LAGuide
Where To Eat Steak When You Don’t Like Steakhouses
photo credit: Jakob Layman
At this point in your LA residency, you’ve got your salad routine down to a science. That said, there are likely still those days when red meat cravings strike and your body won’t cooperate until it has a perfectly-cooked piece of cow inside of it. While a steakhouse is the easy answer in these situations, the issue is that most of them are stuffy and corporate and full of guys in suits shouting about how they’ve already been to the Dubai location. Here’s the good news - there are plenty of restaurants in this town where you can eat a good steak and not have to deal with any of that. Start with these 11.
The Spots
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Walk into this modern Peruvian spot any day of the week and you’ll be greeted by every Tinder date, girls night out, and after-work drinks happening in the city. That’s because it’s pretty enjoyable here. The bright space looks like the inside of a billionaire’s private greenhouse and the food is solid across-the-board. The wood-grilled ribeye is excellent, and the paella and ceviche should definitely be ordered as well.
photo credit: Jakob Layman
All Time is one of our favorite places to eat on the Eastside, and while most people at this all-day cafe are eating breakfast sandwiches, burrata-covered focaccia, and Good Ass Salads, you should try one of their big plates of meat. $75 might seem steep for a ribeye served at a Los Feliz coffee shop, but this thing easily feeds two people and is so much better than some gravy-drenched disaster you would get along La Cienega.
photo credit: Andrea D'Agosto
There are very few good food options at The Original Farmer’s Market, but Pampas Grill is one of them. Come to this Brazilian churrascaria for sirloin cap, leg of lamb, and spicy chicken thighs. It’s cafeteria-style and you pay by weight, so grab a tray on the side and load up all the meat you can while your visiting cousins take photos in front of a trolley at The Grove that isn’t even remotely historic.
photo credit: Holly Liss
What often gets lost in the boozy horchatas, house-made tortillas, and sprawling patio at Salazar is the fact that this Eastside Mexican spot does a very good steak. Both the porterhouse and the hangar steak here are tremendous, and when placed inside the previously mentioned tortillas, things get even better. Make sure the tres leches cake makes an appearance at the end.
photo credit: Roman Roze
This spot is Permanently Closed.
Animal is a tiny, minimalist restaurant on Fairfax with one of the most creative meat-focused menus in the city. If everything about that last sentence terrifies you, relax. This modern spot is unpretentious, easy to get into, and has food that’s not nearly as bizarre as it looks on paper. Whether you go for the spicy beef tendon chips, sirloin carpaccio, oxtail poutine, or tomahawk chop, a meal at Animal is about as far away from a stuffy steakhouse experience as you can get.
photo credit: Jakob Layman
LA has more good Korean BBQ restaurants than it knows what to do with, but it’s hard to top the quality of meat at Park’s. Your order is the P-1 Combo, which for $99 total gets you unlimited banchan (tiny side dishes), boneless short rib, ribeye steak, and their signature bulgogi. It easily feeds four people.
If you’re looking to celebrate yourself (or someone else) in the highest form possible, Chi Spacca is LA’s ultimate throw-down restaurant. You’re going to spend a lot of money here (they have a $225 porterhouse on the menu), but as long as you know that going in, everything about this meat-focused Italian restaurant delivers. It’s also small and intimate, so you’ll kind of feel like you own the place.
In reality, Lawry’s is the steakhousiest steakhouse of all steakhouses. But we’re putting it on here because once you sit down, it doesn’t feel anything like one. The gigantic space on La Cienega is like eating dinner inside of a cruise ship - complete with giant booths, oil paintings of nondescript monarchs, and a gleaming prime rib cart that roams around the dining room. Yes, it’s gimmicky and dated, but it’s also completely self-aware and fun as hell. Also, that prime rib is famous for a reason.
photo credit: Jakob Layman
This spot is Permanently Closed.
One of the newest steakhouses in LA, APL is a great spot for when you accomplished something big in life and you want to reward yourself. The price point is high (there’s a $180 short rib on the menu), but nobody here is taking things too seriously. Also, the food is very good - the caesar is one of our favorites in town. It’s loud, Jimi Hendrix plays on the loudspeaker, and the table in the corner is drinking whiskey like it’s tap water. You should consider getting on their level.
When you think “Republique” you probably think really good French food - but you should also think really good meat. The beef short rib with potato mousseline is incredible, and the prime beef filet with foie gras is the power move you want to make in front of your skeptical girlfriend’s parents. The inside-a-church-in-France interior is also still just as impressive as it was when it opened.
