Great American Bites worth a splurge
The scene: The holiday season is a time to be festive, celebratory and indulgent — and a time when a lot of people are traveling. In that spirit, this week we revisit the most splurge-worthy restaurants this column has dined in over the past five years. Because our focus is regional eats and casual dining, it is rare that we reach our max three dollar signs on the legend, but when we do, there is a good reason: these are usually establishments serving some special cuisine you can’t readily find anywhere else, like stone crab claws in season at Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami, hard-to-find Dungeness crab prepared exquisitely at Elliott’s in Seattle, or very rare wagyu beef all the way from Japan cooked perfectly at Red, The Steakhouse. Some places, like Keens Steakhouse, Joe’s and the Golden Steer have decades — or more than a century — of perfected tradition behind them. In other cases, really exceptional restaurants deliver value regardless of price. If you are on the road and you love food, sometimes you just have to splurge.
Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami
High turnover is important for serving the freshest possible seafood, and it is virtually impossible to beat Joe’s. More than a century after it opened, the South Beach spot remains as popular as ever, serving 2,000 dinners on a busy night (and another 1,000 at lunch), with waits that can exceed two hours — despite seating nearly 500 (no reservations). It is easily the city’s single most iconic eatery, and customers routinely include professional athletes, politicians and celebrities. Joe’s has served everyone from Joe DiMaggio to Al Capone, Frank Sinatra and Larry King. Even fictional characters love Joe’s — author Ian Fleming had super-spy James Bond, renowned for his discerning good taste, enjoy the single best meal of 007’s richly gourmand life here.
Waiting at the bar and people watching is part of the experience, and once seated, you will be very efficiently served by an army of about 70 tuxedoed waiters — longtime veterans with good memories, no notepads and plenty of advice. Here’s mine: have the Stone Crabs. In Florida, harvest season is from October to May, and while some restaurants use frozen crabs off season, Joe’s never does, and instead closes for most of the summer. A heap of cracked cold claws are accompanied by Joe’s signature mustard sauce, in four sizes from medium to jumbo. The more you pay, the less peeling you do, but you get the same amount of meat. At the opposite end of the price spectrum, the best kept local’s secret is the amazing fried chicken — just fantastic, one of the nation’s best, and it's the cheapest thing on the menu (many split it as an appetizer). Don’t forget dessert: Key Lime pie, more tart than sweet, is anther Florida specialty, and this is about the best you can find.
Tip: If you hate to wait, Joe’s has a takeout storefront, Joe’s To Go, complete with fast food-style tables next door.
Keens Steakhouse in New York City
The Big Apple is full of excellent steakhouses – but Keens has long been my favorite. It’s the oldest steakhouse in New York City and is adorned from floor to ceiling with historic memorabilia spanning the past century and a half, most notably the playbill Lincoln held at Ford’s Theater the night he was assassinated. It also houses the world’s largest collection of clay churchwardens’ pipes, thousands hanging from the ceiling and more displayed in glass cases, including those of notable frequent customers such as Albert Einstein, Teddy Roosevelt, Babe Ruth, JP Morgan, General Douglas MacArthur, Buffalo Bill Cody and hundreds more very famous names.
For steakhouses, bragging rights are about the best beef, and it is virtually impossible to top Keens. Even at the high end, few places use exclusively USDA Prime beef, and fewer dry age it themselves. Keens does both, and what further separates it from the pack is its grandfathered status among New York eateries: the chef goes to the market, examines whole carcasses, and picks those he wants to age and butcher in-house. Almost no other restaurants are allowed to do this, and even those buying expensive Prime beef take what distributors give them — after Keens (and very few peers) have cherry-picked the best. But mutton chops, not steak, is Keens’ most famous dish. It claims to be the only restaurant in America with mutton chops (hugely oversized lamb chops) on the menu daily. It is a must-try, and many longtime regulars come just for the mutton, which sells as well as the most popular steaks. Keens sold its one millionth mutton chop in 1935.
Tip: The standard “saddle of mutton” order is two big connected chops, but there is a smaller one chop pub portion not on the regular menu that you can order.
Sterling Brunch at Bally’s Las Vegas
More often than not, Las Vegas brunch buffets mean lots of cheap food. This is decidedly not the case at the famed Sterling Brunch, the city’s top weekend indulgence for four decades. It proved so popular that after a recent remodel of the restaurant, the Sunday brunch expanded to Saturday as well. What’s the big deal? While U.S. law sadly allows domestic imitators to label their wines “champagne,” just about everyone knows that the real thing only comes from France’s Champagne region, and while there are hundreds of “champagne brunches” every weekend across the country, almost none actually serve Champagne.
The real thing is a signature of the Sterling Brunch where Perrier Jouet Grand Brut is poured like water, averaging 120 bottles per brunch. The other signatures are whole Maine lobster tails and a caviar station with all the classic complements: blinis (tiny, two-inch light pancakes), baby potatoes, diced eggs and sour cream. There is also Muscovy duck breast, a dim sum station, omelet station (the signature is lobster, boursin cheese and cognac), and unlike most buffets, when you order anything cooked, it is brought to your table. This includes desserts like chocolate or fruit crepes and Bananas Foster. The unrivaled quality and selection of food and drink are further enhanced by excellent staff. This is like no buffet brunch anywhere else.
Tip: if you prefer mimosas they are happy to mix bottomless Champagne with fresh squeezed orange juice.
The best Sunday brunch in Vegas (and maybe the country)
Elliott’s Oyster House in Seattle
Because it sits near cruise ships on Pier 56 of Seattle’s waterfront, Elliott’s gives off a scary touristy vibe, but it is a top flight seafood specialist popular with locals and visitors alike. Tourists go for Dungeness crab (and they should), while locals return for salmon, and everyone loves the oysters. Dungeness crab is a unique Pacific Northwest specialty, harvested from Northern California up to Alaska, and many fans consider it better than lobster. By any standards it is one of the most prized shellfish on earth, and it is Elliott’s specialty. It's one of the few restaurants in the country that offers the full-blown presentation, expertly pre-cracked for easy eating, with an elaborate tableside hand washing ritual afterwards.
Most important is how Elliott's sources crab, via longstanding partnerships with specific boats and local Native American tribes, whose fisheries are exempt from seasonal regulations, so the restaurant can offer fresh crab daily, year-round. Whole crabs are offered multiple ways, including steamed (hot), chilled (boiled earlier) and spicy (in an Asian red chili sauce). Dungeness crab also shows up on the huge menu in a chilled dip, cocktail, crab Oscar and soup, and the standout is the signature crab cakes, made with a bit of shrimp but no crumbs whatsoever. These are much different from the wonderful Maryland–style; they're very light and very flaky, not lumpy at all, extremely fresh with a hint of brine. Elliott’s takes equal pride in sourcing its salmon, varying by season, but the one I tried from the Columbia River was the best I have ever tasted, baked on an Alder wood plank, a fatty, moist fish with slightly crispy skin on one side. Elliott’s also has a great raw oyster Happy Hour.
Tip: When trying Dungeness crab, you can pay a small premium and get two half crabs in different styles for greater variety.
Golden Steer Steakhouse in Las Vegas
The oldest steakhouse in a city enamored with steakhouses, the Golden Steer is a true Las Vegas icon, and has served dinner to everyone from Muhammad Ali to the King, Elvis, himself. But the most famously loyal of all Steer customers over the years were the Rat Pack, and both Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin had dedicated regular booths, round banquettes, which you can eat in today (Sinatra’s table, 22, has a big picture of the Rat Pack over it). Stepping into the Steer is like stepping into a museum — except with amazing food.
A timeless, classic steakhouse, it serves big portions, and top meat choices include filet mignon, NY Strip, 24-ounce porterhouse and three sizes of prime rib, along with a T-bone style 18-ounce pork chop and trio of double cut lamb chops. But it is not all red meat: they also serve plenty of seafood, including Alaskan salmon prepared your way, jumbo Australian lobster tail, shrimp scampi, escargot and Dover sole deboned tableside before plating, a rare specialty of a bygone era. This is just one of many tableside showmanship options here, along with from-scratch Caesar salad and Bananas Foster, a traditional New Orleans dessert of sliced bananas with brown sugar and rum set aflame and flambéed in front of you.
Tip: Sinatra’s regular isn’t on the menu but they are happy to make it for you: steak pizzaiolo, a New York strip topped with sautéed diced tomatoes, garlic and white wine.
Las Vegas' oldest steakhouse still charms
Red, The Steakhouse in Cleveland and Beachwood, Ohio, and Miami Beach
It’s all about the beef at this Cleveland and Miami restaurant that has long been popular with NBA players and red meat lovers of all ilk. The "basic" offering is Certified Angus Beef (CAB), a registered brand, which pays the USDA inspectors to apply extra tests beyond normal USDA grading — its slogan is “A cut above USDA Prime.” Red serves both regular CAB (better than Choice) and CAB Prime (better than Prime). But what really sets Red apart is its real Japanese beef. Almost every time you see the words “wagyu” or “Kobe” beef on a menu in this country, it refers to a domestic product, not the real thing, but a handful of top steakhouses import the justly famous Japanese beef and Red has one of the most reliable supplies. Japanese beef is legendary for its well-distributed fat, tenderness and silky mouth feel, and if you love beef you should try it – but buyer beware, because no matter how much you pay, you usually aren’t going to get it. That’s why I like Red.
Great American Bites: Red The Steakhouse, prime in every way
Larry Olmsted has been writing about food and travel for more than 15 years. An avid eater and cook, he has attended cooking classes in Italy, judged a barbecue contest and once dined with Julia Child. Follow him on Twitter, @TravelFoodGuy, and if there's a unique American eatery you think he should visit, send him an e-mail at travel@usatoday.com. Some of the venues reviewed by this column provided complimentary services.