RandyRandy

My take on it is this: the steak that you get at the very top steakhouses cannot be had anywhere else. Why? Let me use Peter Luger's in Brooklyn as an example (I consider their porterhouse the best steak I've ever eaten).

1. There is only so much prime beef available - even to the top steakhouses (forget about seeing the same meat you get at a top steakhouse in your local supermarket - or even a specialty butcher.)

This excerpted article from USA Today explains it best:

"First pick of the best beef

But Luger does have a Midwest pedigree. The beef bought by the women who run it today ? Marilyn Spiera, 74; sister Amy Rubenstein, 73; and Spiera's daughter Jody Storch, 41 ? usually comes from USDA prime corn-and-grain-fed stock bred in Iowa, Nebraska and other Plains states.

New York City steakhouses "have a long tradition of getting the first crack at prime beef and having the clientele to pay for it," panelist Bourdain says.

Luger is known for getting first pick at area meat markets, ever since Spiera's and Rubenstein's late mother, Marsha Forman, strode the aisles of the male-dominated Meatpacking District, shedding her elegant fur coat for a traditional "meat coat" and galoshes.

"As a kid, my grandmother would take me to see the meat," says Storch, a vivacious brunette who does part of the buying now, marking hindquarters she wants with a branding-iron-style stamp that reads "F 4 F" (for "Forman Family")."


2. Once you have that prized beef, you have to dry-age it. It's about a 30 day process where the meat loses about 30% of it's weight and marbles into a masterpiece. This article explains Luger's process: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/ny...ooms.html?_r=0

3. And then there's the cooking process. It's simple, but most people don't have a French top broiler that fires up heat at 1,200F. That's how it gets black on the outside and stays red or pink inside, depending how you like it.

Now, I'll finish of by saying this. The last time I was in Paris, I ate at all 5 Three Star Michelin restaurants located there. Each was an awesome experience. To me THOSE are great restaurants. The whole experience, from setting to service to extraordinary food and wine. At one I had an Armagnac to finish, that was from 1875. And in L'Auberge de l'ill, http://www.auberge-de-l-ill.com/V2/index.html which I consider the best restaurant I've ever eaten at, I once had a 4 hour lunch - by myself, then took a nap in a barn on the restaurant's property, and then had a 5 hour dinner that same day.

But as great as that was - it's not something I crave. Like I sometimes crave a porterhouse from Peter Luger's. And that is why some people equate a great steakhouse with a great restaurant.