Grilling the Perfect Rib Eye for Summer

We just completed an extensive study on steak for our restaurants and I would love to tell you what we found. After tasting more than 40 steaks and visiting cattle ranchers all over the country, I think we have found the perfect steak!

While the U.S. does a good job of grading their meat, we felt we could take it to the next level by raising the selection standards. We partnered with local Midwestern Aurora Beef and they are allowing us to select from the top one-third of their stock.

Traditionally, beef is graded on three levels; select, choice and prime. The grading is based on marbling and the maturity of the animal. Marbling is the amount of fat found throughout the meat. For age, 9 to 30 months is best. The older the animal, the tougher the meat can be.

By hand-selecting our own beef, we decided to call it Original Pinnacle Prime (OPP Beef). These steaks are hand-selected by our chefs and aged for 45 days before we cut and serve them to our guests.

When shopping at your local butcher, you will need to look closely at the marbling of the meat. Generally, more marbling equals better steak. As for the maturity of the animal, younger animals have whiter-looking fat throughout the steak. If the fat looks yellowish, it's probably because the animal is older.  

Now the question is, which cut tastes best? Rib eyes, New York strips, porterhouses, T-bones or filets? While most people go for the filet, I think the rib eye is best. The filet simply doesn’t have enough marbling to produce the best flavor. This is why a lot of restaurants wrap them in bacon for more flavor. The strip, porterhouse and T-bones are good, but nothing beats a bone-in Rib eye. The balance of marbling and meat is unsurpassed. If you can get them bone-in, you are in Steak Heaven!

You may be wondering, "What's the best way to cook the steak?"

All you need is just enough salt and pepper to bring out the natural flavor of the beef. Watch the video as I show you how to cook the perfect Rib eye.