Steak Guide

Cowtown lives up to its name with these stellar steakhouses that serve up some mean meat.

by

For many of us, our first bite of steak carries the same amount of emotional weight as our first kiss, our first job, our first bike ride without someone holding us up. Is this the case in other cities? Who knows? But in Fort Worth, a city practically raised by cattle, your first taste of steak is often burned into your psyche, just like a good sear.  

My first bite remains crystal clear. Age: 10. Restaurant: Sizzler. Steak: a T-bone. Sizzler, mind you, was not a high-end restaurant. We wore our blue collars proudly, dining mainly at home or at fast-food places and, every once in a while, decent mid-grade steakhouses like The Rig, Bonanza, or Sizzler.  

My mom cut away at her T-bone, hacking off a piece for me. She put it on my plate, next to my hamburger, and told me to eat it. “It’s the same thing as your hamburger, kind of,” she said.  

I’d had burgers before and barbecue but nothing like this tiny chunk of meat with a night-black char on one side, a tiny squiggle of fat on the other. I gobbled it down and asked for more. And just like that, another steak-lover in Fort Worth was born.  

Through the years, the city’s steakhouse scene has grown to epic proportions. Not-so-pricy steakhouses still exist (Hoffbrau comes to mind), but beef’s business is booming in grand-scale ways. The Wicked Butcher, a lavish steakhouse in the new Sinclair Hotel, will soon rise downtown, where it will join heavyweights such as Grace, Del Frisco’s and The Capital Grille. Fort Worth does not lack for steakhouses. 

There are so many, in fact, a guide is required. Thusly, welcome to Fort Worth Magazine’s completely biased, highly opinionated guide to the city’s best steakhouses. Dig in.  

(Editor’s Note: You’ll likely notice a dearth of chain restaurants that are usual suspects when one thinks of steakhouses. While this subjective list is not meant as a slight on these establishments, we tried to keep the restaurants as local as possible or, if they’re not local, of a certain caliber that is, again, completely subjective.)

B&B Butchers & Restaurant 

Words such as “opulent” and “grandiose” were invented to describe restaurants like B&B, the anchor eatery in Fort Worth’s upscale Shops at Clearfork dining and shopping mecca. Come as you are, certainly, but expect five-star service, a double- (and sometimes triple-) digit menu, and food as luxurious as the cars parked in the restaurant’s valet. But yes, B&B insists, shorts and flip-flops are totally cool. 

A meal here is more of an event. Just perusing the large menu will take some time — there are more than 20 cuts of beef, from Texas wagyu to USDA prime.  

B&B is one of the few restaurants in the country to serve certified Japanese Kobe beef. If you’re looking for the fanciest steak in town, splurge on the unbelievably rich A5 Kobe ($220 for 4 ounces). When money matters, the more bang for your buck is the 40-ounce porterhouse, dry-aged in-house for 28 days. Technically, it’s for two, but it’ll take three or four to conquer this beautiful hunk. 

5212 Marathon Ave., bbbutchers.com

Bob’s Steak & Chop House 

Bob’s dates back to 1993, Dallas, when entrepreneur Bob Sambol and Del Frisco’s founder Dale Wamstad opened Bob and Del’s in the original Del Frisco’s location on Lemmon Avenue. The brand was eventually sold to Omni Hotels & Resorts; the downtown Fort Worth Omni houses the city’s lone location.  

It’s a classic steakhouse -— all dim lights and class, as one would expect from a restaurant tucked inside one of Fort Worth’s prettiest and priciest hotels.  

The Omni has added touches here and there to the menu, but the quality and personality of the original Bob’s comes through. Most steaks — carved out of corn-fed, Midwestern prime beef — come with the famous glazed carrot, a delight to some, a head-scratcher to others.   

Quite the sight is the Tomahawk rib-eye, with its vivid veins of marbling and succulently rich flavor. There’s also a super-sized filet mignon, a whopping 16-ouncer, and a veal porterhouse chop, two steaks you don’t see on many steakhouse menus. 

1300 Houston St., bobs-steakandchop.com

*wine pairing

Steak: T-bone

Wine: Italian red, 2002 Sasella Rocce Rosse

The Capital Grille 

This Rhode Island import is a part of downtown’s steakhouse lane, a strip of Main Street where there are four formidable steakhouses within feet of one another: Del Frisco’s, Grace, Ruth’s Chris, and The Capital Grille. The latter does a good job holding its own against its fierce competitors, catering not only to the dinner crowd but also to high-rolling lunchers, who have money and time to burn. There’s also a lively bar scene, punctuated by Corvette-red barstools. 

Many steaks are decorated with an accoutrement of some sort. The restaurant’s signature steak, a dry-aged New York Strip, has a crust of Kona coffee. Capital Grille’s showstopper is the porcini-rubbed, bone-in rib-eye, laced with ground mushrooms and a 15-year-aged balsamic. 

800 Main St., thecapitalgrille.com

*wine pairing

Steak: New York Strip

Wine: Cabernet, Orin Swift Papillon

Cattlemen’s Steak House 

For many, Cattlemen’s is the Joe T. Garcia’s of steakhouses — a rite of passage every Fort Worthian must experience and a where-to-eat essential for out-of-towners hungry for meat. The Stockyards restaurant is one of the oldest in the city, having opened in 1947, and tourists dig the cowpoke décor and saloon-style bar area.  

Just about every cut imaginable is here, in one form or another: an 18-ounce sirloin; an 18-ounce, bone-in rib-eye; even a Kansas City strip sirloin, a blast from the steakhouse past.  

Smartly, Cattlemen’s warns newcomers and tourists not to order its charcoal-broiled steaks cooked beyond medium. Like most steakhouses, Cattlemen’s insists on serving its steaks medium-rare to medium, to retain flavor and juiciness. 

2458 N. Main St., cattlemenssteakhouse.com

Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse  

Opened in the mid-’90s, Del Frisco’s helped bring a certain touch of class and sophistication to the city’s steakhouse scene. Housed in a historic building downtown, across the street from the convention center and the hotel where JFK spent his last night alive, Del’s is now a part of a monolithic corporation, but the Fort Worth location has held onto its charisma, a combination of white glove and work glove. You’ll be pampered in a rustic, Texas atmosphere. 

Even with so much competition, much of it within the same block of Main Street, many local steak-lovers still consider Del’s to be the best, both in terms of service and quality of food.  

Fans rave of the hands-on, highly informed servers, the handsome atmosphere, and the vast collection of steaks. Choose from wet and dry-aged steaks, Australian wagyu and Japanese wagyu, Akushi rib-eye and American rib-eye. It’s a dizzying prospect, but one thing is for certain; no matter what you choose, it’ll be the right decision. 

812 Main St., delfriscos.com

*wine pairing

Steak: Porterhouse

Wine: Cabernet, 2017 Silver Ghost

Grace  

Occupying the ground level of downtown’s 777 Main building, where its dining room peers onto Main Street, this exquisite 11-year-old American restaurant doesn’t advertise itself as a steakhouse. But it offers a half-dozen of the city’s finest steaks — no surprise, since owner Adam Jones was once the general manager of nearby Del Frisco’s.  

Executive chef Blaine Staniford’s menu features three filets, ranging in size and price. The go-to is the 6-ounce, all-natural filet from 44 Farms. The restaurant’s pride and joy: a 20-ounce, dry-aged, bone-in rib-eye.  

Toppings and sauces go against the grain of the norm. There’s an espresso horseradish sauce, cognac peppercorn marrow, housemade thick-cut bacon and black truffle butter. 

777 Main St., gracefortworth.com 

*wine pairing

Steak: Rib-eye 

Wine: Italian red, 2001 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo 

H3 Ranch 

H3 may not be the first place you think of for steak in the Stockyards, but you should think of it. There’s a vast selection from which to choose, and the open dining room employs an upbeat, hustle-bustle energy that feels more roadhouse than steakhouse. For brunch, the place is a real gem, offering left-of-center dishes like a red pepper omelette and rainbow trout and eggs. 

Steaks are prepared over a hickory-fueled wood grill and include standards such as a porterhouse, bone-in rib-eye, and New York Strip. A center-cut tenderloin is uniquely presented: on fire, thanks to a dousing of rum. A 12-ounce smoked sirloin may be your best bet. It’s moderately priced at $28; slow-smoked, it’s as tender and flavorful as any high-end steak that costs double. 

109 E. Exchange Ave., h3ranch.com

Hoffbrau Steak & Grill House 

The local Hoffbrau twins — the three decade-old original in Fort Worth and a new Benbrook location — are the closest things we’ll come to the approachable (and affordable) steakhouses of yesterday, places like Sizzler. Both locations offer a family-friendly atmosphere, one-part Texana, one-part sports bar. 

And both know how to put out good steaks. Steaks are certified angus and are offered in multiple cuts: a coffee-rubbed rib-eye; a pepper-crusted sirloin; a 6-ounce center-cut filet topped with poblano sauce; and a simple chopped steak topped with sauteed onions.  

Servers are incredibly attentive here, making sure your steak was cooked per your request — a nice touch that even high-end places sometimes miss. 

Multiple locations, hoffbrausteakandgrill.com

Lonesome Dove

Local celebrity chef Tim Love's flagship restaurant — a year away from turning 20 — is known for unusual game dishes, such as kangaroo carpaccio, elk sliders, and rattlesnake sausage. Those dishes often overshadow the attention Lonesome Dove pays to plain ol' beef. In an atmosphere both romantic and rustic, Love offers a handful of hand-cut steaks, tenderloin, New York Strip and wagyu Tomahawk among them; the latter is an enough-for-two monster priced at $115. The tenderloin is also featured on the regular menu, wherein it comes stuffed with roasted garlic and is served with a side of hashbrowns spiked with sweet red peppers, cabbage, and jalapeños. 

2406 Main St., lonesomedovefortworth.com

M&M Steak House 

Since 1951, when it opened under the name Papa Joe’s, this charmingly rustic hole in the wall on Fort Worth’s North Side has sated the appetites of steak lovers of all ages, races, and economic situations. It’s the Fred’s of steakhouses, a place so Fort Worth, it’d die an instant death if you picked it up and put it in, say, Hurst. Taxidermy lines the walls, an old jukebox plays Loretta Lynn and George Strait, and waitress Debbie Hall waxes nostalgic about her grandparents, who met while working at the old Swift Armour in the Stockyards nearly 100 years ago. “That’s how I learned so much about meat,” she says. Order your steak medium-rare, she’ll wink and retort: “That’s the best way.”  

Each of the restaurant’s cuts — three T-bones, ranging in size from 16 to 26 ounces, sirloin for two, filet mignon, and rib-eyes — are sprinkled or showered with a housemade garlic seasoning. You decide how much you want — light, original, or heavy. No matter what you choose, it will come with a baked potato, wrapped in tin foil, Texas toast, green beans, and a salad topped with housemade Ranch dressing. You’re told from the get-go, there are no additional salad dressings. It’s ranch or nothing. Only in Fort Worth. 

1106 NW 28th St., 817-624-0612

Mercury Chophouse 

After 17 years on Main Street, this underrated steakhouse moved into new digs in 2016, taking over the ground-level floor of downtown’s The Tower. Removed from the nuttiness of Main Street, it’s now an oasis of quiet, where first dates and personal triumphs are celebrated with the clinking of wine glasses and the ordering of New York strips and broiled lobster tail. The diagonally positioned, floor-to-ceiling slabs of concrete, left behind from the building’s original bank tenant, remain a cool architectural wonder, not to mention a way to get a bit of privacy.  

Owner Zack Moutaouakil, who purchased the restaurant from the M Group (owners of nearby Taco Diner and Mi Cocina), has barely touched the menu over the years, keeping the focus on steaks, as well as seafood, wine, and decadent desserts.  

From the half-dozen steaks, the 18-ounce, bone-in veal chop is the must-do. It’s a tender and flavor-packed wonder, with a silky-smooth texture and irresistible buttery taste. 

525 Taylor St., mercuryfw.com

*wine pairing

Steak: Filet 

Wine: Spanish wine, 2004 Ontañón

Riscky’s Steakhouse 

There are so many great steakhouses in Fort Worth, you almost forget about the one right smack dab in the middle of where Fort Worth’s long tradition with beef began. Theo's Saddle & Sirloin Inn opened in the early 1920s at the location where Riscky's Steakhouse is now, on Exchange Avenue in the Stockyards. Theo's was the first restaurant in the U.S. to offer calf fries on its menu — it sold the “calf fry sandwich” for 15 cents.  

Riscky's bought Theo's Saddle & Sirloin Inn in 1993, changed the name to Riscky's Steakhouse, but kept all the original recipes. The restaurant’s signature steak is Riscky's Steakhouse' Cowboy Bone-In Ribeye, a 17-ounce, Certified Angus prime, bone-in rib-eye, with a short frenched bone and generous marbling. It comes seasoned with the restaurant’s “Wally Dust,” a blend of salt, pepper, and garlic. 

120 E. Exchange Ave., risckys.com

Ruth’s Chris Steak House 

Every steakhouse has its rabid followers, and the Fort Worth location of this New Orleans-born chain, found in the Hilton downtown, is no different. Fans eagerly flock here for its wide drink selection, romantic atmosphere, and the “sizzle” component of its steaks. Before each steak leaves the kitchen, a tablespoon of butter is added to each plate, which is always hot, creating a sizzling sound similar to the crackle of fajitas.  

The restaurant specializes in USDA prime steaks. Artfully presented, ready to be Instagrammed, the cuts include a beautiful Tomahawk rib-eye, a 40-ounce monster a table of four could handle; a beautifully marbled rib-eye; and the restaurant's signature steak, a 19-ounce, bone-in New York strip. The latter goes well with the Oscar-style topping of a jumbo lump crab cake, asparagus, and béarnaise sauce. It's every bit as decadent — and delicious — as it sounds.     

Silver Fox

From the outside, this long-running TCU-area steakhouse, part of the same corporate restaurant group that owns El Chico, Cool River Cafe, III Forks and others, looks wholly unassuming, like a doctor's office or bank. Once inside, though, you'll comfortably cascade into the familiar confines of a classic steakhouse: low lights, buzzing, attentive servers, the smell of meat. 

Servers here are exceptionally well-trained in the art of selling the restaurant's USDA prime meat. They'll most certainly talk up their well-marbled rib-eyes but the undiscovered gem may be a new item: a bone-in filet, not exactly a common cut. For a side, try the smoked mac and Gouda cheese. The restaurant is also well known for its extensive wine cellar, more than 2,600 bottles strong. 

1651 South University Drive, silverfoxcafe.com

Staking Their Claim

The best steaks don't have to come from steakhouses.

Bonnell's Fine Texas Cuisine: Jon Bonnell's namesake restaurant in southwest Fort Worth is known primarily for one thing: meat. So it makes perfect sense his west side spot would serve a great steak. Try the wagyu rib-eye, dry-aged for 35 days and weighing in around 12-14 ounces — enough for two. bonnellstexas.com

Ellerbe: This New Orleans-inspired restaurant on the Near Southside isn't exactly known for steaks. But regulars know chef Molly McCook serves an absolute stunner of a sirloin. Called a "baseball cut," it's cut from the center of the top sirloin and is unbelievably tender. McCook serves the steak year-round, dressing it in an ever-changing landscape of seasonal veggies. Right now, those include squash and roasted Brussels sprouts. ellerbefinefoods.com

Eddie V's: Although known primarily for seafood, the stylish, museum district location of this national chain serves an impressive selection of hand-cut steaks, including a USDA prime, bone-in New York Strip. Splurge the extra bucks and get it with the cracked black peppercorn cognac sauce. eddiev.com

Clay Pigeon Food & Drink: Just north of downtown, local chef Marcus Paslay's popular homage to American classics includes a New York Strip and a 36-ounce porterhouse, served with trimmings such as creamy horseradish and roasted garlic aioli. claypigeonfd.com

Reata: Forget the tenderloin tamales just this once and try this downtown institution's charbroiled rib-eye; you may never go back to those tamales. Well, that may be overstating it. Those tamales are damn good. reata.net 

What makes a killer steak even better? A killer side. 

Of course, the obligatory — and, for some, mandatory — side is the baked potato, loaded with butter, sour cream, chives, and even more butter, sour cream, and chives. It’s the steak’s lifelong partner — till death do they part.  

No slight to this essential pairing, but there are other sides in the sea. For those burned on baked-p's, here are five fine alternatives:  

Calf fries, Riscky’s Steakhouse 

Even if it’s just a tiny nibble, you gotta try the calf fries at Riscky’s — a Fort Worth food experience as essential as a sandwich at Carshon’s or a burger at Fred’s. The restaurant batters and deep-fries the bovine testicles to a golden brown, adds seasoning, then tops them with housemade country gravy. The meat is tender — some compare it to veal. C’mon, just one bite? 

Mac and cheese, Grace 

For many, mac and cheese is becoming the side dish du jour for steaks, and there’s not a better rendition in the city than the one dreamed up by Grace chef Blaine Staniford. His M&C is laced with a pair of secret weapons: caramelized onions and Anaheim peppers, a one-two punch of sweet and heat. For a few bucks more, the mac and cheese is crowned with a dollop of crab meat. Of course, you want to do that.  

Corn soufflé, B&B Butchers & Restaurant 

If you ask your server at B&B to recommend a side, he or she will most likely ask you: “Are you looking for something healthy?” The right answer is “no.” You can eat Brussels sprouts and roasted cauliflower any time. Here, get the restaurant’s signature side, corn soufflé. Picture a cornbread casserole topped with the restaurant’s version of “rajas,” a combo of poblano peppers, heavy whipping cream, and pepper jack cheese.  

Grilled asparagus, the Capital Grille

Those who insist on having something green on their plate cannot go wrong with The Capital Grille’s grilled asparagus, lightly drizzled with lemon and sprinkled with fleur de sel, a hard-to-find French sea salt.

Potatoes au gratin, Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse 

Order potatoes if you must at Del Frisco’s, but make sure they’re the right potatoes. Del Frisco’s take on this classic dish forgoes potato slices in favor of cubes and onions in favor of bacon. This is more like a traditional baked potato, diced and bathed and baked in a roux of melted butter, finely chopped bacon, green onions, and some very, very good aged cheddar.