This Steakhouse Chain Makes The Most Delicious Porterhouse Steak Of Them All
There are, undoubtedly, dozens of options for a nice night out at a steakhouse when you're in the mood to put on fancy clothes and break out the heirloom jewelry. It's okay to be picky when it comes to finding a restaurant that makes the absolute best version of your favorite cut of steak (here's your guide to different cuts of steak) — you're paying good money for it, after all. To help you narrow that vast selection, we scoured online reviews to rank 12 porterhouse steaks from steakhouse chains across the country and determined that nothing comes close to a good porterhouse from Smith & Wollensky.
According to our research, restaurant goers really, really love this steak. We saw words like "amazing," "perfect," and "delicious" when it came to describing the high-end, rich, marbled meat. Smith & Wollensky is known for its dry-aged steaks, a process that makes the porterhouse cut quite possibly the best porterhouse customers have ever had. Reviewers often explained that the steak was cooked perfectly, and the general experience in the restaurant was one to remember. Smith & Wollensky offers a 38-ounce, gold-grade wagyu porterhouse steak, which happens to be the fan favorite, but there's also a 42-ounce USDA Prime dry-aged porterhouse for two.
How Smith & Wollensky became a household name
Smith & Wollensky was opened in Manhattan, New York, in 1977 by founder Alan Stillman, who chose the name by randomly flipping through a phonebook. While the original NYC location is still owned and operated by Stillman and the Quality Branded Restaurant Group, the other 14 Smith & Wollensky locations, both nationally and internationally, operate under the PPX Hospitality Brands name. Great quality food and customer service have always been some of the cornerstones of the Smith & Wollensky brand, with the chain going so far as to create its own unique steak knife for a heightened customer experience.
Smith & Wollensky's steaks are infamous not only in Tasting Table's world (for the porterhouse and filet mignon, which we ranked among the 17 best filet mignons in New York City), but in pop culture, as well. In the 2000 thriller "American Psycho," Christian Bale and Willem Dafoe's characters are eating lunch at Smith & Wollensky. In 2006's "The Devil Wears Prada," Anne Hathaway's character picks up a steak for Meryl Streep's character from Manhattan's Smith & Wollensky location. With a menu full of 28-day dry-aged, USDA Prime, sustainably harvested meat and a pop culture reference sheet that spans a mile long, Smith & Wollensky easily takes the top spot as the most delicious porterhouse steak of all.