[Spareribs]

lately, I find myself not ordering the steak and ordering other suff on the menu and it could be anything like 2 or 3 side dishes only, the seafood, chicken, whatever brothas!

The reason being is that I've had steak so many times in my life in many great steak houses and great eateries that I feel that it tends to be more fun trying other things that steak houses offer and have had surprisingly good results.

The surprising thing is that there are steak houses out there that do a great job with non steak items! And it's fun to explore the menu of the items that tend to be less popular.

Don't get me wrong, I love steak! And who doesn't? But it can be fun ordering the other things that can be surprisingly good at steak houses that other restaurants may fail at properly making well.

My point is that it can be possible to enjoy a good meal at a steak house, while avoiding the steak. ( and no, I am not anti beef!)

 

[Rainbowsloth]

haha this made my day

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I do the reverse - I go to restaurants that aren't steakhouses just to try their steaks. Steakhouses will give you the better quality beef at their peak condition, but to do justice to them, they'd barely have any side dishes and no sauce, so sometimes I order filet in other places just to try whatever garnish or sauce they put under or on the steak.

Here's a tenderloin steak at a Paella restaurant here. They top it with some kind of hot, spicy salsa, and they actually taste fantastic together. I always order my steak rare, even here, but in other places they have to bring it up to medium-rare at least as they cook it through a bit more in the sauce (as in the case of the next steak below).
 

 

Over at another restaurant (which I initially went into because of  the cakes, but I took one look at the menu and ordered a ribeye first) they have ostrich tenderloin with the flavors of traditional Tagalog steak. That used to be steak from larger, tougher cuts, at best local top sirloin, and cooking it was more like Swiss steak but with the flavors of salpicao (oil and garlic) with soy sauce and onions tossed in. Now what they do is sear the ostrich tenderloin or smaller (by area, but still thick) cut of beef ribeye, then toss it into a pan on lower heat where onions have been caramelized and taken up to medium rare or medium while in this sauce (continually spooning it over). My friend who works in Japan was with me when I took the photo below, and he loved it - especially after eating the "worst steak for the money" in his life a couple of days prior at a deceptively crappy steakhouse (I took him to a steak house hidden near a residential area, which wasn't the kind that you'd expect to have a steakhouse, and he loved it, save for the cheap gravy and no pan sauce). Not to mention that they were charging around $35 for their crap ribeye (which everyone in their group agreed was bland for some reason) while this ostrich tenderloin was around $12. The salad with milkfish belly chunks that we had for our first course was also superb.
 

 

[Spareribs]

I've also done the same with sushi restaurants too. I love sushi but it's also possible to get good non sushi dishes at sushi places.

For example I've had good terriyaki at sushi joints and skipped the sushi. Now don't me wrong I love sushi but sometimes it's good to branch out and try other stuff like terriyaki too.

 

[superjawes]

We go to a place with good sushi and hibachi (teppanyaki). Makes for a very good dinner if you can get a little of both . I should check out what else they have on the menu next time I'm there...

Oh, and on the steakhouse topic, I personally will judge a place based on how good their steak is. If it's good, then I'll come back and try just about anything on the menu, but you've gotta be able to get the steak right.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I've also done the same with sushi restaurants too. I love sushi but it's also possible to get good non sushi dishes at sushi places.

For example I've had good teriyaki at sushi joints and skipped the sushi. Now don't me wrong I love sushi but sometimes it's good to branch out and try other stuff like terriyaki too.

 
That I wouldn't do, at best I'll order other dishes but I won't completely skip the sushi. As much as I know that as fact, I won't skip the sushi for one reason: the fish are better quality there. And since you don't actually cook the fish nor season them, the quality of the raw product is way more important. Also, if it's a sushi restaurant, unless I'm eating with a large group, I sit at the bar and order two pieces at a time. That ensures that we get out nigiri freshly cut and just placed on the steaming rice. it tastes kind of different when the rice has released too much heat already. It has to be warm, not room temp. 

The funny bit though is that despite our tuna industry here and Japanese preferences that's still my least favorite fish - I'm biased for salmon and hamachi. One mall near my house has a grocery that sells sashimi-grade salmon, and sometimes I buy from there, use their hand wash area to clean my pocket knife, then take the fish and eat it some place else, like a tea bar a few floors up. I had one lady look at me like I've gone Gollum on it, but then again, whenever anyone cooks tuna or salmon fillets/steaks at home (or takes a steak past medium-rare) my reaction is actually "noooooooooooo! you ruins it! you ruins it!" so maybe I had that coming.
 
 

We go to a place with good sushi and hibachi (teppanyaki). Makes for a very good dinner if you can get a little of both

. I should check out what else they have on the menu next time I'm there...

 
The country club up in our mountain province (which used to be a military camp, and there's even an Anglican Church there) has such a restaurant. We got ribeye medium (the Jap grill doesn't do a dark crust so my friends don't like it rare), but before we dive into the beef, we got boats of fresh fish first (they still have a bar for those who want only the sushi). My friend and I were going, "noooo! dude, this first, then this, then this..." at the others because they ate them at random. I had to tell them there's a reason why I wanted the sushi served before the steak chef comes in.
 
 

Oh, and on the steakhouse topic, I personally will judge a place based on how good their steak is. If it's good, then I'll come back and try just about anything on the menu, but you've gotta be able to get the steak right.

 
I used to do that for burgers, since that was the one thing you can't get anywhere else that will be as good, but a lot of really good burger joints opened up here recently. One of the first ones basically was a DIY place where you order toppings, another one near it specialized in cheaper burgers but very fresh ground beef - they only form the patties when you order and the half pounder is around $2.85 in USD.  Another place which is more like what a steakhouse equivalent for burgers should be opened up and you have a choice between different blends beef cuts that go into the grinder.
 
After all those burger joints opened I thought I wouldn't eat burgers elsewhere (heck when I eat fast food, which is rare enough, I eat KFC), but then an organic restaurant opened recently. They had their own farm and they grow everything that they cook, save for the tea and coffee. They had ribeye but I surprised my friends because I ordered the blue cheese brisket burger, but we just had ribeye a few days prior in the country club, and the burger has great reviews. When I placed my order they asked me how I want it done, asked if it was fresh-ground, and they said it would be fresh-minced when orders are placed so it takes at least 15minutes. I ordered mine rare since the other joint's brisket+hanger burger shrinks to a pathetic size past rare (and they use a grinder, so...), and WOW, that had to be the best brisket burger I ever had. I do know some people who would puke upon seeing the cross-section after I took a bite because damn, apart from the sear on the outside, it looked like Tartare with melted bleu cheese instead of egg. For $12 I just went nuts over it.

 

[Spareribs]

Another thing to add is that there have been times where I do go to a well known burger joint known for its great burgers but instead order the hotdog. And yes, the hotdogs have been excellent

And no I am not anti burgers! I love burgers too!