Where Do I Start?

 

I've compiled the below statistics from the internet as of October 31st, 2013 which I felt would be helpful for both myself and my reader/readers in their mission to find the steakhouse that suits them best. 

Chicago isn't short on steakhouses. This makes choosing where to start difficult. In the past I've had consistently great experiences at Mastro's. Joe's Stone Crab and Capital Grille have delivered mostly great but some poor experiences for me. I've had multiple sub-par experiences at Smith & Wollensky.

The intent of this blog is to find the best steakhouse in Chicago but I believe it's important going forward to grade each steak on a steak-by-steak basis. Unlike the referees at last night's Miami Heat vs. Chicago Bulls season opener, I will try my best to set my biases aside.

I will evaluate each steak on a four-star scale as follows:

4 STARS - Perfection, the kind of steak you want to order for dinner and then consider ordering again for dessert. The kind of steak that you can't stop eating yet each bite you get a little more sad knowing that it, like everything else in life, won't last forever. The Derrick Rose of steaks.

3 STARS - You spend the rest of the night thinking about how good it was. Cooked to perfection and bursting with flavor. A step below the best you've had but still leaves you wishing you had an infinity stomach with which you could forever dispense steak into.

2 STARS - Your average steakhouse steak with some strong points and some room for improvement. I don't leave the steakhouse thinking I couldn't have done it better myself but I do leave feeling happy and fulfilled. Maybe it was good but wasn't worth the price. The Carlos Boozer of steaks.

1 STAR - I don't need A-1 Sauce but I thought about it. It was good, I liked it (mostly because it was steak), but it wasn't worth the price. The kind of steak that is only marginally better than the steaks I ate as a kid at the truck-stop in the Middle of Nowhere, Wisconsin served by pregnant teenagers with missing teeth on the way to visiting my grandpa. I certainly enjoyed those steaks but I wasn't paying $40 for them either.

0 STARS - Not only would I rather to go to Steak and Shake, I would consider eating a vegetable instead. The Dalibor Bagaric of steaks.

I will also comment on each steak's size/thickness vs. advertised weight, beefyness, preparedness, juiciness, and seasoning. While it's difficult to compare different cuts, different methods of aging, and different styles of preparing, I will do my best to explain why I like and dislike each steak so my reader/readers can form their own opinion. For the record, I like a very thick cut medium-rare (occasionally Rare Plus) Strip but realize each steakhouse will have their own specialties.