The Steakhouses You Should Visit If You Want To Order A Hand-Cut Steak

Steakhouses are a much-loved institution. For decades, these establishments have satiated the public's desire for red meat by serving a variety of cuts in a refined, plush setting. Service like this has seen steakhouses maintain, and in some instances increase, their popularity. Some estimates, including one produced by Smartscrapers, place the total number of American steakhouses at over 15,000 .

By their nature, steakhouses have limited space for chefs and owners to innovate. However, this hasn't stopped them from searching for a way to set themselves apart. One method is to focus on the quality of the meat itself; sourcing USDA Prime beef and utilizing extensive dry aging periods are two particularly popular means. These methods, however, are victims of their own success, with numerous restaurants now adopting them. As a result, several steak houses have begun to seek alternative methods, such as serving hand-cut steaks.

Hand-cut steaks are cut from large sections of cow carcasses, known as primal or sub-primal, by trained meat cutters. This stands in contrast to the common practice of steakhouses ordering mechanically-cut steaks directly from suppliers. Aside from being an artisanal practice, taking the time to hand-cut steaks is an indication that steakhouses are going the extra mile in other aspects of preparation, from properly aging the steaks to sourcing meat from the best suppliers. As a result, more steakhouses are adopting this practice, including both chains and independents. We're here to take a look at the very best.

The term "hand-cut steaks" has a sense of exclusivity about it. Yet you needn't visit an eye-wateringly expensive steakhouse to sample them. Texas Roadhouse proves this by serving steaks hand-cut by the company's in-house meat cutters at exceptionally low prices. While a hand-cut steak from, say, Bern's will set you back at least $50, many of those sold at Texas Roadhouse are priced under $20. Admittedly, Texas Roadhouse's steaks are not as high quality as those served by other restaurants in this article. The chain only serves USDA Choice, which has less marbling than USDA Prime beef. That being said, the steaks are still well cut and hugely enjoyable.

Texas Roadhouse takes great pride in the skill of its meat cutters and even holds an annual competition known as the Texas Roadhouse Meat Cutter Competition. In this competition, meat cutters employed in Texas Roadhouses across the country convene and compete with the goal of finding out who is the company's best meat cutter. The employee who's eventually named meat cutter of the year wins $25,000. Those who don't take the top prize receive feedback on their cuts, ensuring that the meat that reaches customers' plates improves year-on-year.

Founded by Wolfgang Zwiener, one-time head waiter at Peter Luger Steak House, Wolfgang's Steakhouse now boasts over 20 establishments. All of them serve USDA Prime black angus beef that is broken down into steaks by a team of in-house butchers. These skilled individuals turn out a variety of cuts, but few are as widely celebrated as the Porterhouse For Two Or More. This large cut has become the brand's signature.

As with many steakhouses on this list, Wolfgang's believes in keeping it simple, allowing the quality of the beef and the skill of the staff to be on full display. This is evidenced throughout the steak's preparation, as co-founder Peter Zwiener highlighted to Esquire: "It's all about finding the best beef ... we put it in our own aging room, keep it for an average of 28 days, sometimes it goes a little bit longer, and then we cut the beef to certain specifications."

The Capital Grille is a chain of high-end steakhouses with numerous establishments located around the United States and one a piece in Mexico and Costa Rica. Each of these steakhouses takes pride in serving steaks that are hand-cut by an in-house butcher. Aside from being masterfully cut, all these steaks are also dry aged for around three weeks. To further amplify their flavor, The Capital Grille's steaks are often served alongside intense sauces and decadent crusts. These include a cherry cabernet reduction and a porcini mushroom crust.

With so many locations dotted around the country, many Americans now associate The Capital Grille with good, dependable steaks. The company has sought to take advantage of this by launching The Capital Butcher, an online service wherein customers can order The Capital Grille's dry aged, hand-cut steaks for home cooking. Customers have the option of ordering single steaks or a Steak Grille Box which contains a selection of four steaks. Options include a bone-in New York strip and both 8 ounce and 10 ounce portions of filet mignon. Orders from The Capital Butcher are pick-up only.

So far, we've focused on the impact in-house butchers and meat cutters can have on beef steaks. Yet these individual's talents need not be limited to beef alone. B&B Butchers & Restaurant highlights this perfectly, with some of its most popular meat dishes arising as a direct consequence of the in-house butchering team's work on pigs.

In an interview with Eater Houston, B&B owner Benjamin Berg highlighted that the restaurant's selection of bacon appetizers were among its most popular items. The butchering team played a direct role in this success as Berg explained: "We cut it way thicker than anyone else does. It's smoked and we pepper it properly, but it's more about the cut. Even though it's bacon, it almost has that pork belly feel to it. My chef and I couldn't believe how much the bacon was being ordered."

Thick cut bacon is just one of the 22 cuts the B&B butcher team produces for the steakhouse. This selection also includes cuts of USDA Prime and A5 certified Kobe beef. All of these steaks are dry aged in a meat cellar lined with pink Himalayan salt blocks. These blocks help dry the meat out. By the end of the aging process, most cuts have lost around 40% of their weight. Further cuts and other products, including sausages, are available in B&B's adjoining butcher shop.

The first Halls Chophouse opened in Charleston in 2009. Since then, four more have opened. All of these establishments source their meat from Allen Brothers, one the most renowned meat suppliers in the United States. By using Allen Brothers, Halls Chophouse outsources the meat selection, aging, and hand-cutting processes. This is not to say the steaks are any worse than those trimmed, cut, and aged in-house. In fact, some would argue that Allen Brothers does a much better job than many steakhouses, thanks to the company's 100 years' worth of experience and attention to detail and quality.

Despite Allen Brothers cutting steaks to proportions dictated by Halls Chophouse, the steakhouse is limited in its ability to meet customers' desire for specialist cuts and weights. That being said, the restaurant does boast an extensive menu of both wet and dry aged steaks including tomahawk steaks, porterhouses, and even a bison filet. All of this suggests that just about every customer will have their desires catered to.

Smith & Wollensky is a well-known brand of steakhouses with eight locations around the United States and two abroad. This manageable size means that Smith & Wollensky can source its meat directly from smaller, sustainably-minded suppliers, including Double R Ranch. This not only ensures that the steakhouses are receiving high quality beef, but also that its beef is fully traceable. These suppliers provide the restaurant with a dependable source of well-marbled, grain-fed, USDA Prime beef. Smith & Wollensky further develops flavor by dry aging all cuts in-house for at least 28 days.

All of the meat that's delivered to Smith & Wollensky is checked, cut, and aged by a team of in-house butchers. Danny Kissane, a veteran butcher at Smith & Wollensky, explained the process in an interview with Eater, remarking, "We butcher anywhere from a ton of beef to three tons of beef a day here ... There's all different cuts of meat. Most of it's all primal meats, center cut meats, loin meat, shells, filets, rib roasts."

Aside from USDA Prime steaks, the team at Smith & Wollensky also butchers and serves American wagyu sourced from Snake River Farms. The standout of these steaks is a hugely impressive wagyu porterhouse for two that weighs at least 38 pounds. Priced at $260, this steak is the most expensive — and eye-catching — item on the menu.

Keens Steakhouse opened in 1885 and retains an old-fashioned charm. Yet the steakhouse's menu does not feel dated. This is thanks to the restaurant's attention to detail; all meat is carefully sourced and both butchered and dry aged in-house.

In terms of beef, only USDA Prime is served. However, Keens is one of those rare steakhouses where beef is not the main attraction. Instead, patrons come from all over the country to sample the restaurant's famous mutton chop, a succulent, two inch thick, 26 ounce slab of 12 month old lamb. This is not to say that the beef is disappointing. To the contrary, all of the approximately 6,000 pounds of USDA Prime beef that enters Keens Steakhouse's kitchen is exceptional, having been personally checked by executive chef Bill Rodgers. With this meat, Keens Steakhouse hand-cuts and sells an exciting variety of steaks, including a New York sirloin and an enormous porterhouse designed to be split between three.