Meat Thoughts by The Met

Ah, good ol’ meat – beef, specifically – it’s a food under fire, in more ways than one. Sure, most meat-lovers agree that BBQ is great, but additionally an ongoing debate rages on: some love it while others flat-out refuse to eat it. Cattle feeding is a very hot topic these days: grass-fed or pasture-raised versus grain- or corn-fed seems to be evolving into a nature versus science/pastoral versus industrialization debate, with economies of scale thrown in.

All that said, just how one should eat their beef to as to maximize the hedonistic experience is the focus of this article. This past summer, the Metropolitan Grill (a.k.a. “The Met”) placed their tag line, which boasts “the best steak in town” on billboards throughout the Seattle area. (The Met – complete with numerous awards and accolades – is a part of Consolidated Restaurants, Inc., a local company that began in 1951. In addition to The Met, currently Elliot’s Oyster House is the other restaurant in this consolidation). Given The Met’s claim, your Hedonista, an aspiring steak connoisseur, arranged for a media interview and “meat-only” tasting with The Met’s Executive Chef, Eric Hellner. The focus of our interview: to determine the best way to prepare, order, and eat beef.

The Met – an old-school, mahogany-and-brass-bedecked steakhouse housed in an historic building (circa 1903) located in downtown Seattle on the corner of 2nd and Marion, their food focus is a narrow one: prime beef. Since the 1990’s, they’ve sourced their beef from Stock Yards Meat Packing Company, which offers 100% Mid-West Nebraskan, USDA Prime and Choice beef – the top two out of the eight quality grades for beef, for they have the first and second-most marbling, respectively. These are “Conventional Beef” or “Natural Beef” cuts: USDA graded beef, without additives and minimally processed, that you can get in the supermarket: corn- or grain-fed cattle (which means antibiotics are used, but Stock Yards uses no hormones): pasture- or range-raised until between 12 to 18 months of age, at which point they are moved to feed yards where they are grain finished until the time they are – in Chef Eric’s words – “gently retired.” (Grain finishing is a primarily feed corn diet, the feeding period of which typically lasts between 120 and 200 days. Note that “feed corn” is processed corn not suitable for human consumption.) Why corn/grain, instead of grass (besides the fact it keeps consumer prices down? Simply put, according to Chef Eric, “corn fed tastes better” – corn-fed creates tender, richly-flavored” beef. From Stock Yards, The Met only purchases USDA 28- or 42-Day Custom Aged Prime Beef cuts from Omaha, Nebraska that are of the Angus and Hereford cattle breeds and that – to once again use Chef Eric’s term – are “gently retired” between 24 to 30 months of age. (Note: Less than 2% of all American cattle receive this Prime grade.) In addition to the “Conventional/Natural Beef,” The Met also serves “Breed Specific Branded Beef” in the form of Japanese Wagyu and USDA American Wagyu/Angus (also known as American “Kobe Style” Beef) but that will be another article for another time, as your Hedonista plans another rendez-vous with Chef Eric sometime in the future (stay tuned, dear hedonists).

Chef Eric – a very approachable, dimple-laden, and genuine individual with a pure passion for meat so great that it’s contagious – got started with Consolidated Restaurants, Inc. in 1989 and worked in the kitchens of both Elliot’s and The Met, as well as the (now-defunct) Union Square Grill (the location of which now houses Sullivan’s Steakhouse). When I first met Eric at The Met and sat at a dark green plush booth this past summer, I warned him that I did not like my steak floating in pinkish red liquid; as a result, he served up a few cuts done more medium well. When I mentioned that I wanted to know what all the fuss was about regarding the fixation with more rare meats, he simply said “come back” – then added, with a glint in his eyes and a charming smile: “Never tell a steak chef ‘no blood’.”

So come back I did, only a few months later (last month), to talk “meat” – this time prepared the way Chef Eric would make it for himself. “Look at this,” he began, pinching his midsection, “I eat it [steak] everyday!”

On my first visit, I tried their (medium-well done) New York Strip;  their Rib Eye, and their Filet Mignon (by far their best-selling cut). All of their steaks are grilled with imported hardwood mesquite charcoal (a.k.a. “the iron wood of the world”), to give it a true smoky-grilled taste. I liked it in a comfort food from my childhood kinda way, for it tasted the way a higher-end restaurant would cook a steak “just like Mom used to make.”

On my second visit, I re-visited their best selling Filet Mignon and also took a bite out of their house specialty or Delmonico steak, a bone-in New York (on the East Coast, it’d be a Bone-In Rib Eye). Chef Eric – in his attempts to bring me along and over to the “rare side” – claims that the texture is negatively affected with longer cooking, that want one actually wants is a soft, smooth meat feel in one’s mouth. After some prompting – and an additional taste or two – I agreed; a longer cook removes the delicate fat, turns the heartier fat gristly, and toughens the flesh fibers, which makes the fibers drier, stringy, and unpleasant; the rare cook level makes the marbled flesh silky and butter-like (think vodka versus sake). And the dry-aged process gives the steaks a wonderful nutty flavor (think walnuts, for example) to cuts like the Delmonico (my second-favorite cut) and causes the deep, rich meaty flavor to linger for longer in the mouth.

Although the nutty-rich Delmonico is my second favorite cut, with the Filet Mignon my third, thanks to Chef Eric by far my fav cut in the whole world is now “The Cap” – taken off of a Rib Eye, this delicate cut has all of the marbling of a fattier, heartier, meatier cut like a New York or a Rib Eye, but at the same time is incredibly tender, just like a Filet Mignon. House seasoned and seared until just warm in the middle, this cut offers the best of all steak worlds: a full, rich, and complex beef flavor that still manages to melt in the mouth. Positively orgasmic for the palate – right down to a lovely, greasy, mouth feel lube. “That’s the one that makes the ladies swoon,” Chef Eric informed me with one of those dimpled smiles of his. (Note: The Cap is not listed on the menu, but if you ask Chef Eric nicely, he just may let you try some.)

Takeaways from Chef Eric:

–> Think pink. Rare – fat and all – is always better. Too much heat lessens the texture and cooks out the fat, which compromises both taste and mouth feel. In the words of Chef Eric: “If you’re trying to eat healthy, then eat healthy for 30 days out of the month, but then when you have your steak … have your steak the right way.” Chef Eric also recommends a 25-27% fat content for ground beef – any less than that compromises the rich flavor.
–> Bone-in cuts are best. His fav cut: the Cap, followed by the Delmonico (or Delmo, as Chef Eric calls it). Why the Delmo? Chef Eric confessed to your Hedonista: “I like a steak that you have to work at a little bit.”
–> Bacon gooood…. Which brings me to the last item of note for this article:

Until the end of January (maybe longer, if you ask Chef Eric nicely) … Bacon Glazed Bacon ($13):

Yup, that’s right … just when you thought bacon couldn’t get any more bacony, along comes bacon on bacon. Last November Chef Eric added one helluva heavenly hedonistic meat lover’s steak side or appetizer (would be great with mac ‘n’ cheese or Brussels sprouts): Bacon Glazed Bacon. Chef Eric’s brainchild from a BBQ contest within the CRI company, this dish is made from Kurobuta slab bacon from Snake River Farms, hand-sliced to about 1/2 inch think, and then seared and served with a bacon fat Meyer’s lemon caramel glaze and served with grilled onion. Unbelievable … not to mention that the glaze would be ab fab (that’s absolutely fabulous) on ice cream. Bacon on bacon – how can it get any better?!?

The Met serves 1) lunch 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 2) dinners from 5:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on Saturdays, and 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Sundays.

Remember: Order your steak on the rare side, dear hedonists … Chef Eric will be watching…. And know that take home boxes are expected (I made a beef bourguignon with my leftover steak and an alfredo and pea sauce with the bacon – de-lish!)

Note: In order to comply with FTC Act 16 C.F.R. 255, Heed the Hedonist would like to disclose that it does receive media “comps” and/or media discounts – but not in exchange for favorable coverage, or for withholding unfavorable coverage, of the give venue/meal/performance/product/service.