Great steak is not a lot of work, but you have to know what you’re doing. You can marinate, season, and dress a piece of meat until it’s a pale shadow of its former self, and end up with something appetizing. But Ruth’s Chris, a new steak house that opened in Chattanooga last month, takes a different approach. They buy the best available cuts of meat and then trust them to taste great.
That’s not to say they don’t take great care in preparing their steaks. Before your server places your order in front of you, sizzling in melted butter and its own juices on a 500-degree plate, they hand-select the best USDA Prime beef available. That’s meat selected from the top two percent of beef in the county.
Immediately before cooking one of their selections, the executive chef seasons the steak with a blend of spices we have been given exclusive permission to reveal: salt and pepper! I was even invited to watch as Executive Chef Roger Burrows sprinkled the classic combo on an uncooked filet and then placed the meat inside the restaurant’s specially patented broiler for cooking. Inside, 1,800 degrees of heat seared the outside of the steak while Burrows worked to ensure the inside remained rare.
Once removed from the broiler, the chef placed the steak on one of the 500-degree plates, ladened it with butter, and garnished it with chopped parsley.
Done!
So how does a Ruth’s Chris steak taste? Incredible. My wife and I split a ribeye on a Sunday afternoon. A few days before, Burrows had shown me a tray full of the steaks, all of them marbled with thin veins of fat. I love to taste the fat when I bite into a ribeye, so my mouth was already watering when our server, Kelley, brought the steak to our table 16 minutes after we had ordered it. Seared to crunchy perfection on the outside, cooked medium rare on the inside, I had never seen a better looking piece of meat. When I took that first bite, I closed my eyes, said, “Oh my God,” and leaned back in my chair to savor the experience.
I intend no hyperbole when I say it was the best steak I had ever eaten. The butter and melted fat ensured every bite was as juicy as the last, and the combination of butter, pepper and salt on the seared bits was delicious. Our steak stayed warm throughout the meal, sitting as it was on a hot plate. My wife even turned a slightly red forkful on its end and cooked it to her liking on the plate.
Ruth’s Chris serves more than steak, and does those things well, too. My wife and I opted to order from the lunch menu, which was loaded with temptation. While my wife debated salads, I bounced back and forth between the Chicken and Avocado Club and Fish Tacos. I went with the Club, which consisted of grilled chicken, Swiss cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, raw Vidalia onion and a special chipotle sauce on wheat bread. When I told Kelly I couldn’t believe how good it was, I wasn’t kidding.
Dessert was delicious, too. We were so full by that point, we only pecked at our choices, but I was unable to resist the Warm Apple Crumb Tart, and my wife insisted on trying the Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce. While the desserts were baked fresh in-house, the thing that impressed me the most was the generous serving size. Really, if my wife and I had agreed on a dessert, we could have shared it and still eaten our fill.
As we ate, we enjoyed our surroundings. Seated next to a window in two plush armchairs, I laughed when I saw how the seat swallowed up my four feet 11 inch lunch companion. Although the main dining area was only one-third full, the tables are placed far enough apart to provide a sense of privacy, and the elegant décor encouraged us to speak quietly when conversing. Between the calm atmosphere, the comfortable seating, and the rain we watched through our window, I’m surprised we didn’t fall asleep after eating.
Local art and photography has been tastefully selected and hung on the walls of the restaurant, and everywhere one can look, bottles of wine are artfully stacked in plain view. Despite the sophistication on display, the stonework and the unsparing use of wood tempered the ambience enough to make my wife and I feel at ease in our casual lunch clothes. (Dressier attire is preferred for dinner.)
I cannot close without praising our server, Kelly. She was friendly, of course, and provided service with a smile, but more importantly, she knew her stuff. When I ordered our ribeye rare, she said it would come cool on the inside, and asked if that would be okay. I bumped our selection up to medium rare, and was glad I did. Kelly was attentive without being overbearing, kept us apprised of what was coming next, and put us at ease throughout our meal. She even engaged my wife in some personal conversation. Her tip was well earned.
Attached to Embassy Suites on Lifestyle Way, which is located adjacent to Hamilton Place Mall, Ruth’s Chris also features a full bar, smartly located in its own niche separate from the main dining area; private dining areas with multimedia equipment suitable for business presentations; patios furnished with more plush chairs and fire pits; and adjoining access to the hotel. If the owners missed any detail when designing and building the place, I wouldn’t know what it would be.
Ruth’s Chris is an exceptional dining experience. Yes, its steaks are pricey, but they’re worth every penny. Plus, the restaurant offers many other, reasonably priced selections. Ultimately, Ruth’s Chris is worth the drive to Hamilton Place, worth dressing up for, and worth spending more than you would for a meal elsewhere. If you’re looking for a place that’s a cut above the rest, it’s here.