Here's How to Celebrate National Steakhouse Month in Chicago
June just so happens to be National Steakhouse Month in Chicago. In honor of this momentous meaty occasion, let’s turn our attention to some of the biggest, burliest, and best steakhouse dishes to celebrate with in Chicago.
In honor of National Steakhouse Month in Chicago, STK actually is serving a special dish all month long. One of the richest cuts of steak available, the prime rib cap is impossibly beefy, tender, and buttery, available throughout June at the River North restaurant. It’s served with green garlic butter and pickled mushrooms.
This being the onset of grilling season and all, the perfect way to commemorate National Steak Month would be with an Italian-accented grilled steak at Harry Caray’s Italian Steakhouse. The River North icon features plenty of indulgences, from truffle butter-coated NY strip to prime rib of beef, but there’s just something about a grilled skirt steak with herb-roasted fingerling potatoes, baby arugula, olive oil, rosemary, and lemon that feels so right.
For a truly luxurious steak experience, upgrade to the Mishima beef at Chicago Chop House. It’s an elite, pristine breed from Japan that makes Wagyu and Kobe look like child’s play by comparison. The beef can be ordered as a rib-eye, bone-in cut, NY strip, or porterhouse, all ranging from $59 to $89 in price. If you’re feeling really saucy, gild the lily with enhancements like horseradish crust, bearnaise, or Danish blue cheese.
If at Mastro’s Steakhouse this month, go big. By that we mean 48 ounces of double-cut porterhouse. It’s the biggest (and arguably best) steak on the menu at this temple of a steakhouse, and it’s a fittingly extravagant way to celebrate the month. Accent it with some sides like creamed corn, scalloped potatoes, or Gorgonzola mac & cheese to really hit a home run.
One of the oldest steakhouses in Chicago, Gene & Georgetti is still serving some of the most unique and destination-worthy steak preparations in town. Case in point, the restaurant serves pepper steaks, beef en brochette, and filet Florentine, which is a preparation that includes ingredients like white wine, vermouth, clam juice, cheese, spinach, and butter.
If it’s surf & turf you’re after, one of the best options is The Palm. In honor of National Steakhouse Month in Chicago, the specialty of the house is a broiled jumbo Nova Scotia lobster available in a variety of portions. They’re even better when enjoyed as a half lobster alongside any of the restaurant’s steak preparations, including a filet mignon, bone-in rib-eye, or double-cut NY strip.
In other quasi-surf & turf news, Smith & Wollensky serves an incomparable take on Filet Oscar. The traditional technique involves preparing a 10 oz. filet mignon with colossal lump crab meat, asparagus, and hollandaise sauce. It’s got a little bit of everything, and it all works together deliciously.
Summertime dining means rooftop dining at III Forks Prime Steakhouse. One of the best spots for al fresco eating in Chicago, the steakhouse rooftop also boasts a special lounge menu all its own, with perfectly summery dishes like steak tartare tossed in mustard aioli, a burger topped with slab bacon, and steaks like a tomahawk rib-eye or a prime boneless rib-eye.
At Tavern on Rush, seasonal enhancements to the regular menu include a dish that gives steak the salad treatment (and makes salad that much more appetizing). It's a Korean BBQ skirt steak salad made with vegetable slaw, carrots, cabbage, zucchini, cucumber, tomato, sprouts, and kimchi vinaigrette.
- Matt Kirouac