Cook your own steak at an expensive restaurant?? Mercy.

Tallbald · Mar 31, 2016

Friend of mine recently got sent to a big northern city for work reasons. He and co-worker, on the companies nickel, went to some expensive restaurant where they bring you a very very hot rock on which you....cook your own steak at the table. Like $30 per meal. What the heck?? I asked him if he had to wash his own dishes after the meal. I was only half kidding him.
If I go out to eat (rarely) I'll be danged if I'm paying to cook my own meal. Sheesh. What is the world coming to? Am I really so out of touch? I need to be transported back to 1950 to live, but I'd be dead from medical issues I bet. Don.

opos · Mar 31, 2016

Back many years ago there were several places in the L.A. Area that were "cook your own" places...there was one in Playa Del Rey near the beach that was a great spot and had a great big fire pit area at the rear with grates and all the set up for grilling...you'd come in, have a drink or two...pick your steak from some on display..order your sides and grill your steak...I'd not do it today but back then it was a real kick and nobody ever sent their steak back for being too rare or well done...

gtxmonte · Mar 31, 2016

I've eaten in those restaurants before...........it was actually very good.

A GOOD steak, you are paying for the piece of meat anyway, not them cooking it. So a $30 full steak dinner is relatively inexpensive anyway. Unless you consider $12 meals at Logans or similar a real steak. That's closer to grilled shoe leather than steak though

gtxmonte · Mar 31, 2016

If you overcook it..........its your own fault. The only reason to send it back would be if it didn't taste good.

If a "foodie" classifies you as one who likes good food, sign me up to be called one

Tallbald · Apr 1, 2016

I guess Miss Penny and I have low standards, but once a year we may find a local grocery chain has NY strip steaks at $4.29 a pound if you buy the whole thing and let them cut it. Usually, the slab costs about $35 to $45, and yields say 18-26 1/2 inch thick steaks with no bone and only a little layer of fat. To us these are great steaks and the only "fine cuts" of meat that fit our budget. One purchase is made to last maybe 8 months, and it's a special occasion when Penny and I throw them on the grill. A baked potato with all the fixings rounds out the meal and we are tickled with our results. Other than that, we might find cubed (tenderized) steaks sometimes on "manager's special" because they've been in the meat case a little long.
Cooking my own steak at the table? No way no how for either of us. We feel we are paying for a professional to offer us a treat with their skills when we eat out and I'd no sooner do that than assemble my own pizza at a restaurant.I can cook for myself at home. Oh. We only eat out where we have good coupons too. Or at lunch when the economical meals are available. Just differences in lifestyles and I guess incomes. Not better. Just what we do. Don

Dan in MI · Apr 1, 2016

I wouldn't, but I can see the attraction.

On biz trips we get to eat out all too often. I can say without even the slightest reservation out of roughly 50 dinners at a big name chain steakhouse there has only been one or two times that I actually got the steak cooked as ordered. Both were recent. That means this covers abuot 15 years of poor cooks across about 5 restaurants.

nekvermont · Apr 1, 2016

Tallbald said:
I guess Miss Penny and I have low standards, but once a year we may find a local grocery chain has NY strip steaks at $4.29 a pound if you buy the whole thing and let them cut it. Usually, the slab costs about $35 to $45, and yields say 18-26 1/2 inch thick steaks with no bone and only a little layer of fat. To us these are great steaks and the only "fine cuts" of meat that fit our budget. One purchase is made to last maybe 8 months, and it's a special occasion when Penny and I throw them on the grill. A baked potato with all the fixings rounds out the meal and we are tickled with our results. Other than that, we might find cubed (tenderized) steaks sometimes on "manager's special" because they've been in the meat case a little long.
Cooking my own steak at the table? No way no how for either of us. We feel we are paying for a professional to offer us a treat with their skills when we eat out and I'd no sooner do that than assemble my own pizza at a restaurant.I can cook for myself at home. Oh. We only eat out where we have good coupons too. Or at lunch when the economical meals are available. Just differences in lifestyles and I guess incomes. Not better. Just what we do. Don

Don, I don't think you have low standards at all, you're just being responsible by living within your means and being a smart shopper. I bet you don't have much [if any] debt either. Sounds like your doing everything right.

blume357 · Apr 1, 2016

Most of the time when I take my wife out to what we consider a good restaurant my steak is around 35-40 bucks.
I can't cook one as well as most of the chefs at these places....
the meat at these restaurants is better than just about anything you can get at any regular grocery store.

then again it seems I'm a little different... I think the best way to tell if a steak is a good cut of meat is to try some of it before it's cooked... I've been eating raw beef for over 40 years... the only time I didn't was the 7 years I was a vegetarian... no joke.

Jimbo357mag · Apr 1, 2016

We do the same as you. If we want a steak dinner, we fix it at home and pocket the savings.

gtxmonte · Apr 1, 2016

Well then, I definitely am NOT a "foodie", because food is not a hobby, I just like it good and don't mind to pay for it. I eat out frequently, basically because I don't like to cook, nor care to clean up the mess. Plus I am single, it's hard to cook for one and I don't care for most leftovers. When it comes to steak, I like GOOD steak, so generally when my fiancé and I go out for steak, it's at least a hundred dollar bill for the meal. Connors, Ruth's Chris, Flemmings, or somewhere similar. We don't do that often, maybe once a month or two.

As for the "cook your own" places.......it's a novelty. Something you do out of town or on a business trip. At least that has been my own experiences in those type places. Same with a place like Texas De Brazil and their unique approach. We have one locally, but might eat in it once a year and that's usually because I take a client there who has never tried one.

AJGUNNER · Apr 1, 2016

Last time we were on a real true vacation (3 years ago), the flights were free/on credit card miles, the hotel was free/on hotel points, the car was free/on rental car points, so the only expense we really had was food. Great free breakfast at the hotel. The hotel also had a free happy hour with mai tais and other tropical drinks, snacks and live music from 5 to 7pm. So after happy hour free drinks, when dinner time rolled around we didn't hold back much. For a real tourist trap sort of place, this turned out to actually be our best meal of the week http://shorebirdwaikiki.com/ Yes we cooked our own steak, but then we sat at a table with our feet in the sand (ocean 50 yards or less away) and watched the sunset as we ate. I would recommend this place for a great meal at a "medium priced" steak place, with a view and atmosphere that is really tough to beat.

Bear Paw Jack · Apr 1, 2016

There was a place on the way to Fairbanks called Skinny Dicks Half Way Inn, where you cooked your own steak. They used good meat though and it was cheaper.

bogus bill · Apr 1, 2016

It`s all a sales gimmick. If you like your steak next to raw I have been to many places that say they cant cook it that raw. Think health board laws etc. Been to steak houses where you were suppose to wear a tie in and it was customary to have the foxy waitress cut it off and hang it on the wall etc. I don't need all those gimmicks but most younger people need to try that stuff a few times.

mohavesam · Apr 1, 2016

My one rule for a decent restaurant is Henny Youngman's request: "I'd like a table near a waiter..."

Irks me when a waiter/waitress says:"Hi, my name is blah blah. I'll be taking care of you tonight". Wife#1 still gets upset when I retort with: "I doubt you'll be able to".
- Of course, she is one to walk in through the out door, straight into the kitchen, when we get only half our meal at a time...

- cooking your own food at a restaurant is not my idea of service. Do they still expect a tip? Of course it is one way to not have to smell the food server's cheap cologne on your plate...

AJGUNNER · Apr 1, 2016

bogus bill said:
It`s all a sales gimmick. If you like your steak next to raw I have been to many places that say they cant cook it that raw. Think health board laws etc. Been to steak houses where you were suppose to wear a tie in and it was customary to have the foxy waitress cut it off and hang it on the wall etc. I don't need all those gimmicks but most younger people need to try that stuff a few times.

Wearing a neck tie into just about anyplace in Montana could result in the tie being cut in half. I learned this 35 years ago. At the time lots of places also had paper cup dispenser near the door. This was intended to keep you from walking out with your drink in their glass or a beer bottle. Take your drink for the road in a paper cup----remember those days??? Lots of places also had 2 prices hand written on the liquor bottles---1 price per shot or the other price for the bottle.

Colonialgirl · Apr 1, 2016

Tallbald said:
I guess Miss Penny and I have low standards, but once a year we may find a local grocery chain has NY strip steaks at $4.29 a pound if you buy the whole thing and let them cut it. Usually, the slab costs about $35 to $45, and yields say 18-26 1/2 inch thick steaks with no bone and only a little layer of fat. To us these are great steaks and the only "fine cuts" of meat that fit our budget. One purchase is made to last maybe 8 months, and it's a special occasion when Penny and I throw them on the grill. A baked potato with all the fixings rounds out the meal and we are tickled with our results. Other than that, we might find cubed (tenderized) steaks sometimes on "manager's special" because they've been in the meat case a little long.
Cooking my own steak at the table? No way no how for either of us. We feel we are paying for a professional to offer us a treat with their skills when we eat out and I'd no sooner do that than assemble my own pizza at a restaurant.I can cook for myself at home. Oh. We only eat out where we have good coupons too. Or at lunch when the economical meals are available. Just differences in lifestyles and I guess incomes. Not better. Just what we do. Don

Yeah, When I go shopping, I look for the steaks and other meats that are near their pull date and have been marked WAY WAY DOWN (Got frozen Iceland Cod Filets for $7.00/lb at Wynn Dixie); Although I don't care for Walmart meats, the other day they had some of their Ultra Lean Ground Beef (4% fat) marked down to $3.46/LB due to the pull date (bought 3 Lbs--all my budget would allow). Yeah,it ALL goes into the Freezer on the refrig as soon as I get home.
I TOO prefer THE Restaurant to cook the meat to MY specifications when I go out, I'm paying for the service and if it isn't what I ordered, BACK it goes.

bogus bill · Apr 1, 2016

When I was a kid I went west for the first time and ordered pizza. Never had it before. I asked the waitress for a bottle of ketchup and she wouldn't give it to me. Said, your not going to ruin our pizza!
I still might add ketchup to my pizza if I can pull it off.

Rook · Apr 1, 2016

Tallbald said:
...went to some expensive restaurant where they bring you a very very hot rock on which you....cook your own steak at the table. Like $30 per meal. What the heck??

Expensive... :mrgreen:

toysoldier · Apr 1, 2016

Bear Paw Jack said:
There was a place on the way to Fairbanks called Skinny Dicks Half Way Inn, where you cooked your own steak. They used good meat though and it was cheaper.

As far as I know, there's still a place on Lake of the Ozarks called Big Dick's Halfway Inn (halfway up the lake). Their specialty is minnow shots.

As for steaks, I've found that ordering a ground sirloin steak always gets me a tasty meal that I don't have to cut up with my pocket knife. Sure, I like a good steak, but they're getting rare (pun intended).

RolandDeschain · Apr 1, 2016

Oh man this topic brings back some memories...

There used to be a restaurant where you cooked your own steak in Evansville Indiana called Elliot's Steak House. It was a lot of fun. They had a big stone grill in the middle of the floor and everyone stood around grilling, laughing, talking, and drinking beer. I was on the Miss Evansville flatboat team back in the early 90s and remember all of us going there one night to tackle their 32 ounce steak challenge. If you could eat the whole thing you got a T shirt and your name on their Wall of Fame. I can still remember it like yesterday - had no problem finishing off the 2lb steak, plus a large baked potato, several beers, AND had a slice of key lime pie to finish it off. Kept the shirt for years, might even still be around here somewhere.

Although we eat out several times I week I rarely get steak though. I'm like others here on that on that one - not only better quality but too much fun to pick one out myself and grill it home.

Cook your own steak at an expensive restaurant?? Mercy.

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