The Best Steak Dishes in Los Angeles

Adam Perry Lang first built a following in Hollywood by serving “Serious Barbecue” on Jimmy Kimmel’s backlot. He switched from smoked meats to house-aged steak and opened APL Restaurant down Hollywood Boulevard in 2018. Dry-aged steaks have been known to spend over 400 days in the restaurant’s environmentally controlled chamber, but newer cuts are also stellar. Ribeye ages for just under 100 days, which is still a staggering number by standard steakhouse standards, resulting in deep, concentrated flavor. APL’s team cooks steaks in a broiler for 6-8 minutes, hits each steak with butter and sears the meat right under the flame to form a sear. They finish by slicing and serving rosy, fat-rimmed ribeye slices with the bone, which still has prized bites attached.

An enduring figure in the Pasadena dining scene, this classy steakhouse still prepares some of the most tender steaks in the city, especially the Flintstone-sized porterhouse, which clocks in at 1.5 pounds. Intended for two, but easily enough for three, this cut incorporates the very flavorful top sirloin with the tenderloin, though both yield very little resistance when chewed. A trio of sauces - Peppercorn Sherry Cream, Béarnaise, and Bleu Cheese Smoked Bacon Cabernet Reduction -  are available for $2 each upon request, enhancing your experience with the various profiles of the prime-grade beef. Recommended sides include the spicy jalapeño-corn souffle and pillowy garlic mashed potatoes.

Under Nancy Silverton’s and Joe Bastianich’s direction, the Mozza Restaurant Group established a meaty tradition with opening chef Chad Colby that continues with current chef Ryan DeNicola. A cleaver sign hangs above the door, alerting people to the impending carnage at the group’s heartiest restaurant in their multi-faceted compound. Bistecca Fiorentina is certainly the meat de resistance - a bone-in behemoth that weighs a whopping 50 ounces and cooks on a wood-burning grill. Fans of Tuscan meat maven Dario Cecchini will recognize the cooking style, featuring a dry-aged Porterhouse cooked upright until the rosy beef forms char and gets sliced in an impressive fan. They previously served a 42-ounce steak, which apparently wasn’t properly substantial.

Since 2006, Ari Rosenson has helped Wolfgang Puck steer CUT, a luxury steakhouse located within the Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel. The modern space features an upraised exhibition kitchen, art-lined white walls, and no tablecloths. Servers present a stack of steak tableside, with prized Wagyu at the bottom, and filet mignon up top. They serve many cuts of steak from diverse sources. Ribeye is a great option, but we’d suggest their corn-fed, USDA Prime New York sirloin that comes from Nebraska and gets dry-aged for 35 days. The 14-ounce cut grills over hardwood and charcoal and finishes in a 1200-degree broiler, resulting in an impressive outer sear while maintaining a rosy center. Sauces like Bearnaise and Argentinean chimichurri are available, but sea salt suffices.

This Sunset Strip eatery, equipped with one of the most pleasant outdoor patios in the city (closed off in colder weather), has become an instant classic thanks to China Morbosa's fantastic bar program and solid farm-to-table cooking by chef Jared Levy. But an unsung part of the menu might be the house dry-aged ribeye, which comes topped with large pats of butter. It's part of Eveleigh's commitment to butchery, all of which is performed at the restaurant. Served on a massive circular platter and placed on a bed of salsa verde, these large-format steaks are best shared with a group. Wash it down with the smooth American Trilogy, a classic cocktail mixing applejack, rye whiskey, and syrup.

Chef Brian Dunsmoor and front of house partner Jonathan Strader preside over Hatchet Hall, a seasonal, Southern-influenced restaurant in Culver City. The kitchen features an almond wood grill that benefits every protein and vegetable it touches, including a limited edition 32-ounce beef ribeye that’s seasoned with olive oil and sea salt and served. Each plate comes a squeeze of charred lemon to cut the fat-rimmed beef’s richness. Seasonal vegetables like cauliflower and squash also help with balance.

Chef Suzanne Tracht opened this modern steakhouse in 2001, taking the familiar format from the 1950s and updating it for today's diners. The result is a solid approach to steaks from a chef's perspective, such as the classic Prime-grade ribeye topped with melted herb butter and sided with grilled onion half. The steak itself is grilled with charred edges and a medium sear, allowing the meat to stay juicy and slightly chewy, rather than melt-in-your-mouth that a cut like filet mignon would be like. Sides might be kimchi stir-fried with Brussels sprouts or perhaps the fantastic, slightly crisped fries.

If there's one classic bigwig table in Downtown L.A., it's Nick & Stef's, the Patina Group's recently renovated steakhouse. The white tablecloth restaurant is home to everyone from lawyers and bankers to regular office denizens splurging on some of the best steaks in town. The dry-aged ribeye is a great order for steak lovers, melding the ideal aspects of tenderness on the cap with a hardier chew in the eye. A gentle funk pervades the meat, which gets a nice sear and slight smokiness from the oak-fired grill. Sides might be anything from the buttery, rich JBS potato puree (named for Patina Group founder Joachim Splichal) to the Sichuan long beans, which gives a spicy kick to the meal.

When this classic L.A. haunt opened in 1953 on the corner of Olympic and Western, this area wasn't called Koreatown. Now located a few blocks down on 8th Street, this dark dining room feels lifted right out of a TV period piece, down to the pleather banquettes and stiff Martinis. Lunchtime offers a more modest steak experience, with everything from a pan-fried steak to the signature char-broiled culotte, a 10-ounce cut that might not be the easiest to chew, but has a beefier presence than other steaks. Priced about $20 during lunch, under $30 for dinner and served with a choice of side, it's that low-key place to have a retro steakhouse experience.