Omaha Steaks

What’s a busy gal to do when she wants to make a nice dinner, say to celebrate her husband’s birthday, but she has neither the time nor the motivation to spend the afternoon in a hot kitchen?

The answer is Omaha Steaks. Flash frozen and shipped straight from the Midwest to the Willow Grove Pointe shopping center, they have everything needed to make an upscale steak house dinner with minimal effort.

Although the company can send food directly to your house, I wanted to view the products myself, and once inside the store, I found a wide variety of choices: appetizers and soups, meat and fish, sides and desserts. 

After about 20 minutes with the kind saleswoman, who answered my questions, opened packages to let me view the products, and talked about preparation methods, I left with Rib Eye Steaks, Potatoes au Gratin, Creamed Spinach and Crème Brulee. 

All this convenience and quality comes at a premium. 

All the ingredients for this meal cost $82.96. Because of the packaging quantities, though, it would be enough for two meals for two people. 

We could eat like kings for his birthday, and then do it again the very next day if we wanted! The cost per meal per person averaged out to about $21, less expensive than most fine restaurant meals that include dessert, but more expensive than an average frozen meal from the grocery store. 

I was interested to see where Omaha Steaks’ products fell in flavor—would they taste more like restaurant offerings, or closer to a TV dinner?

The preparation was less stressful than schlepping the kids to a restaurant, and almost as simple as baking a frozen dinner, with one additional step. The day before, I had to take the steaks out of the freezer and put them in the fridge to safely thaw. Tough, I know. 

About an hour before dinner on my husband’s birthday, I preheated the oven, unwrapped the creamed spinach and covered it with foil. I placed it on a baking sheet and put it in the oven. 

A half hour later, I stirred and recovered it, then placed the Potatoes au Gratin alongside before returning the pan to the oven.

Could this be any easier? According to the "cookbooklet" Omaha Steaks gave me, they both conveniently cook at 350 degrees. 

In the meantime, the steaks were mellowing on the counter (for about an hour) to bring them up to room temperature and ensure even cooking. A few minutes before cooking, I liberally sprinkled on a sample packet of Steak Seasoning.   

After preheating a large pan on high on the stove, I added a swirl of olive oil, and then the steaks. 

There is no lovelier culinary sound than the sizzle of a steak hitting a screaming hot pan. That hiss is the harbinger of a dark and tasty crust. The steaks were thinner than I expected, but that made for a quicker cooking time without sacrificing flavor. 

Four minutes on one side and two minutes on the other rendered a perfect medium rare steak.

While giving the steaks ten minutes to rest, we opened a bottle of Montepulciano d’ Abruzzo (a full, fruit-forward yet feather-light red wine made from Montepulciano grapes in an Italian region east of Rome), plated our dinner and dug in.

The steaks were fresh, bold and beefy with pockets of savory fat throughout. I was nervous that I went overboard with the seasoning and would end up with a salty steak, but the flavorings only enhanced the quality of the meat. It was a restaurant quality steak, one I would have paid top dollar for if eating out. 

Although the potatoes technically satisfied the definition of “Au Gratin,” which means “having a crust” in French, these were different than the sliced potatoes in thin buttery sauce that one usually expects when hearing “Potatoes au Gratin.” 

These were more like crusted potato balls, though I guess they wouldn’t sell many calling them that. But, that they were, tasting like a bland baked potato interior formed into a croquette, the only saving grace the crispy crust and the extra table salt we poured on. 

The Creamed Spinach was mostly spinach and little cream, but was a nice way to cut the richness of the steak. It thickened after cooling, and I preferred the texture after about 15 minutes of down time. 

After digesting, we decided to make the Crème Brulee. 

I preheated the broiler on high as directed in the booklet and sprinkled the sugar from the included tiny packet onto the top. Dinner was so simple, I felt sure making these would be as effortless.  

With this confidence, I casually walked away while they were in the oven, without taking into consideration the unevenness of my broiler.  I should have watched them closer.

After six minutes under the broiler, the front dessert was barely brown, and the back one was basically black. It was my husband’s birthday, so I (begrudgingly) let him have the one I didn’t scorch.  Though it lacked the fun of tapping through the sugar crust on top, the interior of his was thick and creamy. My burnt one had separated, little droplets of oil swimming in the custard. 

Luckily there were two more. I wasn't excited about attempting the broiler again, but the booklet listed an alternative preparation of letting them thaw in the fridge to eat "pot au creme" style by inverting and unmolding them. 

We did let them thaw in the fridge, but I still wanted the sugar crust, so for second attempt, I broke out my blow torch. 

I know what you must be thinking, but I mean my mini culinary blow torch, created for the purpose, among others, of quickly caramelizing the sugar atop crème brulee. The blow torch yielded much better results, giving me the classic crispy crust before the thick cool vanilla custard interior. 

At $14 for the package of four, each Crème Brulee cost me $3.50 and 300 calories, but I got to keep the ceramic ramekins. You could never get a dessert at a nice restaurant for this price, let alone with a souvenir. 

But, $10 for each steak, $3.90 for three Potato au Gratins, and $3.75 for the Creamed Spinach brought the total cost of dinner itself ($17.65) closer to mid-level restaurant prices, though steaks on menus at higher-end restaurants like Morton’s, Ruth’s Chris, or Sullivan’s start at that price. And sides are a la carte. The wine was about $12. 

Here’s an insider tip—most restaurants charge at least three times what the bottle is priced at a state store, and you’ll be hard pressed to find many BYO steak restaurants.  

But, was the taste of our Omaha Steaks dinner closer to a freezer section meal, or a restaurant experience? 

Overall, I’d say closer to restaurant quality, especially the meat. Next time, I might try different sides and dessert, but I can say with confidence that there will definitely be a next time.

Second Helping of Information

Location – 4017 Welsh Road, Willow Grove

Hours – Monday through Saturday: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sunday: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Phone – 215-659-6750 or 1-800-248-8786 to order by phone

Website – www.omahasteaks.com