Hey all. Well, I've been thinking about ordering some nice steaks online. Only question is from where? I know there's Omaha steaks, but is that the best place? I can't find a place here in town that sells any really top end steak, like wagyu. Or some good buffalo steaks. Any ideas?
Try this and let me know how it is. I was going to order it and try it myself. Its a very good price if its good. http://m.costco.com/D’Artagnan-Japanese-Wagyu-Boneless-Ribeye-Roast-A-5-Grade.product.100082950.html
I haven't ordered from LaFrida's, but they supply many restaurants in the NYC area. http://www.lafrieda.com
Wow! You living in Texas and can't find a good butcher shop selling prime cut steaks. That is really hard to believe. I'm no help on your original question. I never have.
I was thinking the same thing. Wagyu must be some really great stuff. I would think in Texas you could find incredible beef that was still breathing that morning. And I don't mean this to be an insult, but if I were getting something like that, I would want a pro to prepare and cook it. Just my $.02 USD.
For American Kobe, I've always heard great things about Snake River Farms. My sister and her husband ordered from there and were very happy. As for bison, my lady lives in CO and I can get recs from her later today.
My mother used to by me Omaha steaks. They are not good. You can get better meat fresh at Winn-Dixie around here.
If you know what you are looking for you can find the best steak in a display case. Here in the Seattle area there is a specialty meat market and they always have a couple of dozen steaks for each cut on display. I have yet to be disappointed when cooking them at home. But as has been mentioned before, there is as much if not more in the preparation of a great steak. One time I got distracted grilling some NY strips, and when I realized it, they were on fire from the rendered fat. It was bad enough at $12/lb, couldn't imagine it if it was priced that much or more per oz.
Well, I currently live outside of Omaha and never go to Omaha Steaks (nee' Simon's Meats). For great steak, I go to the Stoysich meat market here, but I don't think they do mail order. There are other local meat markets that are just as good or better than Omaha Steaks. Now, I see by your location, you're in Austin, which is just as much steak country as Omaha. I would search out local smaller independent meat markets that do not advertise but get their business by word of mouth. I'm sure there are several of them down there.
Ditto on checking local. Around here a lot of producers/ranchers/farmers sell at farmers markets (my neighbors raise buffalo and 90% of their product is sold at local farmer's markets) You can check localharvest.org by zip code too.... (I just searched "meat" and "austin, tx" and these are the results: http://www.localharvest.org/search.jsp?jmp&scale=8&lat=30.271566&lon=-97.74188&nm=meat)
We've ordered steaks from Kansas City Steaks. It's been hit and miss. Their filet mignon is good, but some of the other cuts not so much.
Are you familiar with this website, located in Flatonia, TX? www.heartbrandbeef.com They supply Wagyu Akaushi (Japanese Red) Kobe to high end restaurants around Texas (although none in Austin that I know of) as well as online sales. Bohanens and Pappas Bro's Steakhouse in Houston serve it - we splurged one time at Pappas and steak was so tender and flavorful, but I'm not a connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination......their website has loads of info including restaurants serving their beef... A good butcher shop in Austin (no wagyu that I know of ) but good steak and other meat choices. Salt & Time on East 7th Street (closed Monday's). Keep us posted on your findings!
As with mislabeled fish, you need to be concerned about the provenance of your beef, and the more unique or rare it is, the more suspect you need to be. The times we've been given Omaha Steaks products we've always smiled, said thank you and waited for an underperforming experience. I simply don't get it. We don't exactly live in a bustling metropolis but we can go several places in town and score better product; well, we did just lose one of those since Haggen decided to implode. A good butcher shop is a real boon to have. We have a cattle rancher or two here, I hope we hear from 'em.
I've heard Snake River Farms is good from multiple sources. When Franklin BBQ in Austin is having a hard time procuring meats, it's the first place he turns too.