OT: Best steakhouse in Michigan
I took my father out to a nice dinner at Bowdie’s Chophouse in downtown Lansing. I’ve known about this place for awhile now. My family knew the owners of the former establishment The Night Cap. The food here was phenomenal. I have to be honest and say I’ve never had a steak that good in my life. I ordered the filet mignon, and I understand that amongst foodie types they would probably prefer a tomahawk ribeye or a porterhouse or something of the like but filet is my preference. Anyways, this was the best steak I’ve ever had and the waitstaff was excellent. It’s a very small setting but that doesn’t bother me. This had me wondering where else in Michigan can I try and get a meal like this? Particularly the steak. Also have any of my fellow Mgo patrons ever been here? It’s a bit pricey and the menu is fully A la carte, which is kind of nice to not be forced to have a specific side with your meal.
January 21st, 2022 at 7:29 AM ^
I have not been to the one in AA, but the the few times I've been to Chop House in Grand Rapids, it's been fantastic.
Outside of Michigan, my favorite steakhouse is Bohannon's in San Antonio. Byrd and Baldwin in Norfolk, VA is also incredible.
January 21st, 2022 at 8:48 AM ^
When in Texas try Pappas Bros. In Dallas. I think they have a place in Houston as well. If you want more reasonably priced and informal there are several places in the stockyards district of Fort Worth where the steaks are excellent.
January 21st, 2022 at 10:42 AM ^
Definitely this. Funny story: a colleague of mine went to Dallas for work, but client had a strict per diem. First time he went to Pappas, ordered (some steak, probably ribeye) and water to stay just under the per diem. Next time, he just decided to pay for the rest of the meal out of pocket b/c it was just that good.
January 21st, 2022 at 12:10 PM ^
Nick and Sam's in Dallas is good too.
January 21st, 2022 at 1:47 PM ^
Here is my Texas steak house experience that is going to sound so homerish, but here we go.
I went to Dee Lincoln's in Frisco TX. Dee Lincoln is a bit of a steak house entrepreneur who started Del Frisco's amount others. Her flagship place is in Frisco. I went there with an investor and had a fantastic meal. I'm a red-meat snob (I don't touch filets), and the steak I had, rib-eye cap, was perfect.
Dee Lincoln just so happened to be in the restaurant and was greeting people at their tables. She asked how my meal was. I, of course told her it was great, and told her "when in Rome". She then asks me where I'm from. I said Chicago. She replies, "oh, we get all our steaks from Allen Bros in Chicago".
January 21st, 2022 at 8:17 AM ^
Went to AA's Chop House for my birthday earlier this month. Best filet I've ever had.
January 21st, 2022 at 11:16 AM ^
Honestly, A2's Chop House is overrated and overpriced.
Ruth Chris's is better, and they're just a chain.
I really liked West End Grill's steak by comparison to either.
January 21st, 2022 at 11:57 AM ^
Honestly, A2's Chop House is overrated and overpriced.
Haven't been to the Ann Arbor Chop House, but the Toledo location was highly disappointing. Tiny menu, food was fine, nothing more.
January 21st, 2022 at 12:54 PM ^
Everybody has their own tastes, but I've been to A2's Chop House 3 times, and I've had 3 excellent meals.
January 21st, 2022 at 12:57 AM ^
I think the current hot spot is Prime + Proper in Detroit. But it’s not something I would put up against Keens in NYC or Erie Cafe in Chicago
January 21st, 2022 at 7:43 AM ^
+1. When I worked in media in Detroit, that and Marrow was where our agencies would take us for dinner, I’m not a big steak guy so couldn’t comment on the quality but my coworkers who are appreciated them.
January 21st, 2022 at 9:06 AM ^
Someone was literally killed at Prime + Proper this weekend after stabbing a guy. Something tells me that's going to leave a stink on the place for a bit.
January 21st, 2022 at 12:59 AM ^
It was called the Knight Cap--with a K.
January 21st, 2022 at 8:26 AM ^
Sounds like an entirely different kind of meat market.
January 21st, 2022 at 8:51 AM ^
Where can a guy get a good steak in Moscow?
January 21st, 2022 at 2:04 PM ^
Hilarious. You actually told me. Menu look great! Now head on over, have a real nice steak and rethink this whole Ukraine thing.
January 21st, 2022 at 7:25 PM ^
You are very correct sir. Not sure how I didn’t notice that.
January 21st, 2022 at 4:35 AM ^
Wow. First time I can agree with an OP in like a billon years. Bowdie’s in EGR is a personal favorite and may be my fiancée’s and my self’s new anniversary spot. I do prefer the tomahawk though and it’s ability to become two separate meals. The potatoes o’gratin were amazing as well.
January 21st, 2022 at 6:03 AM ^
OP, don't worry about what cut you ordered in that you chose a prime part of the animal. you'd be surprised how little difference there is in the cuts you mentioned since they contain that same or nearly the same filet, but in slightly different arrangement. for instance your porterhouse steak is generally your filet on one side, and your new york strip on the other.
your tenderloin and filet run alongside one another, like the tenderloin and backstrap when we're butchering up deer, moose, etc. both great cuts, many times indistinguishable if you were given a blind taste test.
curious if that steak house was serving grass-fed beef. that is what we raise up here (yes, avatar is checking out) and it is more lean and has more taste IMHO. a number of mgobloggers have had our beef and i think they enjoyed it. we raise angus cows and they finish out nicely.
January 21st, 2022 at 7:53 AM ^
Funny that you get negged for this-brought you back to zero. We are prejudiced in favor of our home-raised Angus beef as well...custom butchered. We have purchased very little "outside" beef for a very long time. Sadly this is coming to an end as we dispersed our small herd this summer as we move deeper into retirement and will be traveling a great deal more. We take a long yearling to the butcher in two weeks and have a weaned calf we will grow out. I'm sure there is a psychological component to our preference here-but it counts too. Our home grilled beef over an osage-orange fire is, in our minds, very hard to beat.
January 21st, 2022 at 8:58 AM ^
I am dreading the days when we have to draw down farming operations. I know that as the children leave, and we’re down to only having four home now, at some point I’m just not gonna be able to manage all the herd, the sheep, chickens hay, etc. I have told the kids though that the farm is theirs if they want it I’ll just build mom and I house on the corner of the farm somewhere and they can have it and run it. We’ll see.
EDIT: and to answer your question about who negged me, it looks like blueinDC went on a little mini tirade negging a bunch of my posts. Guessing he’s having a bad day.
January 21st, 2022 at 10:32 AM ^
I was going to say, anyone who negs a beef cut guide must be some kind of pork purveyor working against the cattle trade!
My father-in-law raised cattle, only after retiring as a CPA, on a smallish 100 acre family farm he and my wife's mom retired on. He passed earlier this year, and now she has a very large "yard" in a pretty rural farming community. None of the "kids" (40s lol) want to farm, and so it's about trying to get her mom to move closer to any of us. We're likely last place because she doesn't like "the city."
January 21st, 2022 at 11:33 AM ^
You should do it Succession style and promise the farm to one kid but then keep changing your mind until it slowly drives all of your kids crazy.
January 21st, 2022 at 12:01 PM ^
the actual deal is that they are all invited back: find your spouse, move home, i'll build them a house for a price that can't be beat, start having babies, we'll help take care of them and lend a hand with the farm. hopeful that at least a couple of them take me up on it. i already have a few housing sites cleared and the twins, in particular, have expressed strong interest. time will tell.
January 21st, 2022 at 12:49 PM ^
This isn't a horrible offer, and honestly, if we were breaking into the workforce twenty-x years later (ie now), with telecommute conditions the way they are, this would be something I'd probably jump at with all of the hindsight in the world. I'm just not sure 20 years ago me would have been smart enough to look past all the 'city boy' restaurants, and friends and parties, etc. I'm positive my wife would have cut off all of my appendages to move back near her parents.
January 21st, 2022 at 1:56 PM ^
JMo, you seem like a great guy and i dig your avatar, but you're not invited....
kidding aside, i can make educated guesses about which of the kids are most likely to take me up on the offer, but i am afraid to set my cap on it too much as it will/would be tough if we end up 0-7 on that account. they have to go live their own lives, whether its up north or in germany or new mexico or wherever providence leads them, i just hope a few of them come home. i'm doing my best to put my finger on the scale to tilt them home, but with wholesome incentives.
January 21st, 2022 at 2:45 PM ^
Ha! Well you're missing out. I have absolutely ZERO useful skills on a farm, unless your cattle need talking points, media training, plan on making a sizable ad buy, or a full video production shoot. Other than that, if you kill it, I can clean and cook it. :)
January 21st, 2022 at 8:32 PM ^
you may have none at the moment, but with a pair of mucker boots on and some direction from the kids, you'll fit right in very quickly. its not rocket surgery, and you'd learn in no time flat.
January 22nd, 2022 at 3:38 PM ^
I know an up north architect who can help you with that, and he won’t even argue with you over meticulous determinism.
January 22nd, 2022 at 4:33 PM ^
smash, where you been?
i emailed some time back and never got a return ping. hope you and the mrs are well.
January 22nd, 2022 at 5:30 PM ^
I missed that. Usually that means that they missed my middle initial in the address. Mrs. and I are well, hunkering down through the you-know-what. Offspring has an interview with the best public U in the land this week, for which we are sending up the verticals.
January 21st, 2022 at 8:22 AM ^
+1 informative.
There's no accounting for taste, but I'd give the edge to grass-fed beef.
January 21st, 2022 at 8:57 AM ^
Where can one procure your meats? I would love to throw some on the smoker and finish on the grill!
January 21st, 2022 at 10:09 AM ^
hi sooner. our meats are available at the farm. if you come visit you will certainly leave with a 'care package' of things like burger, maybe a steak or two or one of our pastured poultry chickens, some eggs, things like that. if you want to actually buy, we sell by the whole cow and you have to come here to pick it up. others on the list have done so and they can give you their opinion on what they thought of it. i am of course rather biased.
January 21st, 2022 at 9:31 AM ^
Honestly, after eating shitty (non-grass) steak for so long, when I do get a grass-fed steak, I find it a bit gamey/minerally by comparison, and the fat isn't quite as tender. Not knocking it and its far healthier (cholesterol etc..), but i havent enjoyed. That said, im sure if it was straight from the farm i'd feel different. but the store "grass-fed" ... ehh.. dont enjoy.
January 21st, 2022 at 10:11 AM ^
i can't speak to what the store might sell, but if you come visit i bet you'll be just fine with our beef. glad to share.
January 21st, 2022 at 7:28 PM ^
I’m not sure if it was grass fed. They did make sure to mention that it was “top 2% USDA prime.”
January 21st, 2022 at 6:45 AM ^
If you make it west, Niku Steakhouse is the best I've eaten at. They direct import Japanese Waygu.
January 21st, 2022 at 7:27 AM ^
The best steak I have ever eaten in a restaurant in Michigan was at Bowdies in Saugatuck. That ribeye was so good it should have been illegal. Nothing in a restaurant has ever come close. My grill on the other hand.... Although a blackened demonic at Knights steakhouse in Jackson was very tasty back in the day.
January 21st, 2022 at 8:11 AM ^
I like London Chop House in downtown Detroit. Great steak and cool old school atmosphere. Usually have live entertainment also.
January 21st, 2022 at 8:12 AM ^
Prime + Proper in Detroit is the best I've had in the state.
A2 Chop House is way overrated IMO
January 21st, 2022 at 11:01 AM ^
A2 Chop House, was there several times when our kids were students. It’s been a while since our youngest graduated in ‘96. OY! It was good but what we most remember was the waiter asking us as we sat down: ever have “real” steak” before? At the time we were in our late 40’s and looked like most student parents. Strange. Told him “no”, first time meat eaters, what does “real” steak taste like. He was perplexed then embarrassed.
January 21st, 2022 at 8:15 AM ^
Bowdies is the correct answer. My wife and I eat at the Saugatuck (original) location every year for our anniversary. It's pricey for my teacher salary, but thats why we save it for special occasions amd it's the best meal we eat all year, bar none.
January 21st, 2022 at 9:00 AM ^
Has to be the Chop House in Ann Arbor, right?
January 21st, 2022 at 9:06 AM ^
We have bowdies on the west side in saugatuck and it's incredible. It is pricey but totally worth it.
Also a location in EGR
I've ate at a lot of steakhouses in Chicago that are very pricey and it's better than any of those IMO
January 21st, 2022 at 9:48 AM ^
Bavette's Bar & Boeuf in Chicago is always great.
January 21st, 2022 at 9:12 AM ^
In Ann Arbor, I’m a big fan of the Chop House and normally get their Cowboy Steak. Another place in A2 that is not a steakhouse, but has a great Delmonico (the Bifteck Grille), is the Earle, which I also like for the ambiance and jazz on weekends. Not in Michigan, but one my favorite steaks ever was at a place called Ken’s in Fredricksburg Va.
January 21st, 2022 at 9:56 AM ^
Tell me about this place called Ken's in Fredericksburg... I'm picturing the name on the side of the building - black lettering on an off-white, stucco-like wall. I swear I've seen this place, but have never eaten there. Details, please. STAT!!
January 21st, 2022 at 12:13 PM ^
My memory and attention to detail are not what they once were -- or perhaps they never were :). Anyway, after doing some internet sleuthing what I figured out was that I had a meal called the "Ken Roberts Blackened Steak" at La Petie Auberge (a name easily confused with Ken's).