I Tried Every Steak at LongHorn Steakhouse & One Beats the Rest
Table Of Content
LongHorn Steakhouse is one of the best-known (and fastest-growing) steakhouse chains in America. According to Statista, in 2022 there were a whopping 546 across the country—an increase from 386 just 10 years prior. And the most recent data from LongHorn's parent company, Darden Restaurants, reported that their same-store sales increased nearly twice as much as the other restaurants in the Darden portfolio, including Olive Garden, in early 2023.
Get more out of lunch with these options
Many nationwide restaurant chains are making a massive comeback, and they aren't just returning to pre-COVID levels, they're looking ahead to growing in an era when people just want to get out of the house and get back to normal. That's great news for everyone, from diners looking forward to a date night that doesn't involve Netflix, to industry workers who are looking forward to getting some kind of stability back in their lives. The general recommendation for sodium is 2,300 milligrams, this salad alone has 1,760 milligrams making it likely that you'll surpass the recommended amount. "This entrée salad has a good balance of total calories, it's not too high in overall calories that will make you go over a meal allowance and it's not too low in overall calories that it will leave you hungry soon after eating it," says Ehsani.
Eater LA main menu
Vegetarians can get excited about Collins’s new mushroom Wellington with spinach and beurre rouge; and fresh-cut mafaldine pasta with wild mushrooms and arugula pesto. Boa Steakhouse has a new location slated to open in Austin, Texas, this spring. "If you love steak but also want some veggies to go along with it, this salad is a great option. It combines a lean cut of protein, sirloin steak (which is a great source of heme iron), and pairs it with lettuce and tomatoes," says Ehsani.
BEST: Farm Fresh Field Greens with Salmon
COVID changed the fine dining industry in some big ways, but if there's anything that can be said about Americans, it's that they're resilient. Fast forward a few years, and while the effects can still be felt, some places — including steakhouse chains — are bouncing back in big ways. The porterhouse is LongHorn's most massive hunk of meat, weighing about a pound and a half—a good four ounces bigger than the chain's other t-boned steak.
He takes things very seriously, and that means his Steak 48 is one of the steakhouses that has vowed never to use frozen steaks. They're also leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of the pack when it comes to sheer luxury. When they opened their Charlotte location in 2020, it was an $8 million investment and led to the creation of 250 jobs. At the time, Hilario also noted that it was the biggest growth surge they'd ever seen.
LongHorn Steakhouse Menu With Prices
Cheapest Steaks at Major Steakhouse Chains Taste Test - Eat This, Not That
Cheapest Steaks at Major Steakhouse Chains Taste Test.
Posted: Thu, 21 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Fast forward to 2023, and Texas de Brazil had expanded to 63 locations and was worth around $460 million. In an interview with the Dallas Morning News, president Salim Asrawi told a pretty wild story of how — just 25 years prior — he'd been a 31-year-old entrepreneur with an idea that was so out there that he hadn't been able to get a bank loan to open his first restaurant. Instead, he'd appealed to a few family members who had believed in and bankrolled him. Expansions came amid a year of trending growth, with Guest XM ranking Capital Grille as among the top performers in sectors that included not only food but beverages, service, ambiance, value, and intent to return. It's led to them averaging a revenue-per-employee of more than $9 million, and record sales in 2023.
The 14 Best & Worst Menu Items at LongHorn Steakhouse, Say Dietitians
Bojangles sells bone-in fried chicken, scratch-made savory and sweet biscuits, fried chicken sandwiches, and fried chicken tenders. “Fixins,” or sides, include mac and cheese, Cajun pinto beans, french fries, mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans, cole slaw, and even a tub of pimento cheese. Originally co-founded by Jack Fulk and Richard Thomas in Charlotte, North Carolina, the chain currently has over 800 restaurants. The company announced last year that it planned to open 20 more stores in the Las Vegas area.
Eater LA
The 2020s have been a weird time, and it's probably always going to be remembered that way. It kicked off with a nightmare that came to life, and things changed in all kinds of ways when the pandemic hit. Countless restaurants went out of business during the COVID-19 lockdown, which put more pressure on an already competitive, cutthroat, and often oh-so-precarious industry.
"It's topped with salmon, high in anti-inflammatory omega-3s, and a good source of lean protein. It's also not too high in sugar, as some of the other salads are." While exact revenue and growth numbers are difficult to pin down, it's safe to say that one of the best indicators of the success of this restaurant is that yes, they're opening new locations. It was still the early days of 2023 when they opened a Beverly Hills location, and if there's anything that says pricey, it's Beverly Hills. Yes, there's a raw bar, an in-house butcher, and a 3,000-bottle wine vault. Jeff Mastro is the founder of Steak 48, and he's staked (no pun intended) his reputation on his restaurants.
"It's one of the lowest calorie steaks you choose on the menu," says Roxana Ehsani, MS, RD, CSSD, LDN, registered dietitian nutritionist in Miami, Florida. In the last few years, it's the latter that STK — along with sister company, Kona Grill — has experienced, with reports sharing news of a shocking 50% increase in same-store sales between 2022 and 2019. And they did it in the face of extreme odds, with parent company (The ONE Group Hospitality) CEO Manny Hilario saying (via FSR), "All of this despite commodity headwinds, supply chain challenges, and labor shortages affecting the entire industry."
Having now tried all seven steaks on the LongHorn menu—each ordered to my preferred temp, medium rare—I have some strong opinions about which items are most deserving of your hard-earned dollars. Here's how every steak stacked up, ranked in descending order from my least favorite to the most sumptuous cut of all. Yet, unlike Outback, which is now banking its beef-searing future on high-tech cooking equipment, LongHorn still promotes the skills of its actual human cooks. For years, the chain has sponsored an annual Steak Master Series cooking contest, whereby grill workers from around the country compete for a $15,000 grand prize. The cinematic connection is one thing that LongHorn shares with America's other major casual steakhouse chain, Outback Steakhouse, which launched in the wake of the popular Australian-themed 1986 action comedy "Crocodile Dundee." Thousands of grill cooks from LongHorn’s 580-plus locations entered the competition.
In 2023, Brand Finance named them the fastest-growing restaurant brand, citing a whopping 56% increase in value over the course of the year, and that's pretty mind-blowing stuff. "Desserts are a delicious addition to a special dining experience. Like sodium, added sugar likes to hide especially in desserts. It's advised that men should have no more than 36 grams of added sugar per day and women no more than 25 grams of sugar per day," says Geiger. "The soft interactive dessert has over three times the daily limit and comes in at 111 grams of sugar making it a less-than-ideal choice when it comes to a sweet treat." "The Idaho Baked Potato may tempt your taste buds, but beware of its hidden secret; 12 grams of fat lurking within its crispy skin," says Geiger.
"Pairing an iron-rich steak with a source of vitamin C, which in this salad is coming from the tomatoes, actually helps you better absorb the iron found in the steak." "You can't go wrong with salmon, it's providing you with a lean source of high-quality protein," says Ehsani. "Salmon is rich in omega-3 fats which help to reduce inflammation in the body while also supporting both brain and heart health. This LongHorn Salmon entrée isn't too high in sodium compared to other dishes, hitting about 13% of your daily recommendations."
"Choosing a plain sweet potato as your side option is a great way to increase your daily intake of fiber and antioxidants," says Geiger. "Most Americans don't meet their daily amount of fiber (25 grams for women and 38 grams for men). This sweet potato is plain and doesn't have any dairy making it a great pick for plant-based eaters whose families choose the restaurant." "Rib-lovers will be sad to hear, the Baby Back Ribs are likely the worst option to choose. The calorie breakdown doesn't even include calories for the BBQ sauce, which most people are likely opting for," says Ehsani. "Adding the sauce adds another 110 calories, 470 milligrams of sodium, and 26 grams of carbs. It's best to opt for half the rack over the full rack and pair it with some veggies." "Amongst appetizers, these Seasoned Steakhouse Wings are your lowest calorie pick," says Ehsani. The British chef recently introduced a few new dishes to the vibey restaurant, like smoked steak tartare, king crab ceviche, lobster Bolognese (which Collins likely picked up from his stint at Mélisse), dry-aged branzino, and grilled lamb lollipops.
So, naturally, this signature cut is bestowed with the restaurant's own name in its title. It's also the most expensive steak on the menu, costing me $34.49. The mammoth cut measured about an inch and a quarter thick and weighed over 18 ounces after grilling. Cutting out the bone left me with a good 14 ounces of pure beef. The classic New York strip is my favorite cut to cook at home, so I'm a little reluctant to order it when I'm dining out.
Fast forward to 2023, and they announced that a new Kona was going to be opening about every 4 to 6 weeks, while STK was making well above projected earnings. By the end of the year, STK was open in Salt Lake City and Charlotte, North Carolina, and plans were in the works for locations in Washington, D.C. They had plans to raise their numbers from 23 locations globally in 2021 to somewhere in the neighborhood of 200. In 2023, they were looking at stagnant sales in North America, while at the same time, South American restaurants buoyed the entire company and carried more than 80% of their business. At the same time, American locations saw fewer guests but higher sales. By early 2024, things had sort of stabilized, with traffic still down and revenue still up.
Comments
Post a Comment