Budget and Heritage Steak Houses

In alphabetical order.

CASPERS’ CHEROKEE SIRLOIN ROOM
886 Smith Ave. S., West St. Paul, 651-457-2729

The House: A neighborhood restaurant–feel, complete with “how ya’ doin’, hon?” hospitality.
What to Order: Grilled rib eye is the best choice. Nice marbling, with good flavor and texture.
The Meat: Wet-aged Choice beef is fired on a gas grill.
Who’s There: The Mancini’s crowd on the one night of the week they aren’t at their West 7th clubhouse.
Here’s the Beef: Off-putting gas and charcoal odors on the beef; fake food ingredients everywhere. Affordable or not, there’s no excuse. The porterhouse was nearly inedibly spongy.
Chew on This: Velveeta on au gratin potatoes is not clever or fun, it’s bad cooking; ditto pre-grated domestic Parmesan.

ERTé
323 13th Ave. NE, Mpls., 612-623-4211

The  House: Erté is a beautiful neighborhood bistro, a charming surprise for this first-time visitor. The main dining room is polished wood with well-spaced tables, and the Peacock Lounge, with its pressed-tin ceiling and vintage bar, is a beautiful stop for a drink before dinner.
What to Order: Superb brisket and a beautiful rib eye are both must-haves. The thin pancake of shredded-potato hash browns was nearly flawless. Creamed spinach is farm-fresh creamy and flecked with onion. Sirloin was good, but gritty.
The Meat: Most of the steaks are wet-aged Choice, but the sirloin is Prime, and the filet is Angus (see meat-grade sidebar). All are fired on a gas grill.
Who’s There: Mostly neighborhood types who think The Modern is too chic and Jax too old-fashioned. But not enough people, that’s for sure; the dining room was quiet on the Friday night I was there.
Here’s the Beef: A savvy reputation for seafood and steaks got me all atwitter, but the cowboy shrimp and the crab cakes were both disappointing.
Chew on This: The best thing about Erté may be the homemade steak sauce that accompanies the meats. Wow! (And this from a man who never puts anything other than sea salt on beef.) It is pitch-perfect, sassy and tart, loaded with sweet spices, and should be bottled in large quart jars and sitting in every home. The live music that I find a distraction in most restaurants is a huge plus here, perhaps because the acoustics work and the music was in the background.

JAX CAFÉ
1928 University Ave. NE, Mpls., 612-789-7297

The House: Old-world charm (check out the bar or the dining room off the patio) abounds in this family-run heritage restaurant that still prints out those darling custom matchbooks for diners with a reservation. Date night is a must here for anyone looking for a fun change of pace from the same-old, same-old.
What to Order: Go for the boneless spice-rubbed rib eye—it’s a little fatty, but offers phenomenal melting texture and beefy flavor. The porterhouse was oddly firm, with little marbling, but had great flavor. Chicken Kiev is a traditionalist’s edible dream.
The Meat: Wet-aged Choice is thrown on the gas grill, but the filet gets treated to a 1,200-degree broiler.
Who’s There: Nordeast families that have been regulars for years and eager foodies looking for a retro experience.
Here’s the Beef: In a restaurant world hell-bent on showcasing new techniques, promoting celebrity chefs, and out-muscling each other for the best ingredients, old-school eateries like Jax are struggling to find the next generation of customers.
Chew on This: The steak at Jax was very good, despite fat and gristle on the sirloin edge of the porterhouse. All steaks come on a bed of mushrooms and onions, a nice touch. The Parmesan–broiled tomatoes are a perfect foil for the beef, ditto the crispy hash browns.

THE LEXINGTON
1096 Grand Ave., St. Paul, 651-222-5878

The House: The dining room is the perfect place to take Grandma for a meal; the bar is the ideal spot to eat with just about anyone—one of the best rooms in town to grab a casual meal. This seventy-two-year-old restaurant is heritage with a capital H and still run the way it was when FDR was president.
What to Order: When it comes to steak, the sirloin is outstanding, with as good a flavor-and-texture profile as you will find in any steak house in this category, and the bone-in tenderloin is one of the best in town. Order ’em with the superb and crusty hash browns.
The Meat: Broiled, wet-aged Choice is the Lexington’s stock-in-trade.
Who’s There: The Lex is the hangout of choice for both the hipster generation of Crocus Hill and the entire St. Paul political wonkisphere.
Here’s the Beef: While the quality of the steaks has remained high and service is superb, much of the menu seems oddly behind the times. Parmesan–crusted calamari with cocktail sauce anyone?
Chew on This: The Lex is all about comfort food. The pork chop with Creole ham-potato hash is one of my faves, as are braised short ribs, turkey dinner specials, and coconut shrimp.

LINDEY’S PRIME STEAK HOUSE
3600 Snelling Ave. N., Arden Hills, 651-633-9813

The House: This 1958 steak house is virtually unchanged since it opened. Fireplaces, wooden retro bars, a polished pine interior, and the funky signage is all 100 percent original in an era when large companies pay top dollar to get a designer to achieve the same effect.
What to Order: The Special sirloin, and wash it down with some very good cheesecake. All the steaks come with crisped hash browns, which taste like poultry stuffing and might be my new favorite guilty pleasure.
The Meat: Wet-aged Choice—all broiled and carved tableside—from the same meat purveyor Lindey’s has been purchasing from for forty-eight years.
Who’s There: An amazingly devoted clientele of locals all with fond memories of bygone eras and a strong desire to keep them alive. Almost every table could be overheard sighing wistfully over the strong highballs and garlic-scented hot dog buns sliced into rolls.
Here’s the Beef: A three-item menu makes this restaurant only for beef lovers. The taste-and-texture quotient is suboptimal, but fans of old-world supper-club slice-and-serve sirloin will like Lindey’s.
Chew on This: The Special sirloin here is the heart of the top sirloin. Despite its grainy quality, sizzle-platter service, and the odd dressing on the iceberg salad, the unassuming nature of this place is charming. The steaks are nothing special, but the overall vibe is like borrowing Grandpa’s sweater.

MANCINI’S CHAR HOUSE & LOUNGE
531 W. 7th St., St. Paul, 651-224-7346

The House: From the Monroe High School pictorial wall of fame to the 1970s-style lounge with more mirrors and brass railings than Zsa Zsa Gabor’s boudoir, the best part of the Mancini’s experience is the room. The main dining room reminds me of a VFW hall. This place is a blast to visit for a few drinks and a glimpse into another world.
What to Order: The New York strip is the best of the steak offerings.
The Meat: Mancini’s cooks its beef over a grill with lava rocks, but could not give me a consistent answer about the provenance of the meat itself. Wet-aged Choice is the best guess.
Who’s There: All of “old” St. Paul. I stopped by Mancini’s three times in one week and it was packed every night. That said, half the patrons were men wearing jeans shorts to their knees and tank tops with sayings such as “1 Corona, 2 Corona, 3 Corona, Floor.”
Here’s the Beef: Mancini’s is an experience, a scene, a place to come to be here. It’s incredibly set in its ways and popular and operates without a shred of irony. But it’s not about the food. I’d say caveat emptor, but no one speaks Latin in Mancini’s.
Chew on This: The tenderloin was cooked perfectly to medium rare, but was livery, grainy, and metallic. At $26 for a New York strip, it should have been better than fair.

WILDFIRE
Eden Prairie Center, Eden Prairie, 952-914-9100

The House: “A 1940s supper-club–themed steak house” is how Lettuce Entertain You describes one of its more successful brands. This outpost in Eden Prairie Center is filled with deep booths, a large open-fire kitchen, and loads of customers.
What to Order: The food is generally good. Burgers and chopped salads are great choices at lunch, and the kitchen does a very nice job with salmon. The key lime pie is without a doubt the best version in the Twin Cities. If you like horseradish or blue cheese crusts on meat, Wildfire’s got ’em. If you don’t, blame Wildfire—it started the crazy trend.
The Meat: Stock Yards Beef is served at Wildfire, a branded wet-aged Choice product, although management insists the New York strip is Prime.
Who’s There: The Eden Prairie Center faithful.
Here’s the Beef: There’s a mildly ersatz vibe to almost every element of the restaurant. The name implies serious open-fire cooking, but the equipment is gas-assisted. The intended aura is luxury steak house, but it’s designed to make everyone feel at home. You can’t have it both ways.
Chew on This: Our broiled rib eye and porterhouse were both grainy, lacked marbling, burnt on the edges, and overcooked in the middle, with almost no real beef flavor.