A Steakhouse without the Steak?

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According to Alina Dizik in The Wall Street Journal, diners are looking for the steakhouse experience without the steak. For cost and dietary reasons, diners’ tastes are changing despite wanting the experience they get in a traditional steakhouse. Dizik writes:

Diners are starting to care more about the sizzle of a steakhouse than the steak itself.

Steakhouse vibes are in style. The restaurants, magnets for expense-account dining, have long tried to appeal to a wider set of diners, including more women. Many have parted ways with stuffy decor and strict dress codes. Now some are trying harder to cater to the diners who want to skip the filet mignon altogether.

With beef prices still rising, it’s become more expensive for diners to order steak. Wholesale beef prices were up more than 13% for 2023 and could climb another 7% in 2024 as beef production continues to drop, according to Gro Intelligence, a data and analytics company. A steak dinner costs $100 or more a person at many upscale steakhouses.

To ring in 2024, Paris Birkner took part in the viral in-and-out lists circulating on social media. At the top of her ins for this year: “steakhouses, but not steak.” The 27-year-old New Yorker works in advertising in New York and takes clients to steakhouses several times a month.

She loves eating in the dimly lighted spaces with classic martinis and fresh shrimp cocktails. Steak, however, “is never the star of the show,” she says.

Where’s the beef?

The number of restaurants offering steak as a main dish is down 7% since 2020 and 14% over the past 10 years, according to Datassential, a food-industry market research firm.

“People are more conscious of what they’re spending,” says Doug Psaltis, co-owner of Asador Bastian, a Basque-inspired Chicago steakhouse that opened in 2023. The restaurant’s steaks are priced per pound and cost diners between $63 and $90 a person.

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