A huge hat tip to the Scoreboard Gourmet for tipping me off to this:
I guess I knew Ryan had a ranch, but I never stopped to think his beef might be available to me.
It is, and he guarantees it’s good:
After years of trying to find a consistent, high quality steak, I finally decided that the only way I could guarantee beef that was tender and good every time was to start my own brand. I gathered up several of my ranching friends and enlisted some of the top meat scientists and beef marketing people in the world. Together, we developed a program to provide you with guaranteed tender, all natural beef that would always be tender and tasty and a great value for families.
Meat science!
Nolan Ryan also has a blog through the site. It is not frequently updated, but it is incredibly well copy-edited, so that’s a plus. Also, almost all Ryan’s entries are about steak.
You might say, “oh, well that’s because it’s a blog on his beef company’s website trying to sell more steak, and he’s probably not writing these blog entries,” but I’m holding out hope that Nolan Ryan is a very careful typist who really likes talking about steak.
Tedquarters 
That said, since food is always a hot tedquarters topic, what the best steak everyone has ever had in NYC? Or anywhere?
I don’t go out for steak that often — I never even made it to Peter Luger’s despite all the time I spent in Brooklyn — but I’ve had good experiences at Wolfgang’s, which is about as straightforward a steakhouse as you’re going to find.
The lady and I never end up at steakhouses if we’re going out to reasonably nice dinners, so the only time I find myself in steakhouses is at brodeo-style birthday celebrations and the like. Which are fine, mind you, because hey, delicious meat. But I guess part of the thing, to me, is that steak is so easy to prepare at home that it’s tough to justify the price, even if you’re really paying for the awesome cut of meat and the excellent service more than anything else.
Plus my wife and I spend a lot of our nights out in pursuit of good burgers, so that cuts into the amount of my time I have allotted for eating red meat, which is already most of it.
I agree with all that Ted. I don’t often go out for big expensive steak diners to often, unless its an occasion, or I’m on vacation or something.
Most of my high end steak exploits have come on the company dime, while traveling on business.
You’re absolutely right, Ted. My wife and I use to go out for steak all the time, but we now tend to go out for things we can’t make as well at home and thus end up at French and Indian restaurants more often than not.
If you know how to work a grill (every man thinks he does, but not every man can), and you’re willing to drop some coin getting aged steaks from a good quality butcher, you can make Luger quality steaks at home. And its not that hard to replicate fries, creamed spinich and fried onions to go with it.
I’m highly partial to Ruth’s Chris.
Gotta go with Peter Luger’s, although I have grown to dislike the place due to the arrogance and overall rudeness of the 80 year-old waiters.
The Palm is pretty great too. As is Bryant & Cooper in Roslyn, which has even better seafood than steak.
Lugers is very good, I’ve been once, but it didnt live up to the hype to me. That is probably though because there is so much hype, that no place could live up to it, but it was def one of the best I’ve had in NY, along with Del Friscos.
I’ve had to many good ones to pick a best but some of my favorites are Bones Steakhouse in Atlanta, very old boys club, traditional steakhouse feel. A place called Salt Rock Grill in clearwater FL (I think Mike Alstott is part owner). Great steak, the seasoning and the wood griling just had some of the best flavor I’ve ever had in a steak. And one other great steak place was the Yachtsman Steakhouse at Disney world. Food was awsoem there.
Disney World? For real? The only good meals I have had there (been twice) were at the french restaurant in Epcot, which is my favorite place at Disney. I liked starting with a “yard” at the English Pub and then drinking my way around the world.
Where’s the Yachtsman Steakhouse located within Disney so I know where to stay when its time to take my 2 year old there?
Yea there really are some excellent restaurants at Disney World if you want to pay for good food. Its very good food but its also priced accordingly, the Yachtsman has higher end steakhouse prices, but its real good.
The Yachtsman is in the Disney Yachtclub Hotel, over near Epcot. As a frequent Disney visitor some of my other favorite places to eat there are Narcossees (mainly seafood) and Citricos (a bit of everything), both in the Grand Floridian Hotel, The California Grill in the Contemporary Hotel, and the Mexican Pavilion in Epcot has a great Restaurant.
Thanks Chris. But I’m annoyed at myself because when I stayed at the Beach Club, I went out for steaks at the Canadian restaurant in Epcot unaware that there was a good steakhouse right next door. Live and learn. I’ll try the Yachtsman next time.
As for Luger’s, I don’t know what you ordered, but the one steak there that can live up to its billing is the porterhouse, i.e., the steak for 2, 3, 4, etc.. If you didn’t get the porterhouse last time, give it a another shot, assuming you don’t mind the brusque service.
Sherm,
I was def not disappointed at all with Lugers, and I would def go back. It was awesome and I’d prob say the best steak I’ve had in NY/NJ. I was just saying that the hype that comes with it is of epic proportions, and that going in you almost expect something that really isnt possible.
wollensky’s or whatever the name is? And I’ll be the first to admit I haven’t eaten at many NYC eateries.
Not sure about NYC, but the best steak I ever ate was at Sir Scott’s Oasis in Manhattan, MT, thanks to a tip from one Mr. Ted Berg. Second best was the filet mignon at Bacchus in Buffalo, NY.
I am so glad you made it there. We were planning on driving at least two hours past Manhattan that night and wound up having to stop about 20 minutes after we got on the road because of the meatstroke. Then the next day we decided that even though we were way behind schedule, it was clearly worth backtracking to Manhattan to go to Sir Scott’s again for lunch. It was.
You mean Smith & Wollensky’s, right? Great place, great service, but Luger’s steaks are better. They screwed up a reservation on me one time (didn’t write it down), so they sat me at the bar area (which is fine), apologized profusely, and gave me a decent bottle of wine on the house, although I could have been B.S.ing them about the reservation as far as they knew.
Dammit, there’s a joke in here about Tom Seaver’s wine but I’m not coming up with it.
But while I’m trying to think of it, it bears pointing out that Keith would be very happy to learn that Nolan Ryan’s beef company sells ribeye steaks:
http://www.nolanryanbeef.com/productList.aspx?c=3
Excellent!!! Damn I’m looking forward to watching some baseball.