Blair Ridley 
Wine Steward
Posts: 7719
 | | 11-20-2006 10:55 PM |
| I hosted a small get together with RawReds, Brad, ojeffso, jb, and lovecabchard at my house on Saturday night. I purchased 4 brands of NY strip steaks from differing purveyors and served them blind to my guests.
1. Kings (local gourmet grocery store) ~$12/steak
2. Allen Brothers ~$45/steak
3. Lobel's ~$35/steak
4. Barth's Market (local high end butcher shop) ~$18/steak
All cooked a "steakhouse" medium rare, they rested for 5-10 minutes and were sliced.
The Lobels was the clear-cut favorite by everyone (I think) due to its buttery texture and wonderful taste. Generally speaking the Allen Brothers finished second (although I have to say they looked the worst before hitting the grill!). Not sure how the Kings and Barth's fared with respect to finishing place - they were still delicious but simply not in the same league as the Lobels or Allen Bros.
Next time we do this we're getting the Wagyus! | | |
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Dave
Wine Connoisseur
Posts: 5831
| | 11-21-2006 04:19 AM |
| Excellent idea! We had a steak course at a wine dinner earlier this year and served Allen steaks. My friend said that they only thing that we could do wrong would be to overcook them. We did, but they were still great. I'll try Lobels next time. | | | |
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Chicago Wine Geek
Chicago Western Suburbs
Wine Steward
Posts: 7122
| | 11-21-2006 04:39 PM |
| Like I've said, Allen Brothers is a 5 minute walk from my office. I order from there pretty frequently. Even used my wife's birthday as an excuse to try their Waygu. They have been my go-to high end meat market for 4 years now and I love getting their catalogs. Pure food porn. But someone turned me on to a meat market in Hinsdale, IL that is a hike from our house but more than worth the trip. The place is called Prime and Tender and their prices are a little lower than Allen Brothers. But the steaks? OMG! Most of the prime strip steaks and filets I've gotten there have more marbling that the Allen Brothers Waygu! And they will dry age for you if you want. Father and son operation, very cool guys. But the meat beats Allen Brothers and Lobels for me. Can't wait for my business trip on Sunday. Back to Buenos Aires for a week. Beef heaven! God, I am such a carnivore. I should start snorthing crushed up Lipitor.  | | | |
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rjs3
NJ
Barrel Filler
Posts: 1124
| | 11-21-2006 06:25 PM |
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Iif you log onto Restaurant.com, you can buy gift certificates for Allen Bros at discounted prices. | | | |
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RawReds
Grape Fermenter
Posts: 646
| | 11-21-2006 08:03 PM |
| Great experience. Blockbuster wines and a four-way blind steak tasting to boot! The lobels was the best, but not by a wide margin over the allen. Think Brad ended up putting the allen a nose ahead of the lobels in the end actually. For me, the lobels had the best pure beef flavor. Allens was slightly more tender, but not as much flavor. Both were definitely head and shoulders above the other two, imo. Although to be fair, it's not like any of them went in the trash  | | | |
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JimmyV
Central Connecticut
Wine Connoisseur
Posts: 5251
| | 11-21-2006 08:25 PM |
| Quote:
served them blind to my guests
Isn't it a bit tricky to tie brown bags around the cooked steaks? 
Were all the steaks frozen for shipping, or were some acquired fresh? Do you think that the pre-sale shipping and handling had any impact on the results? | | | Beta testing a new signature. | |
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MTPockets
Barrel Racker
Posts: 1840
| | 11-22-2006 01:01 AM |
| Lobel's is fulfilled through Leon Kastner Wholesale Meats of Rochester, NY, who are local to me. They are probably one of, if not the largest source of prime meat in the country. As noted above, the steak is amazing and the eye of a prime lamb rack is as big as your fist on end.
I can order a custom cut by Tuesday and pick it up on Friday. The local prices are probably 1/2 of Lobel's. The only downside is a 20# minimum order. | | | |
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Blair Ridley
Wine Steward
Posts: 7719
| | 11-22-2006 03:00 PM |
| Quote:
Quote:
served them blind to my guests
Were all the steaks frozen for shipping, or were some acquired fresh? Do you think that the pre-sale shipping and handling had any impact on the results?
JimmyV -
Only the Allen Brothers was frozen - and truth be told they looked the worst prior to cooking (they were brown). The other three brands were not frozen when purchased from the store (but maybe were before at some point?  )
I don't think the freezing had any negative impact on the Allen Brothers - it was clearly #2 by the majority of the guys... | | | |
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Chicago Wine Geek
Chicago Western Suburbs
Wine Steward
Posts: 7122
| | 11-25-2006 01:45 AM |
| Allen Brothers will tell you on their website and in their catalog that there really is no difference between fresh and frozen. Purists will disagree. | | | |
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rjs3
NJ
Barrel Filler
Posts: 1124
| | 11-27-2006 06:28 PM |
| I have a friend who claims that freezing steaks "ages" them. lol. | | | |
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Jack Brewer
Grape Stomper
Posts: 169
| | 11-27-2006 10:19 PM |
| Blair ,
How did you keep track of which steak was which while cooking and presenting?? I am seriously working on putting one of these together and this seems to be an issue. Branding Irons ??
wanna make a winter trip to Martha's Vineyard to consult ?? | | | |
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Blair Ridley
Wine Steward
Posts: 7719
| | 11-28-2006 01:43 PM |
| Quote:
Blair ,
How did you keep track of which steak was which while cooking and presenting?? I am seriously working on putting one of these together and this seems to be an issue. Branding Irons ??
wanna make a winter trip to Martha's Vineyard to consult ??
I bought 2 NY strip steaks form each purveyor for a total of 8 steaks. I put them four across on the grill (A, B, C, and D), one back and one forward (so the two A steaks were on the left of the grill, one in front and one in back). My grill is far from great but that seemed to work. I also kept a notepad by the grill to keep track if I moved them out of order (B, A, C, D as an example).
I also didn't leave the grill while cooking them --- it was only about 20 minutes total cooking time but I was sure to have a big glass of cabernet with me!
Hmm...a consulting gig in Martha's Vineyard? Hmmm... | | | |
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AlexRed
Northern VA
Wine Thief
Posts: 2674
| | 11-30-2006 06:01 PM |
| Quote:
Hmm...a consulting gig in Martha's Vineyard? Hmmm...
heads up, he said WINTER... heheh. the times i have been there in Oct and early May were miserable. I was a lifeguard on South Beach for 2 summers (lived on Chappy) which was a lot of fun, but late fall and early spring were cold and wet. Maybe winter is better... although I am sure that great steak and wine will help. | | | |
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Jack Brewer
Grape Stomper
Posts: 169
| | 12-03-2006 01:14 PM |
| living here year around we used to have the house rule that if you didn't come visit us in the winter then you couldn't come in the summer. You got to pay your dues to get your revenues!!  | | | |
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Blair Ridley
Wine Steward
Posts: 7719
| | 12-03-2006 01:22 PM |
| I certainly tolerate winters in the Northeast. Frankly the weather sucks in most places in the North of this country, but what are you going to do?
I'd go almost anywhere for a steak and wine tasting - even flyover country! | | | |
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