:28 PM, Kibbee Nayee said:

That brings us to three independent steak houses....any more out there?

9 hours ago, Kev29 said:

Just down the street from Urban Butcher, in the more traditional steakhouse vein, The Classics. 

There's also Squire's Rock Creek Chophouse in Wheaton. I believe it's owned by the Limerick Pub people. I only went once and wasn't in the mood for steak so ordered something else.

[Kibbee Nayee]

So, it appears we have a few in Maryland, one in Virginia and none in DC....?

[DaveO]

Speaking of steakhouses, Tommy Jacomo of the Palm announced his retirement.  He opened the DC restaurant in 1972 and has been there ever since.  It was the 2nd version of the Palm.  There was an existing Palm Restaurant in NY and then the DC version.  That is essentially a native restaurant, or as close to native as one can get.  Its always been busy. 

A story about Jacomo from last year in Eater:

As he references a lot of celebrities spent a lot of time there.   Maybe things have changed now with so much competition. 

My little Palm/Celeb story.  At some point in the early 90's I had lunch with a real estate client.  He was the head of a small association.  We were friendly and dined a bit besides the work connection.  Before heading the association he had spent years on the Hill as a senior staffer working on the GOP side and primarily working for one member of Congress.   Tip O'Neil was already  there with a group.  We were in the same row and their group was obviously well through their meal when we arrived.  I told my client that if he walked by our table I'd get him to sit down with us.  Surprised my client because I never spoke about political leanings or connections.

When their group was leaving and passing us I stood up in front of Tip, introduced myself and told him a fast little BS version of an intimate story he would recognize.  He started laughing.  He recognized it as a BS version but knew I knew the person referenced, someone Tip had been close with.   Tip sat with us, and entertained my client

He told my client stories about the member of Congress for whom my client had been a staffer.  He chatted with me about our mutual friend.  He was completely natural, nice, and engaging.  It was tremendous fun.  Both my client and I were thrilled. 

I did happen to see various celebrities at the Palm, politicians and entertainment stars.  At one point it was certainly a neat place to visit.

In any case, the 2nd Palm Restaurant and one that has been here for over 40 years.  I'd consider that native.

[RWBooneJr]

2 hours ago, DaveO said:

In any case, the 2nd Palm Restaurant and one that has been here for over 40 years.  I'd consider that native.

Now that the original is closed, it's also the oldest Palm restaurant.

[Pat]

5 hours ago, Kibbee Nayee said:

So, it appears we have a few in Maryland, one in Virginia and none in DC....?

Does Medium Rare count as a steakhouse?  Of course, there was Ray's at East River, but that didn't last real long.  An impressive effort, though.

[DaveO]

Sam and Harry's, the Caucas Room, and Harry's Tap Room were in total and Sam & Harry's had a long run as native DC steakhouses and steak places.  One partner Michael Sternberg worked at Morton's for years, moved here in the early 80's and opened and operated the first Morton's in DC in Georgetown where he was GM for a number of years before moving on.  (I had to go back to research this, but the Georgetown Morton's was the 2nd Morton's in that "now chain", similar I suppose to the DC Palm restaurant being the 2nd version of a Palm restaurant.)

After long runs the original partners at Sam & Harry's split and moved on..(.I believe amicably)  Sam and Harry's...definitely a good quality/top quality steak with the other top of the line competitors during its run, as I recall.

Definite Steak "guys". 

Its possible and probable that DC is not defined as a top tier original center of unique steakhouses but what it has had for decades is a very significant customer base that includes regulars and folks with good to very good incomes (of which there are many).  It has to be a reason so many other "name" and now "chain" steakhouses and seafood/steakhouses open in this region, initially opened restaurants downtown, secondarily opened restaurants in the Tysons area and then the Reston areas and elsewhere and have opened in Md.  The customer bases are there.

I had a smattering of relationships with some of these restaurants in decades past, and was fairly well aware of the customers.  I would bet those that know the steak world best would rate DC highly if not for originating the finest examples of cuisine than for amts of food consumed at these places.

It well could be that those that have and continue to dine at these establishments are not the same folks that might populate this forum, or might not be interested in every cuisine.  That may be why they don't generate the volumes of comments that other types of restaurants can get here.  That is my guess based on a variety of experiences.

[Kibbee Nayee]

For nostalgia's sake, there is the long-running J.R.'s Stockyards Inn, which was a noted steakhouse of 1980's vintage with its own connection to a stockyards....this was the era of Blackie's, which had an outpost in Springfield, and is now long gone. Sadly, J.R.'s deserves to be long gone.

My running count:

DC -- Medium Rare

VA -- Ray's, Monty's, J.R.'s (and maybe Sam & Harry's at National Airport?)

MD -- Urban Butcher, Squire's Rock Creek, The Classics

Not the most impressive list for a metropolitan area, but the onslaught of high-priced national beef chains is at least a contributing factor.

[Kev29]

34 minutes ago, Kibbee Nayee said:

Not the most impressive list for a metropolitan area

On the flip side, one could be impressed by the fact that many actual Washingtonians don't care much for steakhouses. And are much more interested in Ethiopian, Salvadoran, Peruvian, Indian, Filipino and on and on cuisine. Corporate steakhouses are fine on occasion, particularly for those who swoop in to Federal Washington for business. This ain't Omaha.