America's 50 Best Steakhouses For 2016

From grand Las Vegas carnivore temples helmed by world-famous chefs to old-school Middle-American chophouses where a rib-eye is preceded by a visit to the salad bar, from clubby Chicago dining rooms loaded with mahogany and brass to New York institutions with now-household names, America has no shortage of great steakhouses. These are the 50 best.

This Houston landmark, opened by Nina and Edd Hendee in 1977, is part restaurant and part museum of Texas history. Artifacts on display include Sam Houston's calling card, the signatures of Alamo heroes Davy Crockett and William Travis, and a 1911 Colt .45 (once stolen off the wall, but later returned) — but the steaks make it clear that this place is no gimmick.

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This was the first restaurant in Texas to serve certified Angus beef, available in such popular cuts as prime rib (available in sizes from 10 to 24 ounces) and rib-eyes cut to order by the restaurant butcher shop — or served as a 38-ounce tomahawk steak — all dry-aged for aged a whopping 35 to 42 days. You haven't truly experienced Houston until you've visited Taste of Texas. 

One of America's oldest restaurants (and the oldest in Denver), the Buckhorn Exchange was opened by Henry "Shorty Scout" Zietz in 1893, an era when cattlemen, miners, railroad workers, silver barons, Indian chiefs, drifters, and businessmen all dined under the same roof. The restaurant was given the first liquor license in the state of Colorado and the menu remains mostly unchanged to this day. 

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The Buckhorn is a true Wild West holdout with its circa-1857 antique bar, wooden fixtures, 575-piece taxidermy collection, 125-piece gun collection, and a menu that reflects that good ol' American desire to eat some red meat. For those who really want to celebrate being on top of the food chain, there are plenty of exotic meats on offer, including elk, quail, and buffalo (and sometimes ostrich and yak). But if you're in the mood for UDSA Prime steak, we suggest you go for The Big Steak, a New York strip loin carved tableside and available for two (two pounds) to five (four pounds) guests. 

Cattleman's Club is exactly the type of steakhouse you'd home to find while ambling through Pierre, South Dakota. Celebrating its 30th year, this legendary steakhouse goes through an average of 60,000 pounds of USDA Choice beef annually and is located on an expansive tract of land overlooking the Missouri River.

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Today it's run by founder Myril Arch's daughter, Cindy, and the menu has changed little over the years: eight-, 12-, or 16-ounce top sirloins; 10-, 16-, or 20-ounce prime ribs; and 24-ounce porterhouses, T-bones, and bone-in rib-eyes, rubbed with seasoning and grilled. The restaurant is also one of the best places to sample the South Dakota regional specialty known as chislic, deep-fried chunks of sirloin sprinkled with house seasoning. 

Intimate, sleek, and sexy, Oliver's is everything you'd expect from a Sunset Boulevard steakhouse, and even though it's only a year and a half old, it's already making its mark on LA's steakhouse scene.

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Chef Greg Elkin serves a fun menu including house-cured pork belly; an impressive burger topped with Brie, fried onions, and green peppercorn aïoli; beef from Creekstone Farms; and bison filet from Wyoming's Durham Ranch. The New York strip and porterhouse for two, which are aged for 35 days, are among the finer steaks you'll find in Los Angeles. 

Richard Chamberlain — the chef, not the actor — opened this classy Texas meat emporium in 1993, and the place has thrived ever since.

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Unconventionally for a steakhouse, the appetizer lists includes such exotica as sweet potato soup with spiced almonds and maple mascarpone; lobster deviled eggs with caramelized bacon and chive cream; and crisp duck "cigars" with smoked cheese fondue and green chile salsa. But there are also 18 different steaks and chops (counting various sizes and sauces), from a six-ounce filet mignon to a 10-ounce American-raised Kobe New York strip, as well as some seafood choices, half a dozen salads (the baby iceberg with bacon, tomatoes, onions, and creamy blue cheese dressing is a classic), and a dozen-plus side dishes ranging from wild mushroom mac and cheese to Vermont Cheddar steak fries to crispy Brussels sprouts. If you go home hungry from Chamberlain's, you're just not trying.

Founded by Dominick "Doe" Signa and his wife, Marnie, in 1941, this Mississippi legend got its start as a honky tonk that sold great tamales.

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Over time, the honky tonk gave way to a full-service restaurant, but the tamales are still legendary. Even more legendary are the steaks. Doe's might be the most downscale and shabby steakhouse in America (guests enter through the kitchen), but that's all a part of the charm; the restaurant is even listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It's not a gimmick, however: These enormous steaks are rubbed with proprietary seasoning, cooked under a ripping-hot broiler, and served with a ladle of rich jus. Doe's isn't just a restaurant — it's an experience. 

In a town known for great steak, Jess & Jim's stands apart from the pack, and did so even before Calvin Trillin put it on the map in 1972, when he named it one of the country's best steakhouses in Playboy.

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Family-owned and -operated since 1938, this no-frills, casual steakhouse is no pomp and all steak. The beef is from Wichita-based Sterling Silver and is hand-cut daily (trimmings are ground into meat for world-class burgers). It's served completely seasoning-free, all the better to taste the meat in its unadorned glory. You could go for the KC strip, a cut that this restaurant helped to popularize, but you might as well go all out and order the "Playboy Strip," named in honor of the publication that helped make this place famous: a two-inch-thick, 25-ounce sirloin. Save room for the twice-baked potato. 

One of the last remaining reminders of the days when New York's Meatpacking District was still an actual meatpacking district, The Old Homestead has been serving steaks to hungry New Yorkers since 1868 and is still going strong.

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Owners Greg and Marc Sherry have built relationships with local suppliers who provide them with some of the finest cuts you'll find anywhere, and they take it one step further by dry-aging them for up to 40 days. Offerings include a top-selling center cut sirloin; rib steak and filet mignon on the bone; and prime rib, porterhouse, or rib steaks for two. Japanese Kobe steaks are also available for high-rollers who can fork over $350 for a 12-ounce steak, and their $43 20-ounce Kobe burger is one of the most opulent burgers you'll ever encounter. 

The poet Carl Sandburg called Chicago the "Hog Butcher for the World," but its famous stockyards were long known as a source of great beef, too.

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Since 1941 this old-style Italian-flavored steakhouse (start your meal with Italian sausage and peppers, minestrone, or fried ravioli) has done beef proud. The steaks are broiled and dependably good; the bone-in filet mignon is not to be missed. A huge choice of non-steak items, including more than a dozen pastas and a fair amount of fish, is also served.

The best steakhouse in Connecticut is tucked away inside the gleaming and expansive Foxwoods Resort Casino and comes courtesy of legendary chef and restaurateur David Burke.

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Executive chef Pedro Avila dry-ages his steaks on site in a salt-brick aging room, and the overall experience can compete with any of the best steakhouses in New York. Steaks age from 28 to up to 45 days, and the 55-day dry-aged rib-eye for two is an absolute masterpiece. The menu is rounded out by live lobsters, massive shellfish towers, prime rib, and playful appetizers including surf and turf dumplings and candied bacon. 

This SOMA steakhouse (with additional locations in Cupertino, Pasadena, Tokyo, and Taipei) is unique and exciting with plenty of Japanese influence, and every item is impeccably sourced.

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Where else can you find Wagyu beef from an astounding 16 different farms (including real-deal A5 Hyogo Kobe) sharing a menu with uni toast, pastrami beef cheek, and veal sweetbreads with scallops, yellow wax beans, and braised tendon? If you're not feeling particularly adventurous, there are plenty of traditional offerings, as well, from dry-aged T-bone to a 20-ounce prime rib. 

Even though it's located on the opposite side of the Hudson River from Manhattan, just south of the George Washington Bridge, The River Palm Terrace can rank right up there with the big boys across the water.

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All steaks are Black Angus USDA Prime, dry-aged in-house for 28 days, and sliced daily by their in-house butcher; and seafood is purchased daily from New York's Hunts Point Market, with at least six fresh varieties (and some surprisingly great sushi) on offer daily. New York strips, filets, T-bones, and porterhouses for two are given a deep sear under a ripping-hot broiler, and nearly every other item on the menu is equally worthy of praise. 

Chef Jeremiah Bacon, who's spent time in kitchens including New York's Le Bernardin and Per Se, might have a porky last name, but beef is the star of the show at his Charleston steakhouse.

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The dry-aged certified Angus steaks come sizzling on a hot platter (with local shrimp compound butter on top). Though the steak, including a prime bone-in rib-eye and a New York strip, is certainly the menu's centerpiece, Bacon brings a farm-to-table approach to the entire menu with standout dishes like housemade charcuterie, pan-seared sea scallops with smoked grapefruit purée, and a daily rotating seafood selection depending on what's available at the market that morning.

Michael Symon is one of America's most fearless, fun, and unpredictable chefs, and at his entry into the Detroit dining scene, all of this is evident and more.

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The dinner menu at Roast, which we ranked one of America's best restaurants in 2015, contains delicious and unexpected twists including beef cheek pierogies, pork belly with watermelon and halloumi, and "roast beast" with cassoulet and pork sausage, but the steak selection isn't fooling around. Dishes like filet mignon with crab béarnaise, dry aged New York strip with smoked mushroom conserva, dry aged rib-eye with preserved lemon and smoked garlic, and dry aged porterhouse for two with marbled potato and caramelized onion will make immediately obvious why Symon is one of Food Network's Iron Chefs. 

You probably remember this restaurant from its role as a location in 2004's indie hit Sideways (Virginia Madsen's character plays a waitress here), but that's far from The Hitching Post II's biggest claim to fame.

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This Santa Barbara County wine country gem, which opened in 1986, is owned by Frank and Natalie Ostini, who have been among the primary evangelists for Santa Maria-style barbecue, a style that's closer to Mexican asado than Texas-style low-and-slow. At a huge glassed-in pit adjacent to the main dining room, Frank grills top sirloin, flat iron steaks, filet mignon, New York strips, bone-in rib-eyes, ribs, pork and lamb chops, quail, chicken, and even Gulf shrimp over red oak after dusting them with a secret spice blend. It's a cooking technique that's unique to the area, and The Hitching Post II just might be the best place to experience it. Beef is sourced from small packers in Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska, and aged according to the restaurant's specifications, then butchered in-house.

When Warren Buffett regularly holds court in your restaurant, you know you've got a keeper. That's the case at Omaha landmark Gorat's, which has been going strong since 1944.

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It remained in the Gorat family until 2012, when it was purchased and given a renovation, but the quality and preparation of the steak (which comes from — where else? — Omaha Steaks) is as good as ever. For the true Buffett experience, do as he does and order the T-bone, rare, with a double order of hash browns, and a Cherry Coke. 

This classy and stylish steakhouse is a Nashville must-visit, run by M Street, one of the city's most successful and trend-setting restaurant groups.

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Their market-driven menu is impeccably sourced, and it's one of the few steakhouses in the country to list exactly where each cut comes from: filet and New York strip are from Birmingham's Evans Meats; Wagyu filet is from Missouri's Premier Proteins; Wagyu strip comes from Greg Norman Ranch in Australia; and flat iron, dry-aged bone-in rib-eye, and bone-in filet come from Michael's Meats in Columbus, Ohio. Steaks are cooked under a 1,200-degree broiler, and served with your choice of nine toppings, including truffle béarnaise, yuzu chimichurri, foie gras, and bone marrow butter. Make sure you try the risotto tater tots and macaroni and cheese on the side. 

This iconic Dallas steakhouse is all dark woods, vaulted ceilings, and soft lighting. It also happens to be one of those places where it's just about impossible not to have a good meal. For the past 17 years, this clubby steakhouse has been presided over by none other than Al Biernat himself, whose photographic memory (supposedly) allows him to remember just about everyone who's ever set foot in the restaurant, and who is nothing short of a consummate host.

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Once you've taken your seat, expect to be treated like royalty as you work your way through the expansive menu, where steaks are, of course, the highlight. Offerings include a dry-aged New York strip or porterhouse for two from Niman Ranch, filet mignon in four sizes, wet-aged strip or cowboy cut rib-eye, and Japanese A5 Kobe selling for $30 per ounce. If the prime rib is available, that's worth strongly considering as well; it clocks in at about 28 ounces, is at least three inches tall, and is decidedly perfect.

Located in a former Clorox factory in up-and-coming Inman Park, Kevin Rathbun's steakhouse is part of an empire that also includes Rathbun's and Krog Bar, all located on the same street. 

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At his spacious, whimsically appointed steakhouse, Rathbun serves steakhouse classics like escargots, seafood towers, dry-aged porterhouse for two and three, a 22-ounce cowboy rib-eye, and 16-ounce New York strips, but there's also a wide selection of items that you don't see on most steakhouse menus like Coca-Cola baby back pork ribs, eggplant fries, lobster fritters, ahi tuna poke, and Asian-style meatballs. If you go twice, order whatever you like. But if you go once, get the steak; we'd recommend that cowboy rib-eye. 

With locations in West Hollywood and Santa Monica, BOA is bold, colorful, and modern to the max.

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Steaks include a 40-day dry-aged New York strip and a 21-day dry-aged rib-eye, and all are served with your choice of rubs and sauces. But the offerings don't stop there: The seafood platter is legendary, there's a wide selection of seafood, and the tableside steak tartare is about as classic as it gets. 

Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Bellagio steakhouse is the textbook definition of sumptuous: richly upholstered chairs, Tiffany blue velvet curtains, commissioned artwork on the walls, and a stunning view of the famed Bellagio fountains.

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But it doesn't stop there; executive chef Sean Griffin's menu is chock-full of the finer things in life, from caviar to seared foie gras to dry-aged bone-in rib-eye to A5 Japanese Wagyu beef. If you're considering bringing along the little one, we advise against it; children under five aren't permitted. 

The flagship restaurant inside the National Historic Landmark Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, Duane's Prime in an opulent and sophisticated place (it has been awarded four diamonds by AAA every year since 1996) that serves wet-aged USDA prime steaks as well as a wide selection of fresh seafood.

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The chateaubriand for two, carved tableside, is the way to go if you're on a date, but other attractive offerings include the grilled rib-eye and filet mignon, a 20-ounce rib chop, classic steak Diane, and a trio of filet medallions. "Keepers of the Inn" Duane and Kelly Roberts will make sure that you're in good hands. You just need to make sure to save room for the chocolate soufflé with chocolate Grand Marnier sauce. 

Paul Bartolotta is a renowned restaurateur, best known for his 23-year-old Bartolotta Ristorante on the outskirts of Milwaukee, but he's proven that he's mastered the art of steak with his nearby Mr. B's.

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At this classic Italian steakhouse, the steaks are aged for up to 35 days and are flown in fresh from Nebraska or Colorado. Sit out on the patio and go for the 35-day-aged prime Colorado rib-eye; on a gorgeous night with the stars overhead, you just might think you've gone to carnivore heaven.

A zig-zagging white-and-black floor and ample Art Deco touches greet you upon entering Osso, a Nob Hill gem that takes its steaks very seriously.

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How seriously? Steaks are dry-aged four to six weeks in a large, specialized facility that provides a sanitized and closely monitored environment; the temperature must be maintained at 33 to 34 degrees Fahrenheit, the humidity must be precisely 82 percent, and there must also be a constant air flow of 15 feet per second around the open meat at all times, "all of which takes place under the watchful eye of a highly-skilled butcher." If you order the porterhouse, the filet and strip are separated and cooked separately to ensure they're both perfect.   

In a city with no shortage of great steakhouses, this Midtown classic has been holding its own on 52nd Street since it first opened its doors as a speakeasy in 1927.

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A loving seven-month restoration by current owner Dean Poll two years ago helped to bring the restaurant into the twenty-first century, but the steaks — as well as the legendary humidity-controlled aging room that's open to public view — are still as iconic and delicious as ever. The only steakhouse in the city that grills its steaks over hickory coals (a practice that's in fact illegal today for new restaurants), Gallaghers is renowned for its porterhouse, which is available for two, three, or four. The New York sirloin, filet mignon, rib-eye, and prime rib are also things of beauty, as are the gargantuan shrimp cocktail, the golden brown and crispy hash browns, and the otherworldly chocolate cake. So start off the evening with a martini in the original horseshoe bar, and be prepared for a timeless steakhouse experience.  

Setting foot into St. Elmo is like stepping back in time ­— to 1902 to be exact. The saloon-style décor hasn't changed, save for a '90s-era expansion, and neither has the menu: There's a wide selection of wet-aged steaks and chops, a classic shrimp cocktail with sinus-clearing cocktail sauce and saltines, a wedge salad, and a loaded baked potato, all served with the professionalism you'd expect from a place that's been doing it for more than 100 years (one waiter has been on staff since 1976).

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St. Elmo is steakhouse-meets-comfort food, an inviting place where time really stands still. That commitment to keeping the past alive doesn't mean that quality suffers, however; the menu proudly displays the names of 17 local sources for the food served.

This French Quarter power broker staple, which is located in a clubby, basement-level space, is a regular hangout for the city's wheelers and dealers and high-rollers.

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With a swanky bar and six private dining rooms, Dickie Brennan's serves USDA prime steaks with a creative New Orleans twist; the six-ounce house filet is topped with fried oysters and béarnaise sauce, the barbecue rib-eye is topped with Abita beer barbecue shrimp; and any steak can be topped with jumbo lump crabmeat or Danish blue cheese. That's not to say that you should avoid unadorned steaks; the 16-ounce strip is seared in a cast-iron skillet, and just might be New Orleans' finest steak. 

It's been more than 30 years since Gambino Family crime boss Paul Castellano and an associate were shot to death outside Sparks, but martini-swilling first-timers can still be heard here joking about preferring to sit in "the no-shooting section."

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Well, never mind. Sparks is a great, old-fashioned steakhouse in the classic Manhattan style. The atmosphere is unmistakably masculine, the service is friendly-brusque, and the wine list is an anthology of California cabernet sauvignons, red Burgundies and Bordeaux, and other reds, plus a decent selection of whites, at prices that are often very fair.

Chef Michael Mina's first steakhouse, this swanky and sophisticated Mandalay Bay bar and dining room is anything but stuffy.

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The menu seamlessly combines the new and the traditional with offerings ranging from a shellfish platter and Caesar salad to Maine lobster fritters, crispy foie gras dumplings, and a dish that pairs American and Australian Wagyu. Steaks (both Angus and Wagyu) as well as seafood and foie gras are cooked on a wood-burning grill. There are more than 100 scotches on offer to wash it all down with.  

Omaha USDA prime steaks at this classy, classic, and comfortable Bellevue steakhouse are aged for 28, 35, or 42 days, and grilled over mesquite coals, lending a charred smokiness.

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The rest of the menu is both classic and unique: foie gras "bacon and eggs" and tempura-fried Kurobuta bacon share menu space with tableside beef tartare and Caesar salad, classic French onion soup, and filet mignon "Oscar." There's one additional thing that sets John Howie apart from the pack: If you'd rather buy your steak raw and cook it at home, they'll let you take it to go with seasoning and cooking instructions. 

If you're looking for a classic steakhouse experience and happen to be in the Twin Cities, drop into the recently renovated Murray's, which has been going strong since 1946. Opened by Art and Marie Murray, the restaurant is still in the family, and many of Marie's old recipes are still used.

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Their famed "Silver Butter Knife Steak for Two," a 28-ounce strip loin carved tableside, is one of the country's great monuments to a well-made steak. Thankfully, the renovation didn't do away with any of the restaurant's classic charm (although it thankfully replaced the banquet hall-style pink drapes and chairs), and the classic neon sign is right where it's always been. 

This LA classic, open in its original downtown location since 1921 (there is a newer offshoot in Santa Monica), serves prime dry-aged corn-fed beef in eight or nine cuts with various accompaniments (including a choice of six sauces), along with the usual steakhouse offerings of shrimp cocktail, various salads, and pretty good seafood.

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The "baseball cut," a particularly thick slab of aged top sirloin, is the apotheosis here. The wine list is a knockout, full of trophy bottles with names like Opus One and Penfolds Grange, but also a number of very drinkable choices that mere mortals can afford. 

Metropolitan Grill hails itself as home of "the best steak in town," and you'd be hard-pressed to argue with that. Located inside a historic building dating to 1903, the place has all the trappings of a classic upscale steakhouse: large mahogany doors, a tuxedo-clad maître d', cuts of beef on display, soaring ceilings, crown moldings, oversized booths, plus plenty of brass and even more mahogany. But don't let the pretension fool you: The focus here is on the beef.

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Chef Eric Hellner sources the Prime steak from Double R Ranch in Washington State, and it's all custom dry-aged, seasoned with a proprietary spice mix, and seared over hot mesquite charcoal. The 60-foot black marble bar is a jewel (don't miss the award-winning martinis) and the wine list has received Wine Spectator's "Best of Award of Excellence."

Dark woods, potted palms, chandeliers, bookshelves, and deep Chesterfield-style booths immediately let you know that Harris' Steakhouse, a San Francisco landmark since 1984, means business.

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Dry-aged steaks are sourced from the Midwest's best farms and butchered in house, and popular dishes include the Harris steak (a thick-cut bone-in strip), prime rib, and classic steak Diane. Start your meal off right with a martini and Gulf prawn cocktail, and strap in for a timeless steakhouse experience.

Perini Ranch proprietor Tom Perini is a living legend in Texas, where his eponymous ranch, steakhouse, and guest quarters are tiny Buffalo Gap's claim to fame.

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A master of cowboy cuisine, his burger is the stuff of legends (and one of America's best) and his Angus steaks — seasoned with a proprietary rub and grilled over mesquite coals — are well worth the trek. Thankfully, you can purchase that rub (as well as an entire mesquite-smoked peppered beef tenderloin) online. 

Charlie Palmer firmly established himself as one of the country's finest chefs when he opened Aureole in New York in 1988, and since then he's expanded his empire to 17 bars and restaurants throughout the country, including four locations of Charlie Palmer Steak in New York City, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, and Reno, Nevada, with a Napa outpost in the works.

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They're all unique, however, focused on seasonal local ingredients, and committed to letting each executive chef's unique skills shine through by paying just as much attention to the rest of the menu as the steaks. And as for those steaks, they include cowboy cut bone-in rib-eye, Snake River Farms Wagyu strip steak, 21-day dry-aged bone-in New York strip, and porterhouse for two with bacon lardons and pearl onions. Want seared foie gras or stuffed poached blue crab on that? Go for it.  

If you were to close your eyes and try to imagine what a 25-year-old steakhouse in downtown Chicago called Gibsons would be like, you'd probably hit the nail right on the head: red leather booths, wood paneling, martinis, high-roller customers, flawless service, giant steaks, and lobster tails.

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The USDA Prime steak served here is second to none, and the old-fashioned menu of steakhouse classics includes spicy lobster cocktail in a steamed artichoke, wedge salad, and classic cuts of beef including bone-in filet mignon, London broil bordelaise with roasted bone marrow, and the 22-ounce W.R's Chicago Cut, a mammoth bone-in rib-eye. If you're looking to dine here, make sure you call well in advance; reservations are hard to come by. And though the website states that jeans are OK, we'd advise wearing something a little more suited to the upscale surroundings. 

Even though it might look like a roadhouse from the outside, once you set foot inside the surprisingly elegant Killen's Steakhouse you'll know that you're in for a world-class steakhouse experience. Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef Ronnie Killen opened the restaurant in the outskirts of Houston in 2006, and it's since been hailed as one of the top steakhouses in the state by innumerable publications.

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It's one of the few restaurants in the country that has separate menu sections for wet-aged and dry-aged steaks, which are sourced from Allen Brothers in Chicago and Strube Ranch in Pittsburg, Texas. Options include a 34-ounce dry-aged long bone-in rib-eye, a Mishima center-cut filet, and even a chicken-fried sirloin. As another nod to the Lone Star State, the menu also includes fried chicken, jumbo fried Gulf shrimp, and smoked pork and black-eyed pea gumbo. Be sure to save room for the crème brûlée bread pudding, which Food & Wine Magazine named one of the top 10 dishes in the United States in 2008. 

In Texas, it's all about the cattle, and you can't get much closer to the source than at Cattleman's Steakhouse, just outside El Paso. For more than 40 years, owner Dieter Gerzymisch has been purchasing fresh meat daily from local ranches and portioning it out on the premises, so it goes without saying that the menu is all about meat, meat, and more meat.

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There's the top sirloin, New York strip, filet, and rib-eye, each weighing in at 10 ounces, and then come The Wagon Master, a one-and-a-quater-pound T-bone; The Cowgirl, a one-and-a-half-pound T-bone; and finally, The Cowboy, a full two pounds of T-bone goodness. Each steak comes with a baked potato, beans, coleslaw, bread, butter, and sour cream, just in case you're still hungry. Yeah, it may be a little kitschy with its Wild West theme and gift shop, but when it comes to steak, Cattleman's is the real deal.

Having conquered Spanish cuisine both traditional and avant-garde, the cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean, historical American fare, and both the Mexican-Chinese and Chinese-Peruvian idioms, what was the ceaselessly energetic José Andrés going to tackle next? Hmmm. How about, oh, I don't know, meat?

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At this Sin City venture, Andrés includes plenty of Spanish tastes as well as an extensive raw bar and "meat from the sea" (fish to you), but while pedants might argue that this isn't exactly a steakhouse, the focus is appropriately meaty. With a menu of carpaccio, tartares, cured meats, and, yes, serious beef rib steaks from California, Oregon, and Washington State, including a chateaubriand from the Golden State's Brandt Beef served with truffle sauce and pommes soufflés, Bazaar Meat can provide pretty much all the meat you need when you're out on the town. 

Not to be confused with Cattleman's Steakhouse down in Texas (No. 12) or any of the other restaurants with the same name across the country, this 105-year-old gem, located in the heart of famed Stockyards City, is Oklahoma City's oldest continually operating restaurant.

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The no-frills temple to the noble steer is as popular with cowboy-hatted locals as it is with former president George H. W. Bush when he's in town. One look at what's on everybody's plate — beef for breakfast, lunch, and dinner — will tell you what this place is all about, as will the giant illuminated photo of grazing cattle along the back wall. The beef here is sourced locally, aged "according to a closely guarded house secret," the website says, portioned out on-premises, broiled under an intense charcoal fire, and served with natural jus. Go for the T-bone after your appetizer of lamb fries (don't be afraid, they're good), and finish it off with a slice of homemade pie. Now that's a country steak dinner we hang our hat on.

If you're in Dallas or Houston and you find yourself in need of a perfect steak, a red leather booth, wood-paneled walls, and a wine list that boasts about 2,300 options, head over to Pappas Bros.

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At this shrine to beef, which has repeatedly been lauded as one of the state's best restaurants since it opened in 1976, the meat is dry-aged in-house and served bone-in or bone-out. There's something for everyone, from a 40-ounce porterhouse carved tableside down to an eight-ounce filet mignon, with stops along the way including an 18-ounce bone-in New York strip and a rib-eye of Texas Akaushi Kobe beef. They're seasoned with just salt and pepper and finished with some butter. The entire experience is about as classic steakhouse as you're likely to find. 

With two locations in Cleveland and one in Miami, Red is stylish, classy, and just about everything you look for in a steakhouse. Steaks are certified Angus and there are plenty of traditional classics like oysters, French onion soup, and shrimp cocktail, but you'll also find unique offerings like a free-range veal chop stuffed with foie gras, mushrooms, and fontina as well as Italian options like lobster fra diavolo and linguine with clam sauce.

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Their off-menu surf and turf, which pairs an herb-brushed tomahawk rib-eye with a king-crab-stuffed 16-ounce lobster tail, also might just be America's best. High-rollers, take note: If you want to top your steak with seared foie gras with black truffle demi-glace, nobody will stop you. 

Part of TV star and famously good cook Tom Colicchio's ever-growing Craft empire, the clubby steakhouse centers its menu around eight different steaks, mostly dry-aged Angus, variously grilled or roasted, and also offers a wide choice of both domestic and Japanese Wagyu (an eight-ounce Japanese A5 Wagyu New York strip will set you back $260). More than 20 side dishes are served, including five different servings of mushrooms — a great accompaniment to good meat. 

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Powerhouse restaurant duo Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich + steak + Vegas = greatness. CarneVino, their temple to all things beef in The Palazzo Hotel & Casino, pulls out all the stops, aging their beef for 30 to 60 days, and these steaks can compete with any other offering, anywhere.

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This "BBL" beef is developed especially for Batali and Bastianich's restaurant group (it's "often beyond regular USDA Prime standards for marbling and flavor and is hormone and antibiotic free") and — oh, yeah — this is a Batali restaurant, after all, so the pastas and other menu items certainly don't get short shrift. 

Sure, this Stephen Starr steakhouse on Rittenhouse Square might boast a selection of as many as seven different steak knives and a $100 Wagyu rib-eye and foie gras cheesesteak that comes with a half-bottle of Perrier-Jouët, but that doesn't mean it's gimmicky.

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Described as a "luxury boutique steakhouse" on its website, the restaurant replaces red leather with green and yellow suede, a clubby soundtrack, and slightly incongruous crystal chandeliers. While the setting is undoubtedly twenty-first-century, the menu is as classic as can be: Steaks are dry-aged for 28 days, and the rib-eye, from New York's Gachot & Gachot (which supplies the legendary Peter Luger Steak House in Brooklyn — keep reading for their ranking), is arguably the best steak in the city — and there's world-class service to boot. Don't forget to order the shrimp cocktail; these monsters weigh in at a quarter-pound each.

Don't come to Bern's if you're on a diet; Bern's is about wonderful excess. There are 20 kinds of caviar on the menu of this big, old-style, legendary establishment. The menu also includes two preparations of foie gras, two kinds of steak tartare (one with truffles), oysters three ways, endless varieties of fish and shellfish, 16 different cheeses both domestic and imported, nearly 50 desserts (including gluten- and sugar-free varieties) — served upstairs in a special dessert room — and a list of about 7,000 wines (5,500 of them red).

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Oh, and did we mention steaks? There are seven different cuts in a total of 51 different sizes (from six ounces of filet mignon to 60 ounces of strip sirloin), broiled to eight different temperatures, from very rare ("no crust, cold and raw") to, gulp, well-done ("sturdy little crust, no color, no juice, dried out"). Come hungry.

Since 1885, this New York institution has done one thing, and done it really, really well: steak. Perfectly charred steaks and chops are served in this labyrinthine shrine to old New York, which is spread over two floors and three townhouses.

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Before you're served your expertly cooked, gigantic, dry-aged sirloin, filet mignon, prime rib, porterhouse for two, or porterhouse for three, have a look around. There's memorabilia from more than 100 years of New York history, including playbills political cartoons, and photographs, as well as a collection of more than 50,000 pipes, from back when regulars, including Babe Ruth and Teddy Roosevelt, would store theirs there. If you go once, try the steak. If you go twice, try the famous mutton chop, a 26-ounce lamb saddle that's nearly two inches thick and dates back to the restaurant's earliest days.

Wolfgang Puck helped invent California cuisine (and gave us California-style pizza) at Spago, pioneered Asian fusion food at Chinois on Main, and even figured out a way to produce decent airport food at his many Wolfgang Puck Express outlets, so we shouldn't be surprised that he has also reinvented the steakhouse with CUT in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel (there are now spin-offs in Las Vegas, London, Bahrain, Singapore, and New York).

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The traditional red leather booths and bucolic paintings have given way to a cool white interior by rationalist architect Richard Meier and a series of pieces by conceptual artist John Baldessari. In place of iceberg wedges and grilled swordfish, look for warm veal tongue with baby artichokes and roast Maine lobster with black truffle sabayon. Oh, and the steaks? Not the usual four or five choices, but a total of 17 cuts and places of origin, from Australian filet mignon to Illinois bone-in New York sirloin to genuine Japanese Wagyu rib-eye from Miyazaki Prefecture. Puck has reinvented the steakhouse experience at CUT, and what he's done is nothing short of mind-blowing. 

When you sit down at your table at the perpetually packed Peter Luger, located in an off-the-beaten-path corner of Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood, don't ask for a menu. Just order the tomato and onion salad, some thick-cut bacon, creamed spinach, hash browns, and the steak for three, a massive porterhouse broiled under extreme heat before being sliced and presented on a platter.

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Sure, the wait staff might be a bit gruff in this surprisingly casual German-styled old steakhouse that's been here since 1887, but that's all a part of the show. The star attraction, the steak, is simply the best you'll find anywhere in America (along with the porterhouse, an equally impressive rib steak is also available). It's dry-aged and butchered on the premises, and when it's presented, in all its crusty, well-marbled, beefy glory, your jaw will drop. Use the house steak sauce to douse the onions and tomatoes (don't let it anywhere near the steak), and be prepared to drop a wad of cash on the table before leaving — no credit cards accepted here, big spender.