If there’s one thing I miss about living in Iowa, it’s the beef. Since being forced to change my diet in recent years, I don’t have steak all that often anymore. Perhaps “forced” is too strong of a word - it’s just that Ponzi is amazing in the kitchen, and I have to eat everything she makes. Okay, so I want to eat everything that she makes - which makes me “have to” do it. Every so often, she feels like having steak for dinner. We haven’t been to a Ruth’s Chris Steak House since we lived in California. A few months ago, we hit Morton’s Steak House in SF with Chris DiBona. There are a few good steak places in Seattle, too - with The Keg being one of our favorites (and the least expensive). I’ve learned in my travels that you never ask the locals for a good place to get steak. What may be fantastic for the region / city, may not really be fantastic. I’m not going to name any names here, but let’s just say that if a steak isn’t cornfed, it’s not a real steak. And if the restaurant serves A1 steak sauce along with your meal, you’re not in a real steakhouse. Sorry, but a good steak should stand well on its own.

Is that my opinion? Yes, of course it is - but there’s some merit in what I have to say about steak. I love steak (although probably not as much as I love sushi now). I prefer mine medium rare, since the inner portion doesn’t have exposure to any elements other than when you cut into it for the first time. You have to trust your chef, really. I’d never order a hamburger (or any other ground beef) anything other than well done. A steak, however, doesn’t deserve that kind of charred treatment. Why even bother telling you about steak today? I had a lousy experience with a restaurant tonight. It was just bad - and it didn’t help that a fly came in and landed on my muskmelon garnish (and stayed there for quite some time). My first clue should’ve been at the beginning of the meal, when the wait staff offered fresh seafood. I wondered, how fresh? “Oh, very fresh. It’s flown in here twice… a week.” I’m not going to say where this was, though - but the steakhouse did have several accolades on the wall. Yet another reason why I find awards perfectly pointless. I’m not hungry right now, but I’m still hungry for a good steak.