by Steven Doyle
The meat Mecca of Dallas is without a doubt, Knife located in the Highland Dallas located just off Central Expressway at Mockingbird and in Willowbend. This is the love-child of chef John Tesar who has elevated the steak experience, and the results are precious.
The menu is dotted with a whole host of steaks ranging in price from the very affordable, to the more exotic and a bit pricey. However, the latter comes in giant slabs and sliced for easy sharing, so the cost per person is actually as easy to swallow as the dry aged beef.
240-Day Aged 103 Creekstone Ribeye
The Locker
The star of the show is definitely the 240-day dry aged haunch of Creekstone ribeye. Tesar explains that when aging this long you desire a white mold. This is the same mold found on most of your charcuterie. It is a healthy mold, and gives the meat a certain tang reminiscent of a nice bleu cheese. During the aging process Tesar said he will lose about a third of the meat, mostly water weight. As you cut into this steak you will not be bothered with a mess of blood-letting. Instead, you will enjoy a perfectly moist and complex cut of beef, the likes you possibly never sampled.
Each dinner is supplemented with a platter of crudite that is adorned with house-made jerky. Again, precious.
You will most likely wish to begin with a bit of roughage before the meat parade begins. Tesar’s wedge salad is an adult version of what you might find at any other steakhouse. This is far from the sloppy dressing drenched aberrations but instead a slice of lettuce that adorned with a sprinkling of very delicious blue cheese. The Garden Salad is adorned with arugula, roasted peppers, crisped Iberico and shaved parmesan.
The Magic Burger
What About The Bacon?
Another starter that will leave your smiling is definitely the array of five slices of artisan bacon. The tasting includes Neuske’s, a cherry-cured bacon from Vermont and Moody’s Delicatessen from Boston among others. It is a joy to snap off a chunk of each and taste the nuances of the smoked belly. This is quite a discussion generator and not to be missed.
Save room for the flavorable tri tip, or massive smoke beef short rib. Or order up my personal favorite, the 32-ounce 110-day dry aged Heartbrand Ranch Akaushi sirloin for two. It is nothing short of resplendent.
