Steak News: Roka Akor Offers the Rarest of the Rare

Chicago isn't lacking in steakhouses or fine cuts of beef, but when the opportunity to sample the highest quality beef commercially available in the world presents itself, you tackle that opportunity with the gusto of Charlie Bucket stampeding kids for chocolate bars. Harnessing the powers of the beef gods in Japan, Roka Akor just received a very limited supply of A5-12 grade Japanese Wagyu, aka some of the best kind of beef in the world, aka some of Chicago's best steak. 

(A5 Wagyu in the house at Roka Akor)

A5 Wagyu is not something you see every day, not even in Japan, so the opportunity to share this esteemed steak with Chicagoans was one chef Ce Bian could not pass up. It earns its 12 designation from a beef marbling standard, which in this case means the animal is richly marbled throughout, ensuring each cut and each bite is intensely, deeply flavorful. This particular type of beef is so rare in fact that Roka Akor is the only restaurant in Illinois receiving it, as the meat comes from one particular cow, being broken down in Japan and shipped to sole restaurants in Illinois, Nevada, New York, Arizona, and California. 

Roka Akor is kind enough to share this beef bounty with us Chicagoans. Roka Akor is offering the steak a la carte at $32 per ounce with a three-ounce minimum. Due to the intensity of the meat, you may want to chew slowly and proceed with caution. You wouldn't want to overdose on Wagyu now would you? The beef is available while supplies last.

- Matt Kirouac