The Confounded Carnivore

Photo By John Anderson

Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

Mon-Thu, 5:30-10:30pm; Fri-Sat, 5:30-11pm; Sun, 5:30-10pm

Ruth's Chris Steakhouse enjoys a national reputation of the first order as a premier steakhouse serving only the finest aged prime beef. Reputations like that are tough to earn, and even more difficult to maintain. It takes constant vigilance to keep the standards at the highest levels, and occasionally slippage occurs. And sometimes that slippage, hopefully infrequent, involves a restaurant reviewer. We had wildly disparate experiences at the Austin location in the last couple of weeks. The first trip was sublime, the second much less so. But first, some background on the chain for the uninformed.

Ruth Fertel founded Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in 1965 when she bought a small, existing steak restaurant in New Orleans named Chris Steakhouse. The deal was that Ruth could keep and use the existing name if she didn't change the location. After a fire destroyed the original location, she reopened and changed the name to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. After years of success, she began to franchise the concept, and today there are some 70 restaurants spread around 55 cities in the U.S. Austin has had an outpost of the chain for years. Our version underwent a transformation some time ago, from a small, intimate spot on Guadalupe to its present incarnation on the Sixth Street side of the historic Scarbrough building at the corner of Congress.

The chain prides itself on using only Midwestern, corn-fed, aged, USDA prime grade beef cooked in an oven that sears the steaks at 1,800ö. The steaks are brought to the table on a sizzling platter, with a tablespoon of sweet butter underneath the meat. The extreme temperatures are used to seal in the juices of the steaks, and it is a procedure used by other nationally renowned steak palaces, such as Morton's, Smith & Wollensky, and Peter Luger's.

The designers of the Austin franchise have done a masterful job of keeping the grace and dignity of the building reflected in the sumptuous interior of the restaurant. One finds warm wood and art deco touches everywhere, from the overstuffed leather club seating in the lounge and waiting areas to the beautifully appointed dining room. Subdued, indirect lighting produces a warm glow that welcomes diners and cradles them comfortably, like an old favorite couch.

The cost-conscious diner might be in for a bit of sticker shock on first perusal of the menu. Steaks run in the $24 to $35 range, and all other dishes are a la carte. This is a destination for steaks of the highest quality, and as with anything else, you get what you pay for. Perceived value is of marginal interest here, while expectations for taste are paramount.

Photo By John Anderson

On our first dining experience, we wanted to beat the rush and grab a quick bite on the way home from work. We stopped in for a light supper of a salad and small steak, not certain whether such a thing existed at Ruth's Chris. After looking at the selections, the choice was made. The first course would be the Caesar salad ($5.95), and then the Petite Filet ($23.95). The salad arrived promptly and was composed of crisp romaine greens tossed with a tangy Caesar dressing, topped with anchovy and Parmesan. It was a highly respectable version of the tried-and-true treat, and a perfect starter. Next followed the much-heralded tenderloin. The platter was sizzling, with the steak surrounded by meat juices and the small pool of butter. One bite and we were in meat-eater heaven: fork-tender, succulent, and near perfect in every way. It was the consummate carnivore's dream. Expensive, but worth every penny.

So our expectations were elevated, but the next visit was less than sterling. I went with an old chum who, like me, is a retired chef. In past cooking stints we have probably trimmed and grilled thousands of cow carcasses between the two of us. He is also a master baker and knows his way around anything baked or made of flour. He had just been to eat at Morton's in San Antonio, so I thought he'd make the ideal judge of comparative quality.

We sat down in the very comfortable booth and were immediately greeted and served water. Our waiter came over to check on drink orders and deliver the wine list. The selections on the award-winning list were all excellent wines of superb vintage, but the prices are roughly three times retail. The least expensive glass of wine started at around $8.75, and the bottles began in the $35 to $40 range. The wine list was quickly dismissed in favor of the food menu, with a big "U.S. Prime" stamp embossed in gold on the cover.

For the non-red meat eater, there are selections such as roasted chicken ($19.95), Cajun shrimp ($22.50), catch of the day (market price), and lobster ($24.50 per pound). But why, pray tell, would one go to Ruth's Chris and not order a steak? We settled on our order, beginning with the chopped salad ($6.95) and the spinach salad ($5.95). But first the bread arrived. My baker buddy's assessment was that we were dealing with a mass-produced, frozen, baked-on-premise loaf. The crust could have been crispier and thicker, and the texture a bit less rubbery. It is a sourdough, and not disagreeable, but one would think that a restaurant of this caliber would make their own, in-house, or purchase a quality bread from one of the many artisan bakeries in the city.

The salads were perhaps the high point of the meal, except for the fact that the waiter first delivered me the tomato salad ($5.95), which I never ordered. My chopped salad was a melange of mixed greens with bacon, bleu cheese, and olives, dressed with lemon basil vinaigrette, topped with a layer of delightful crisp fried red onions. The other was the spinach ($5.95) with baby spinach leaves, mushrooms, bacon, and bleu cheese, topped with a sweet and sour warm dressing. Both were well presented and tasty.

The steaks were the main event, and should have been the crowning item of the meal. I chose the T-bone ($35.50) and my chum the Cowboy (bone-in) Ribeye ($29.95), both specifically ordered on the upper end of medium rare (reddish-pink, with a warm center). The steaks arrived on small salad platters that were sizzling hot, as promised. But both steaks were hanging off the sides of the plate, presumably to make them appear larger, but making it difficult to carve. Both steaks were cooked on the upper end of medium, almost medium well. And the marbling and tenderness expected from a prime steak was absent. Both steaks were chewy and slightly tough, very unlike the filet of the previous outing. The flavor was okay, but not outstanding.

When eating at Ruth's Chris, the diner should expect to receive a steak as ordered, and after assaulting the diner with constant reminders of the USDA Prime grading, the steaks should meet the loftiest of expectations, especially at those prices. And the meat should arrive on a plate that frames the steak nicely, with plenty of room to allow the diner to hack away at will.

Unfortunately, side dishes at prime steakhouses seem to be an afterthought, but shouldn't they meet the high standards of the rest of the menu? Ruth's Chris has a nice selection of items, most in the $4.25 to $5.75 range. We settled on onion rings ($5.50), which were pre-formed frozen, cornmeal-crusted circles lacking in flavor. The creamed spinach ($5.25) arrived lukewarm, and had a tasteless cream sauce hampered by an overdose of nutmeg. The baked potato ($4.75) materialized totally dressed, instead of with the toppings on the side as ordered. The split potato that followed had no fluffiness at all; in fact, it seemed as if it had been chilled and reheated, due to its slick starchiness.

Service, except for the misdelivered salad, was superlative. The entire staff was attentive without being overbearing. Water glasses mysteriously filled themselves with no notice. Bread was deftly refilled, and crumbs swept away with no interference. It couldn't have been better.

A restaurant's reputation, especially a restaurant as esteemed as Ruth's Chris, is its lifeblood, and it can also be very ephemeral. We can only hope our first encounter was the standard that Ruth's Chris hopes to live by, and not the one that we experienced on our second visit. And who knows, maybe we were the only ones in the whole restaurant that suffered that night. But what are the chances? The reins need to be tightened, to ride herd on the kitchen a little closer and to seek perfection on the subpar items. Ruth's Chris has a vaunted reputation, and to live up to that takes constant work and a magnifying glass. And we hope our second experience at Ruth's Chris was one of those bad dreams from which we shall soon wake.