I finally got around to building a google map to match my top 10 steakhouses in Houston list. I’ve mapped the top 9, and #10 is a surprise!
Below is the Google Map of the Best Houston Steakhouses:
If you’re looking for more of the best steakhouses in Houston, or in Texas, read my best steakhouses in Houston post, or read my other steak review blog posts.
We made trip #2 out to Pappa’s less famous Houston steakhouse. The Sbragia Cabernet was wonderful with my bone-in ribeye. Amy had the asparagus side, and I had some lovely mushroom caps. She went for the filet oscar, a nice petite filet mignon with a lemon-butter sauce and crab meat. She said it was wonderful, but a bit on the lemony side.
I thought my rib eye steak was excellent, although the texture wasn’t quite as tender as I prefer, and it was a bit under seasoned. Again, they have crappy table salt and pepper, but I got them to fetch some fresh crushed black pepper which made a huge difference. We skipped the horseradish mashed potatoes, which again sounded good, and also skipped all the wonderful appetizers, hoping to save room after my 32 oz steak for some dessert.
We ended up sharing a plate for dessert. The new york cheese cake, with fresh strawberries and a grand manier sauce was very yummy. Amy didn’t like the cinnamon on the crust, but she managed to eat her way around that. All in all, another delightful meal. The back’s up my opinion of them as being one of the top 10 best steakhouses in Houston.
I’m stuck in Dallas on emergency duty - evacuated to work from afar due to Ike. I did have a decent filet at the Omni Mandalay - still, nothing worth reviewing.
However, many of my friends are recovering down in Houston, without power, and most of their freezer is thawing out. I usually have a couple bags of charcoal on tap, so I’d still manage with a little shortage - if ya’ll are running short, HEB has opened up plenty of stores.
If you’ve got charcoal, consider yourself lucky, and help those less fortunate. It’s time to get out, meet the neighbors, and have a good ol’ bbq. Grill those hot dogs, hamburgers, and steaks. If you can’t eat it all, run down to the local distribution center and give it away. Plenty of hungry people out there.
On a sad note - there are several cows roaming loose on Galveston and other coastal areas among all the udder devistation. Apparently there’s also a loose tiger on Bolivar, - probably will help to control the cow population.
Back when Alecia hit - there were several reports of angry folks throwing meat at power crews as they came into neighborhoods that had been out of power for many days. I hope ya’ll don’t waste your meat like that!
Houston helps itself - everyone be safe - help your neighbor, and let’s get moo-ving!
I saw this video from a “Strip House” chef who was on the Today Show with Al Roker. (Sorry, but there’s a 30 second ad at the beginning):
The first few moments, I thought he was right on track about grilling steaks, putting a wet gray salt on a big fat filet mignon, putting a nice coarse sea salt on the ribeye (which is what I love and how I treat my ribeyes with love) and a finer ground on the strip steak. He used the same rub - olive oil, crushed peppercorn, and salt, that I use (although I like to pre-salt my steaks about an hour before I start grilling).
However, the guy was spending too much time blabbing about salt, and burnt the hell out of the outside of those steaks. I love that restaurants are using 700-1200 degree grills and can have my rare-medium rare steak done in 6 minutes and just slightly crispy on the outside - but those steaks in the video are BURNT on the outside (and still probably perfect inside).
Strip House just move of the list of next steak places I want to visit - I just gotta see if the steak comes out fabulous or burnt all to hell.
My Best Steaks in Houston list has been updated (10/15/08). I’ll continue to add steakhouse reviews, and linking the top 10 steak house to my blog reviews of those restaurants, etc. I’ve also added a map of top Houston steaks.
See where to get great ribeyes, filet mignon, NY strips:
Best Steakhouses: Houston
Also, don’t forget to see my:
Brenner’s Steakhouse is a fabulous little location, a place that I’ve know about for 20 years.A few months ago I paid a visit - but for some reason I didn’t write up a review. The off-the-menu bone-in ribeye was absolutely the best steak I’ve ever had.
*pause*
I’m in my mid 30’s, and I’ve pretty much had at least 1 steak a week. Sometimes 3 or 4. I’ve probably been to over 100 steak restaurants all across Texas. Even some in New York, Washington DC, Kansas City, Denver, etc - all over.
So let me say that again so that it sinks in:
Seriously.
And I don’t think there’s much more I need to say about that.
The garden and waterfalls out back were beautiful, and the wine steward fabulous. We had a lovely Sbragia, a great Zinfandel, to go with our wonderful steaks.
So recently we made a return visit - because it was so good, and because I wanted to see if the best ever could be the best ever again.
And it was. Again. The best steak I’ve ever had. *don’t make me repeat myself - again.* 
The ribeye did not disappoint. It’s going to be hard to visit anywhere else when Brenner’s is just a short drive down i-10. Both the waiter and the wine steward remembered us from a few months ago - kind of scary - but the steward was able to recommend a fabulous wine to go with our steaks.
Yummy.
Reservations recommended - you won’t always be able to get a table without one - I think we’ve been lucky, even on an off night the small place is packed!
Willie Nelson is Amy’s favorite, and she’d never seen him in person. I’d looked last year at a few concerts when he was doing the Last of a Breed tour, but couldn’t find anything that worked with our schedules. However, I took a flyer and checked to see if he was playing anywhere near where we were going to be vacationing in Iowa.
Woohoo! Willie was playing at an indian casino in Tema, IA. That would be maybe a 2 1/2 hour drive. I purchased 2 tickets and got a room, so we could stay the night and work in a little gambling. It’s been a few years since I played some blackjack, and I don’t know anything about Texas Hold ‘em with real money, and I’m totally clueless about craps. So I played a few slots, and mostly lost, and played a lot of blackjack, and was up and down, but ended a little down.
However, Amy came through with the beginner’s luck and won some cash on the slots - made a good amount to maybe even cover most of the trip! Woohoo!
Anyways - back to the concert. It was at a casino… that doesn’t serve alcohol. So the crowd was quite different than the standard venue anywhere in Texas. Probably 75% of the crowd was over 70 years old. Wheel chairs, canes, and oxygen tanks all around. The venue probably seated 2000, with about 600 on the floor (err parking lot - as it was out back of the casino) - and another 1200-1500 in the stands on the sides. The first 2 rows were reserved for tribal members only, so we managed about 5th row of the general admission floor seats. There was about 20-30 yards of empty space between the first row and the stage - and during the first song, several people went up to take pictures.
Pretty soon, people just started standing up front. Amy went to get pics, and I knew she wasn’t coming back. I don’t like crowds, nor standing in boots for a few hours, but I headed up there anyways to join her. She had a blast, which was the most important thing, and even got to squeeze Willie’s hand at the end. It was a great surprise - maybe one of our last chances to see Willie since the old man is getting up there.
Iowa - how’s the beef? What’s the best steak in the state of Iowa? Well I searched for steak, steakhouses, etc… and I quickly found the best steak house in Iowa - Rube’s Meat.
A quick call to the tire shop in Davis County confirmed, Rube’s is worth the 2 hour drive from Ottumwa. Even better that it was 10 minutes from the casino and Willie Nelson concert we were planning to attend.
Rube’s Steakhouse (we went to the original in Montour) was billed as the best steakhouse in Iowa. The steaks didn’t disappoint. The experience was quite unique.
You see, at Rube’s, they don’t cook steak. They started as a meat shop, so they sell the meat, and the have a huge 8′x16′ charcoal grill will all the seasonings and utensils you need to grill your own steaks.
The one disappointment was that there wasn’t much guidance on grilling time - nothing that said “6 minutes on each side equals medium rare for a 2 inch ribeye” formula. On an open grill - the heat just isn’t there for a quick cook - however - that makes for plenty of social time.
So you line up at the meat counter to pick out your steaks. Of course I went for the bone-in ribeye - 20 oz of 1 3/4″ beef. It looked great. My honey went for the bacon-wrapped filet - her favorite. However, we had plans for a Willie Nelson concert - so we were in a bit of a hurry. I went for a little more bloody than normal - but Amy didn’t really want her’s rare - so it had to go back for a little more cooking. I guess after 2-3 trips we’d have it down to a science, but for some place that seems to draw a fair share of first timers and tourists, I’d expect a bit more guidance.
I thought the meat was excellent, one of the better steaks I’ve ever had, but just wish I’d cooked it a few minutes longer.
Needless to say, we got a few filets and ribeyes to go - vacuum sealed and threw them in the cooler, and headed to see Willie Nelson.
I’ve been to Jimmy Wilson’s AKA Denis’ Wilson’s (but actually named Jimmy Wilson’s Seafood & Chop House) several times. I’ve had some great seafood there - lovely crab cakes, tasty spinach-artichoke dip, etc. Saturday night we headed out for dinner, and my girlfriend wanted some Shrimp Etoufee. I wanted a bit of steak - but was willing to test the waters at a place more known for great seafood.
So after that tasty crab-laden spinach artichoke dip, I ordered the Rancher Select Ribeye, a 16oz hand-selected steak served with a natural au jus finished with a dark roux. Or so the menu said.
As seems to be the case in most steak houses - I see the table salt and pepper and expect not to be offered fresh cracked pepper - nor sea salt, yes, I can predict the future.
Who pays $30 for a steak and puts the cheapest pepper and salt on it?
The steak was medium rare as requested - but those “pretty” grill marks were awfully charred - and the bitterness led me to believed this was cooked right on the same grill spot that the catch of the day had been blackened on.
Did I mention there was no au jus nor any dark roux? I thought this was a cajun restaurant. Apparently the waiter was new - and didn’t know that there were 2 more ingredients that came with my steak. I also thought a “Chop” house would be able to bring out a decent steak - but it appears this is just a seafood place.
I’ve had lots of bad steaks, and many worse than this - but this just about seals the deal on me ever getting a steak at a seafood place again - unless the steak just absolutely comes highly recommended.
Next time I’ll at least remember to ask if the grill has a special section for grilling only steak and chops, or if the steak will be prepared with added bonus of charred shrimp flavoring.
And the last straw? Since this was a cajun affair, I asked if they had a good hurricane. The waiter assured me they did. And then brought me out a bland bitter frozen red concoction with a straw. No fruit adornment, not a drink at all, but rather an awful frozen smoothie. I’ve had better koolaid and rum with an orange slice.
Am I going to have to make a trip to New Orleans just to get a decent hurricane around here? Let me know where I can find one better in Houston!
Organic grass-fed beef patties, infused with garlic, grilled over natural charcoal - what a nice way to wait for dinner and have a chat on the patio. My honey has a new way of cooking garlic, in a bowl of water in the oven, “makes it soft like butta!” or so she says. She mixed that into the 96% lean patties, and we had some awesome garlic burgers.
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