Updated: Dec. 3, 2020
The chophouse has long been considered an American classic, but what’s even more timeless is the pairing of red meat and wine. Today, many steak houses are capitalizing on the classic combination and enhancing the dining experience with local ingredients, alternative meat options and unique selections of both Old and New World wines that often go beyond the traditional staples of Bordeaux and California Cabernet.
We’ve picked 11 steak houses from around the United States whose wine selections are as prime as their porterhouses, all with reopened on-premise dining in compliance with local restrictions for pandemic safety. The Grand Award– and Best of Award of Excellence–winning restaurants listed below each offer terrific wine lists with excellent breadth and depth across regions, styles and vintages.
To check out more great wine dining spots across the globe, see Wine Spectator’s nearly 3,800 Restaurant Award–winning picks, including the 100 Grand Award recipients that hold our highest honor.
Do you have a favorite you’d like to see on this list? Send your recommendations to restaurantawards@mshanken.com. We want to hear from you!
Note: Opening hours and menus are subject to change as the industry continues to adjust to evolving regulations.
The Angus Barn
9401 Glenwood Ave., Raleigh, N.C.
Telephone (919) 781-2444
Website www.angusbarn.com
Grand Award
The Angus Barn has been serving its beloved steaks since 1960, and today it still maintains its country charm, from its red barn doors to its signature barrel of apples in place of after-dinner mints. All the beef is from Midwestern corn-fed cattle, but Angus also specializes in barbecue like pork ribs. The restaurant’s wine list, captained by wine director Henk Schuitemaker, features 1,650 selections with strengths in California, Burgundy, Bordeaux and Tuscany, and has earned the Angus Barn a Grand Award every year since 1989. For those who’d rather recreate the experience at home, the restaurant is selling $120 to-go bags with contents such as bacon-wrapped filet mignon, steak seasoning and homemade crackers.
Bern’s Steak House
1208 S. Howard Ave., Tampa, Fla.
Telephone (813) 251-2421
Website www.bernssteakhouse.com
Grand Award
Now past its 60th birthday, Bern’s Steak House is a Tampa institution. The restaurant is renowned not only for its dry-aged steaks and fresh produce grown on the Bern’s farm, but also for its colossal wine list. Bern’s has been a recipient of the Grand Award since 1981; today its list has 6,800 selections, including more than 200 wines available by the glass. For those who have any belly room left after steaks, one of the restaurant’s unique features is the Harry Waugh Dessert Room, where guests can enjoy nearly 50 desserts, along with Ports, Sherries and Madeiras.
Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House
1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York
Telephone (212) 575-5129
Website www.delfriscos.com
Grand Award
With 16 Restaurant Award–winning locations across the country, Del Frisco’s Double Eagle is a powerhouse in the steak world. The Grand Award–winning New York location, a stone’s throw from Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall, offers a 2,600-selection wine list with strengths in California, Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Rhône, Italy and Spain. Led by wine director Crystl Faye Horton, the energetic sommelier team adeptly handles the multilevel space and the mix of Midtown expense-account clientele and well-heeled tourists. While the dining room is open, Del Frisco’s is still continuing its to-go program, which includes an option for curbside delivery.
Delmonico Steakhouse
The Venetian Resort, Hotel & Casino, 3355 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas
Telephone (702) 414-3737
Website www.emerilsrestaurants.com/delmonico-steakhouse
Grand Award
Emeril Lagasse hits the jackpot with the Venetian’s Grand Award–winning Delmonico Steakhouse. In a flashy city, Delmonico harks back to an earlier era, taking its name from the century-old New Orleans institution and Best of Award of Excellence winner Delmonico Restaurant and Bar. The menu celebrates that heritage with Cajun starters like shrimp-and-andouille gumbo and barbecue shrimp, and the steak selection runs the gamut from Piedmontese to wagyu to chateaubriand. The 2,650-selection wine list has particular strength in bottles from California, as well as Burgundy, Bordeaux, Italy, Australia and Oregon.
Pappas Bros. Steakhouse
5839 Westheimer Road, Houston
Telephone (713) 780-7352
Website www.pappasbros.com
Grand Award
When people think of beef in Texas, they tend to think of barbecue and brisket—but Pappas Bros. is helping broaden horizons with its Grand Award–winning steak houses at the Houston Galleria, in Dallas and in downtown Houston. At the Galleria location, the beverage program is run by wine director Stephen McDonald, and guests can choose from 4,200 selections, with a specialty in large-format bottles, following the famous Texan predilection. As for chow, the restaurant dry-ages all steaks in-house for at least 28 days. Though Pappas Bros.’ usual wine-themed dinners and tastings throughout the year are on hold, the dining room is open.
Bin 54 Steak & Cellar
1201-M Raleigh Road, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Telephone (919) 969-1155
Website www.bin54chapelhill.com
Best of Award of Excellence
Grilling with hickory wood is one of Southern cooking’s hallmark techniques, with understandably popular results. That’s the style on display at Bin 54 in Chapel Hill, N.C., where all the steaks get a light seasoning before hitting the grill, including cuts like dry-aged New York strip, bone-in ribeye and prime porterhouse, alongside alternatives like duck breast (also from the grill), steak tartare and several vegetable sides. Chef Kevin Draper’s savory menu begs for wine, and Bin 54 delivers with a 500-label wine list that earned an upgrade to Best of Award of Excellence in 2020, after growing by 150 selections that year. Overseen by sommelier Tim Gordon, the list focuses on California, France and Italy, with a strong Champagne showing and a vast list of reds from Napa wineries like Spring Mountain, Shafer and Mayacamas. These are joined by older vintages from top Bordeaux châteaus, plus a range of Pinot Noirs. While it’s open for indoor dining, the restaurant recently beefed up its delivery program with the addition of takeout baskets, like a prime-rib meal for two.
BLT Steak
1625 I St. N.W., Washington, D.C.
Telephone (202) 689-8999
Website www.e2hospitality.com/blt-steak
Best of Award of Excellence
Combining bistro ambiance with steak-house fare, BLT Steak has six Restaurant Award–winning locations around the country, but only one of them is blocks from the White House. Choose from the 500 selections on the D.C. location’s Best of Award of Excellence–winning wine list, which is overseen by sommelier Will Moriarty and has strengths in California and France. When it comes to cuisine, the presentation is casual, but chef Michael Bonk’s menu offers a range of specially selected steaks. There are also several seafood options and side dishes prepared with local ingredients, served in cast-iron cocottes.
The Capital Grille - Scottsdale
16489 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Telephone (480) 348-1700
Website www.thecapitalgrille.com
Best of Award of Excellence
With 59 Restaurant Award–winning locations across the country, the Capital Grille is known from coast to coast for its dry-aged steaks, fresh seafood and attention to service. Each location’s list is kept fresh and unique, with iPad wine and spirits choices offering easy-access tasting notes for diners. The Scottsdale location, which holds a Best of Award of Excellence, boasts one of the chain’s largest selections. At 525 labels, wine director Sabrina Progin’s wine list is particularly focused on bottles from California and France, offering a number of pairings for chef Lane Coleman’s menu.
Craftsteak
MGM Grand Las Vegas, 3799 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas, Nev.
Telephone (702) 891-7318
Website www.mgmgrand.mgmresorts.com/en/restaurants/craftsteak-steak-house
Best of Award of Excellence
There are few names better known in contemporary American dining than Tom Colicchio, and the chef’s Craftsteak restaurant offers a rich representation of his style. Located in Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Resort, the restaurant lives up to its name with filet mignon, ribeye and several other steaks, including a range of Wagyu cuts. Chef Mike Chapman’s menu also offers meaty options like beef short rib with cipollini onions, plus seafood dishes and vegetable sides like heirloom cauliflower and potato puree. Sommelier Troy Grenstiner’s 850-label wine list holds a Best of Award of Excellence for strengths in California, Bordeaux and other French regions, with an impressive selection of Chardonnays, Cabernets and Pinot Noirs, as well as tasting flights from top Napa wineries like Duckhorn and Orin Swift.
Napa Prime Chophouse
101 Fowler Road, Wexford, Penn.
Telephone (724) 799-8444
Website www.napaprimechophouse.com
Best of Award of Excellence
Napa Prime Chophouse is one of two Best of Award of Excellence winners from Pittsburgh-area restaurateurs Glenn and Lisa Hawle. But unlike its sister restaurant, Off the Hook (a seafood destination), Napa Prime Chophouse puts steaks center stage, including slow-roasted and dry-aged cuts. But there’s more than red meat at this restaurant, where a charcoal-roasted seafood tower is also on the menu, as are appetizers like bone marrow with a parsley-chanterelle topping and a diverse array of salads and sides. Whether diners go for beef or shellfish, there’s sure to be a fitting pairing from the 780-label wine list, which highlights picks from California and Champagne.
Rime Seafood and Steak
St. Regis Deer Valley, 2300 Deer Valley Drive E., Park City, Utah
Telephone (435) 940-5760
Website www.srdvdining.com
Best of Award of Excellence
It isn’t surprising that the plains of Utah are home to the country’s top steak houses, like Rime Seafood and Steak at the St. Regis Deer Valley hotel in Park City. With a vast collection of wines from California, France, Italy and Oregon, the restaurant’s 900-label wine list earned a Best of Award of Excellence for the first time in 2020, soon after Rime debuted in December of 2019. Wine Director Mark Moulton’s selections feature many notable sparkling wines, plus a hefty amount of California Chardonnays. Along with its noteworthy Burgundy selection, Rime also offers many California Pinot Noirs from top estates like Kosta Browne and Robert Sinskey. There’s no shortage of Cabernets and Bordeaux blends, either. Chef Alejandro Abad executes the culinary vision of chef Matthew Harris, with lighter seafood fare like fluke crudo and tuna tartare, as well as heavier dishes like a pork chop, a New York strip and rack of lamb. Harris is also behind another Utah Best of Award of Excellence winner, Tupelo Park City.
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