In this new feature, we will take a look at the most (not necessarily the best) reviewed restaurants in a particular cuisine or neighborhood. This week, steakhouses.
Of the many appellations that get applied to Chicago, “great steak town” is among the more beloved and deserved. We have sixty-two of them in the database, of which almost three quarters are downtown - not a shocker. But when we checked to see which steakhouses have received the most reviews over the past…what, year and a half now?…we were pretty surprised by the outcome. Not because of their geographical locations (only one of the seven most reviewed steakhouses is outside of our Downtown area), but by the subgenre of the restaurants, especially the top three - they’re largely Latin. Let’s stop beating around the barby and present you the list:
1) Joe’s Stone Crab (8)
1) Tango Sur (8)
1) Brazzaz (8)
2) Gibson’s Steakhouse (4)
2) Fogo de Chao (4)
3) Fulton’s On the River (3)
3) Nine Steak House (N9NE) (3)
Yeah, so none of the top three are traditional steakhouses, and the only one on the list that really deserves that moniker is Gibson’s. Fulton’s and Nine, what with their sushi and caviar, are nouveau, and Joe’s is equal parts seafood shack and steakhouse. This leaves Tango Sur, which is Argentinean, BYO and modestly priced, and both Chicago churrascarias, Brazzaz and Fogo de Chao.
Does this mean that Chicagoans are abandoning their Chop Houses and Sullivans and (heavens forefend) Harry Carays? No, not really. Each of those has two reviews, which is not significantly less than the three that would have awarded them the bronze. But certainly, we seem to be looking for our red meat in a variety of venues these days, and we think diversity in steakhouse style is great. There’s room enough in our stomach for the classics and the newcomers.
[Photo: a mammoth surf & turf (with someone’s arm for comparison), Gibson’s, rycecakes/flickr]
