71 replies to this topic

[Adrian]

"There's a man who eats here two or three times a day. [When I introduced the line], he was like, 'Oh, wow, I'm going to need to buy [a belt],' " Huling said. "I hope that he liked it, but it was really more that idea that 'It's my responsibility. I eat those animals so much -- I need to participate in this whole cycle.' "

The cow shat as well.

Fertilizer for your rooftop garden!

[Suzanne F]

It's good to know that, if killing an animal is wrong, the offence can be mitigated by making a purse out of its scrotum.

Rub it and it becomes a suitcase.

[Suzanne F]

A persuasive argument against steakhouses by Josh in his Time column, although I think his strictures don't necessarily apply to all the restaurants on the Gayot list he's criticizing.

<snip>

Persuasive to whom? Surely not the crowd a couple of weeks ago at DelFrisco's, that would have made for a wait of an hour or more for me. (So I went to Oceana, where I had a decent, if high-priced, version of surf & turf.)

Josh is making the same mistake as so many other self-proclaimed food authorities (including me:lol:): we think we know what the public should want and should be doing, and feel it is our duty to tell them when they are wrong; we live in a bubble of approved food and think other people should, too. The problem, of course, is that we don't know, not what anybody outside our sphere actually wants, nor what they aspire to, nor what they care about. Notice in the comments on Outback "And yet I keep on going back, always expecting that proper moment when it matches the mouthwatering experience I envision in my head." This is not someone who cares the way Josh does. Or gives a fuck about whether the meat he's eating is Prime, Choice, or Commercial. He cares about price.

[Wilfrid]

To me.

[Orik]

I think the shorthand version of his argument would be that these steakhouses, the vast majority of steakhouses in the US, are really serving McDonald's patties but pretending like they're selling LaFrieda's black label.

From an economic perspective he's really arguing they're not sufficiently expensive to be what they pretend to be, but that they're too expensive for what they are, and they're selling the average joe the illusion that he can still afford high quality cheap beef from the endless grassland that has just been cleared of its former residents.

I agree that's persuasive.

His (or irnscrambable's) next target should be the habit of installing Asian-Americans as sushi chefs in the midwest.

[Daniel]

We don't go to steakhouses.. I actually hate them and feel they are expensive and bad. The last steakhouse I went to prior to Lugers a month ago was Strip House 3 years ago.. That was a ritualistic event where I asked for Miss A's father for permission to marry her.. I felt like it was an occasion to be in a setting.. We did not go for the food. I just don't see anything good about them.But my sentiments on Lugers can be carried over to any steakhouse. Especially since Luger's is considered to be the best of the best.

[Sneakeater]

From an economic perspective he's really arguing they're not sufficiently expensive to be what they pretend to be, but that they're too expensive for what they are, and they're selling the average joe the illusion that he can still afford high quality cheap beef from the endless grassland that has just been cleared of its former residents.

This is a better-stated version of an argument I made. But it was pointed out that Ozersky really doesn't seem to be talking about those kind of steakhouses.

Thinking it over, I think the problem is that he references the Gayot list, but then talks about the kinds of places you're talking about.

[Rich]

BERN'S

[Suzanne F]

BERN'S

As if we didn't notice?

[mitchells]

My take was that for the dollars spent for what you receive you can have a much better meal at a restaurant other than a steakhouse. Go to Le Bernardin and order the beef and get out for what Del Friscos cost. And the beef will probably be better. But people really aren't going to a steakhouse for the food, but like Daniel said, it is more of a ritualistic endeavor (guys night out). Which is why he said it is like going to a strip club. No one really gets what they are paying for but they keep going.

[Wilfrid]

"Strip club" seems pejorative. People like certain ambiences and are willing to pay for them. Sammy's Roumanian springs horribly to mind.

Maybe better analogy, some of the pricy, old-style Italians. Il Mulino.

[Orik]

My take was that for the dollars spent for what you receive you can have a much better meal at a restaurant other than a steakhouse. Go to Le Bernardin and order the beef and get out for what Del Friscos cost. And the beef will probably be better. But people really aren't going to a steakhouse for the food, but like Daniel said, it is more of a ritualistic endeavor (guys night out). Which is why he said it is like going to a strip club. No one really gets what they are paying for but they keep going.

There's another subgenre, btw, a sort of family, common folksy, country themed steakhouse that's generally cheaper but also even worse. The best example I know is this:

http://www.theplaceforsteak.com/

The PRIME in the name isn't USDA, and the butter on the steak is (or was as of a few years ago) Blue Bonnet.

[Lex]

"Strip club" seems pejorative. People like certain ambiences and are willing to pay for them. Sammy's Roumanian springs horribly to mind.

Maybe better analogy, some of the pricy, old-style Italians. Il Mulino.

I've got a better one. Going to a steakhouse is a lot like going to a Bond movie in the 1970s. You didn't go to see fine cinema, great acting, and brilliant writing. You went to see explosions, exotic locations, hot women, great villains, and cool gadgets. And you went to shit blow up. Guys loved those things. Hell, they still do.

Bond movies came out every 2 years or so and that was perfect. You wouldn't want to go to one every month but every once in a while it hits the spot.

[Wilfrid]

Silly me, coming up with restaurant analogies.

[Lex]

Silly me, coming up with restaurant analogies.

Wouldn't it be cool to go to a great Bond movie with a group of guys and then go to a steakhouse?