When do you recall loving steak for the first time? Were you eating medium well meat wondering where the taste was, then had medium for the first time and was like ok somethings here before finally growing up and realizing medium rare is the only option? I followed that route because I was deathly scared of blubber as a child (my word for fat). But my first memory of loving a steak was gnawing the bone of a Stew Leonard’s ribeye my uncle cooked and I finally got mans obsession with meat.
Steak soon became a thing where any time I saw it on a menu out with my parents, the words "Filet Mignon” couldn’t come out any quicker. I ate hot pockets and calzones in college, just waiting for my parents to visit or to come home for break and hit my meat quota. So if you told me then I would one day graduate college and be subjected to weekly steak dinners in New York City, I would have kissed you (maybe).
So yup I ended up selling my soul to work in finance and really really unfortunately “have” to eat at New York steakhouses multiple times a month. And all jokes aside let me tell you, the seemingly endless supply has sort of ruined the allure of steak for me.
Turning your attention towards the graph- the green circle is the perfect place to be. Enjoying seafood options and not committing gluttony. Think it’s pretty obvious to stay out of Soyboy or Liver King zone. Aliens man is questionable and Yes Chad is on the right path. But the danger zone… that’s the place that almost ruined steaks for me.
Maybe it’s that I’ve eaten at the Capital Grille on Wall Street hundreds of times (I wish I was joking). Maybe my taste buds have just changed and I drifted towards an eclectic Mediterranean diet. But I think my biggest issue that turned the tide for me is overindulgence a.k.a Meat Sweats.
There is sooo much salt in food nowadays, it makes me think I should be going to a cardiologist. I get the reasoning is to bring out the moisture in the meat so it doesn’t potentially become a hockey puck. But there has to be another way to season no ?
The other issue is corporate over ordering. It’s one thing to take home a pasta dish, but you don’t really want to take home a steak. Let’s be honest- it tastes sort of bad the next day? And in the moment you don’t want to waste it either so you suck it up and power through even when you feel the meat flowing through your arteries.
This formula creates the Meat Sweat phenomenon that makes me question my life at 3AM the morning after and knock over a cup of water onto my electronics as I’m trying to quench my thirst.
So where do we go from here, what to do we do? The answer is … nothing. These things happen and I won’t not order steak out of fear. But, I believe it’s best to be selective when it comes to steak. So here’s some of my favorite steak dishes that over powers any questions or possible regrets in my head.
Carne Mare - Gorgonzola cured Wagyu Strip Loin

Minetta Tavern- Dry-Aged Côte de Boeuf
BeefBar- Wagyu Porterhouse/Ribeye
Le Relais de Venise L’Entrecote - Steak Frites
Peter Lugers- Poterhouse
Bobby Van's - Filet on Toast w/ Gorgonzola Spread
Hawksmoor - Chateaubriand
St. Anselm - Hangar Steak
Le Rock- Bison Au Poivre