It might come as a surprise that the most commonly found dish at Italian restaurants today is steak. Even as beef prices have soared about 25 percent in just the last year-and-a-half, you’ll see a menu item for a steak in almost nine of ten Italian restaurants across the country. “Being American is to eat a lot of beef steak,” as Kurt Vonnegut once astutely observed.
Steaks have been served at Italian restaurants in America almost certainly since soon after there were Italian restaurants in America. The opening day menu in 1886 at the future famed Fior d’Italia had a couple steaks among its limited number of offerings – the induvial-sized one for much cheaper than the squab casserole and frog’s legs. Another San Franciscan stalwart, Campi’s, had nearly a dozen steak dishes on its menu there in the 1890s. The steaks were the flagship American contribution to these restaurants opened by Italian immigrants. Customers desired steaks, even if many were new Americans or even temporary ones. Demand rather than supply drove this menu decision. From the 19th century until today, steaks have always been the most frequently found item across Italian restaurants or right near the top.
But offering steaks were definitely not an attempt to replicate the restaurants in Italy. There were hardly any, if any, steakhouses in Italy in the American sense and scarcely any steak dishes. Outside of the Florentines and later other Tuscans, there has been no steak tradition in Italy. In fact, the bistecca in the famous bistecca alla Fiorentina comes from the English “beefsteak” because there was no suitable Italian name for the dish.
Steaks have a permanent spot or spots on any Italian restaurant menus in America. Today, the Carbone location in Dallas has a ribeye Diane, a dry-aged ribeye and a porterhouse, all easily topping thee-digits price-wise. The equally assertive Italian-American, if far less price-assertive Peanut Park Trattoria on Taylor Street in Chicago has a filet mignon for only $62. Longstanding Charlie Gitto’s on the Hill in St. Louis offers a trio of steaks along with the requisite t-ravs to start. Though specializing in the glories of the greater Naples area, chef Giancarlo Ferrara has a couple of steaks on his menu in Houston. It is Texas, after all. In another corner of the country, with the regional focus on Piedmont, Spinasse in Seattle has a steak. Having been to Piedmont several times, I don’t believe that I have ever seen a steak on a menu. But in America, there must be steak when the restaurant is pricey and diners have a choice. We’ve never had it any other way.
The sirloin at Forbici Modern Italian in Tampa.
Steaks have been served at Italian restaurants in America almost certainly since soon after there were Italian restaurants in America. The opening day menu in 1886 at the future famed Fior d’Italia had a couple steaks among its limited number of offerings – the induvial-sized one for much cheaper than the squab casserole and frog’s legs. Another San Franciscan stalwart, Campi’s, had nearly a dozen steak dishes on its menu there in the 1890s. The steaks were the flagship American contribution to these restaurants opened by Italian immigrants. Customers desired steaks, even if many were new Americans or even temporary ones. Demand rather than supply drove this menu decision. From the 19th century until today, steaks have always been the most frequently found item across Italian restaurants or right near the top.
But offering steaks were definitely not an attempt to replicate the restaurants in Italy. There were hardly any, if any, steakhouses in Italy in the American sense and scarcely any steak dishes. Outside of the Florentines and later other Tuscans, there has been no steak tradition in Italy. In fact, the bistecca in the famous bistecca alla Fiorentina comes from the English “beefsteak” because there was no suitable Italian name for the dish.
Steaks have a permanent spot or spots on any Italian restaurant menus in America. Today, the Carbone location in Dallas has a ribeye Diane, a dry-aged ribeye and a porterhouse, all easily topping thee-digits price-wise. The equally assertive Italian-American, if far less price-assertive Peanut Park Trattoria on Taylor Street in Chicago has a filet mignon for only $62. Longstanding Charlie Gitto’s on the Hill in St. Louis offers a trio of steaks along with the requisite t-ravs to start. Though specializing in the glories of the greater Naples area, chef Giancarlo Ferrara has a couple of steaks on his menu in Houston. It is Texas, after all. In another corner of the country, with the regional focus on Piedmont, Spinasse in Seattle has a steak. Having been to Piedmont several times, I don’t believe that I have ever seen a steak on a menu. But in America, there must be steak when the restaurant is pricey and diners have a choice. We’ve never had it any other way.
The sirloin at Forbici Modern Italian in Tampa.
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