Chefs beef up menus with red-meat dishesChefs beef up menus with red-meat dishes

Nancy

Americans are tried-and-true beef lovers. We consume 57 pounds per capita each year. Although burger and steak specialists may dominate the beef landscape, enterprising chefs have embraced their inner carnivores to showcase the versatility and value of the protein.


It’s haute and it’s humble, sometimes on the same menu. The Cheesecake Factory’s Steak Diane, a take on the high-end specialty that’s typically flamed tableside, combines Angus beef medallions with black peppercorns and a rich mushroom-wine sauce. Elsewhere on the menu is the more proletarian Shepherd’s Pie, ground beef and vegetables covered with a mashed potato-
Parmesan crust. The same high-low approach holds sway at LongHorn Steakhouse, where an appetizer of Authentic Ranch House Chili is topped with jalapeño slices and onions, while Flo’s Filet, a signature entrée, is paired with cold-water lobster tail. 


Noodles & Company is serving the classic Steak Stroganoff with mushroom-sherry cream sauce, fresh herbs and Parmesan. Perhaps a classic in the making is the new Chianti BBQ Steak at Romano’s Macaroni Grill, offered with prosciutto macaroni and cheese. Less upscale but equally satisfying is Chili’s Grill & Bar’s Country-Fried Steak, served with corn on the cob and mashed potatoes.


It’s hot, in every sense of the word. At Applebee’s the temperature rises with the latest iteration of the long-running line of Sizzling Entrées, Double Barrel Whisky Sirloins, featuring two blackened 4-ounce sirloin steaks. Beef gets the spicy treatment at P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, where the Pepper Steak is tossed with onion and bell peppers in a garlic-black pepper sauce. At El Torito the Grilled Steak Fajitas are 
chipotle-garlic marinated, and the Carne Asada grilled steak is marinated in a bracing chile de arbol adobo.


Beef is trendy, too, and it’s appearing in breakout Asian dishes. Mama Fu’s Asian House has hit a home run with Bánh Mì Vietnamese Street Sandwiches, in which wok-seared beef, sweet-and-sour vegetable slaw and spicy mayonnaise are served on a toasted French roll. While the mass market is just on the cusp of discovering Vietnamese cuisine, Korean cuisine is already moving into the mainstream. California Pizza Kitchen, which is typically a culinary early adopter, introduced Korean BBQ Steak Tacos in the summer of 2010, jumping on board the Mexican-
Korean taco trend popularized by the seminal Kogi BBQ food truck. 


It’s healthful. In the face of inexorably rising obesity concerns, chefs have demonstrated that red meat doesn’t have to be incompatible with a healthful diet. Seasons 52 has been highly successful with a menu that’s both good and good for you, and the Grilled Steak and Cremini Mushroom Flatbread, which clocks in at a modest 390 calories, is a long-running customer favorite. Equally reasonable from a calorie standpoint are the all-natural Piedmontese sirloin steak entrée and burger, both of which include accompaniments for fewer than 500 calories total.


Steak salads have really come into their own. Bennigan’s recently debuted two attractive new ones: Steakhouse Chopped Salad with crispy fried onions, and Grilled “Bricked” Rocket Steak Salad with brick-flattened, fire-grilled sirloin atop arugula. Panera Bread’s Steak & Blue Cheese Chopped salad is finished with blue cheese vinaigrette and drizzled with a Cabernet reduction.


Looking ahead, smart chefs will continue to innovate around the familiarity and flavor of beef. Proven favorites like steak will be available in more portion sizes and plated with fresh sides to appeal to the health seeker. The Palm offers U.S. Department of Agriculture Prime beef in six portion sizes, and side dishes include both creamed and leaf spinach. Beef will be matched with ethnic ingredients to satisfy adventure seekers, as well. T.G.I. Friday’s Tapa-tizer Skewers are spot-on in this regard, marrying Black Angus sirloin with either Japanese or Mediterranean flavors. 


Nancy Kruse, president of the Kruse Company, is a menu trends analyst based in Atlanta. E-mail her at [email protected].

PREVIOUSLY: Maple flavors sweeten US menus