Cow Couture

By Hanna Aronovich in Food on Sep 12, 2006 4:23PM

In addition to being one of the fattest cities in the United States, Chicago is also a hot market for designer beef. “There aren’t very many small people walking around Chicago,” Jason Miller, executive chef at David Burke's Primehouse, told the Tribune.

It's not only Chicagoans’ size that indicates their love of beef, but also the city’s dining options. The city is peppered with steakhouses and especially downtown, it's almost impossible not to bump into one. At some, diners can enjoy steak from a cow that was fed nothing but sweet, tall grass. Or, the restaurant might carry steak from cattle sharing the same, quarter-million-dollar father. Really, lineage is so important.

Tallgrass Beef Co. owner Bill Kurtis said Chicago embraces well-bred beef like no other city. "This is kind of the belly of the beast right here," he noted. "I think of it as the meat capital of the country."

Last year, the USDA found the per capita consumption of beef was at least seven pounds more a year in Chicago than in any other part of the country. With stats like that, it makes sense to see steak evolve to an even higher class.

Primehouse serves prize black Angus bull, while Harry Caray’s Restaurant offers Tallgrass beef. Can’t be Ralph Lauren, but want to eat like him? Four months out of the year at the RL Restaurant, diners can eat steak from Lauren’s own Colorado ranch.

"It is a true feeling here [that] they are getting something kind of personal to him," Chef Isaac Holzwarth said. "You're not hanging out with him but it's like you are sharing something with him."

And, if it’s good enough for Ralph, it’s good enough for you.

Alphadite via CowParade.