Louisville's Best Steak Restaurants

Restaurants that serve great or even mediocre steaks, age the meat 28 days or more before they cook it. The meat we buy retail is "green" or fresh, not aged. The meat is much firmer and has not "relaxed". Fine red meat like wine needs to age before it is ready to cook. The top steakhouses listed, Jack Fry's, Pat's, Z's, etc all age their meat. So do Outback and Texas Roadhouse.
Jeff Ruby's, Ruth Chris and Del Frisco's all serve USDA Prime, which is not available retail. Well not here, it is in Omaha, Chicago, Kansas City and New York. Prime is considered by the retail consumer as fatty, but that marbling is what makes the steak.
Some may feel they can recreate the same steak at home, but alas the same ingredients are not available. You can buy aged USDA Choice and Prime on the internet. Stockyards.com sells retail on the internet, their steaks are very good, but come to you frozen which again compromises the integrity of the meat.

I wish I could do a blind tasting to judge the difference.

Jeff Ruby's, Ruth Chris and Del Frisco's all serve USDA Prime, which is not available retail. Well not here, it is in Omaha, Chicago, Kansas City and New York. Prime is considered by the retail consumer as fatty, but that marbling is what makes the steak.
Some may feel they can recreate the same steak at home, but alas the same ingredients are not available. You can buy aged USDA Choice and Prime on the internet. Stockyards.com sells retail on the internet, their steaks are very good, but come to you frozen which again compromises the integrity of the meat.

Are you sure about that? This is from the Kingsley's web site:

"Kingsley sells exclusively Aged Prime Beef, flown in fresh seafood, ice packed poultry, and home-cooked gourmet deli products. Our two locations help to provide a buying power and cost advantage we pass on to our patrons."

They also tell be it is prime when I shop there. Is "prime" and USDA prime" different? Anyway, it's delicious, but my problem is that i don't think my grill is quite hot enough to cook the meat to it's full potential.

You can get anything you want if you are willing to pay for it.

In response to the difference between Prime and USDA Prime:
Yes there is a big difference. ANYONE can sell prime beef. The word prime means absolutely nothing. USDA Prime is grded by the USDA and will say USDA Prime on the package and/or the product.
As for aging, anyone can age the meat, there are two methods wet age and dry age, but both are subject to temperature. If it is too cold, the aging process does not help the meat relax.

As for getting anything if you are willing to pay for it, sure you can! Less than 8% of commercially grown cattle are graded USDA Prime. All of that product is allocated. None of it gets sold retail. Stockyards is a commercial meat processor that does the steaks for steakhouses such as Morton's and Z's Oyster Bar. They are allocated USDA Prime and can sell it to whomever they like.
Kingsley's, Paul's Fruit Market, Fresh Market can all buy USDA Prime from a redistributor. The problem is - is it prime or USDA Prime? If it does not say USDA Prime, it isn't Prime. If it doesn't say USDA Choice, it isn't Coice and if it doesn't say USDA Select it isn't Select. Even if you were able to buy USDA Prime retail, it would most likely not be aged and the quality would not be the same as what you get at your favorite steakhouse.
To simplify all I have written - You can't make the same steak you get from Z's, Jack Fry's, Jeff Ruby's, etc. at home without a lot of work or expense. I for one would prefer someone wait on me and cook it to my satisfaction. At $22/lb if they mess it up, it is their problem.

Here is a link on USDA Prime
http://www.ams.usda.gov/kidsweb/beefgrades.htm

$22/pound is in the ball park for what we pay for "high-end" steak...obviously kobe beef etc. can run higher. I'm not suggesting that what one can do at home is "better" than Jeff Ruby's, but with time, effort, and some expense one can get damn close. It's fun especially in the summer when the yard is looking great and we can eat outside.

Also we like to drink wine from our "collection" as opposed to paying twice retail or more.

This may sound like a stupid question, and I'm sure I could research an answer on my own, but... what is the result of dry ice packing and shipping. I once had a roommate who received Omaha steaks through the mail in dry iced boxes. I don't think they were frozen on arrival, or were they?

This may sound like a stupid question, and I'm sure I could research an answer on my own, but... what is the result of dry ice packing and shipping. I once had a roommate who received Omaha steaks through the mail in dry iced boxes. I don't think they were frozen on arrival, or were they?

Omaha steaks are definitely frozen when you receive them (or should be) dry ice's temperature is about -180°in my memory serves me correctly but it's definitely much colder than regular ice and if the meat wasn't frozen when it was put in the box it would freeze during shipment. If you receive it in it's not frozen it's probably gone bad!

Oops, I obviously have a faulty memory and zero knowledge of dry ice. Thanks for the clarity.

Here is a link on USDA Prime
http://www.ams.usda.gov/kidsweb/beefgrades.htm

Yum, fat is a good thing.

with great sides but mediocre meat, I think Morton's is way overrated. for a chain, I like Ruth's Chris. for indie, Pat's

The top steakhouses listed, Jack Fry's, Pat's, Z's, etc all age their meat.

when did Jack Fry's become a top steakhouse? It's a great restaurant, but I've never thought of it as a steakhouse. I think it has one steak on its menu. Is that one even aged or prime?

Apart from those mentioned in this thread, the only other aged USDA Prime that I have found is at John E's. Anyone know of any others?

PS: I have also found aged (that's my selection-breaker) Choice at O'Charley's and, surprisingly, Cracker Barrel.

They sell aged beef at Whole Foods.