Swanky prime steakhouses clad with a forest full of mahogany, a herd’s worth of leather, and enough brass to pave the new Trinity tollway are not all that rare in Dallas metro.  Locals, those damn yankees, and others have erected palace like steakhouses in an attempt to plant their flag in north Texas to cash in on our undying love affair with superior meat.  But, wait.  You mean all the beef eaters haven’t been prodded away by the cholesterol scare ads that medical professionals (btw find me a doctor that doesn’t like red meat) bombard us with or by all the Elsie loving vegans that seem to think every cow is sacred?  Yeah, not so much.  In fact, I’d urge both of the aforementioned groups, and any of you other communistic beef haters out there, to take a spin around our city to see countless testaments that confirm and re-confirm that you’re in cow country sweetheart.  In other words, go cure cancer or save a tree because this game’s over and you lost.  So why, with all the focus on healthier eating, carb counting and wonder diets, is the prime bovine business so very much alive and well here and throughout the land?  Simple.  Because steak is to America what pasta is to Italy.  Baseball and apple pie may have gone by the wayside but steak has been and always will be 100% American (besides, as we get older we’re getting better and better at this whole moderation thing and everything’s good in moderation right?).  So, with all these prime beef bastions across north Texas, who sits on the throne as the grand dame of fine dining steakhouses in north Texas?  Del Frisco’s.

Sidebar: We’ve been pretty clear on our site that we don’t play “the chain game” and, instead, focus on stand alone chef driven establishments.  Our caveat to that rule is if the original location is here in Dallas, which is the case with Del Frisco’s.  So, this is a recommendation for the Dallas location only of Del Frisco’s.  Hey, they’re our rules!  If you don’t like ‘em, go start your own site!!

As we’ve mentioned more than a few times on the pages of snootyfoodie, the big beef game ain’t an easy one in our city.  Despite the continual skyrocketing of demand, you’ve still got to deliver something memorable to your customers to make it (are you reading this Smith & Wollensky, Flemings, and BLT??).  Because, hello, the word is out…the world’s best beef comes from the Midwest U.S. and I’m guessing if you’ve got enough cash you can do business with the top purveyors.  In a sense, that levels the playing field for most of the top steakhouses in the country and that means you’ve got to do something different or better or both to stake you claim in the Dallas prime beef game. 

So, what does DF’s do different that makes them worthy of a snootyfoodie rec?  It’s simple really (but, of course, we’re going to write 8 or 9 paragraphs explaining how “simple” it is).  They have some of the very best prime steaks in the country.  They have a little bit of Louisiana in their approach.  They treat their diners as part of their extended family.  They have an award winning chef in the kitchen.  They have an incredible wine list.  And, they have one of the very best front of the house people in the entire industry.

There’s basically 2 ways you go with high end steakhouses - brass tacks or themed.  Brass tack joints just hit you over the head with the fact that they’ve got prime beef, simply and expertly prepared with a classically elegant atmosphere, top notch wine list, and professional service.  No surprises.  The theme establishments choose to work some kind of angle or gimmick to steer you in their direction.  Maybe it’s an Italian steakhouse or maybe they have live music or maybe their interior is more modern with plasmas and neon everywhere.  Hey, to each his own but roughly 10 out of 10 times, we lean to those places that have the confidence to let the purity of their brand speak for itself.

Del Frisco’s falls into the first category, though maybe their tacks are gold or platinum instead of lame ass brass.  The focus of their menu is (in order) steaks, lobster, and sides.  The rib-eyes, strips, porterhouses, and filets will rival any place in the country.  Their lobsters come from the land down under, are huge, sweet and broiled golden.  The starches of au gratin, skillet, and baked potatoes are worth every single calorie.  The fresh bread that comes out to start your meal is steaming hot, baked in house, rip it apart delicious and begging to meet a slab of butter.  Given the above, this warrants any serious steak lover’s attention but, in and of itself, is a claim you could make for quite a few steakhouses in DFW.  So let’s get back to what they do that’s different and better.

When we say DF’s has a Louisiana slant to their approach, understand we’re not saying it’s a Cajun style steakhouse.  I mean, you’re not going to hear BAM! careening out of the kitchen any time soon and the ambiance is 1000000% elegant American steakhouse.  Sure, they’ve got a few Louisiana touches on the menu but we’re referring more to the understated and yet over the top hospitable approach to the whole dining experience.  When we go to fine dining restaurants, be it here or out of town, we want to be treated like regulars or part of the family, don’t you?  Of course you do.  After all, it’s really not that hard to find a place that treats you like any other party of 4 that’s on an expense account, is it?  You’re damn right we want special treatment for spending our fine dining dollars and you should too!  And if you’ve been to New Orleans or really anywhere in southern Louisiana you’ve gathered that food = love in their world.  It’s ingrained in their libation soaked DNA and you can literally feel the passion from the chef all the way down to the busboy at virtually any restaurant there.  It’s the only place in the world we’ve been where people start discussing what they’re going to have for dinner before they’re finished eating their 2 hour lunch.  Great food, great friends, great times - it’s a beautiful thing. And when Del Frisco’s relocated from NOLA to Dallas in the late 80’s, they brought with them that commitment to treating their customers like family.  And for all you out there that are thinking, hmm, I wouldn’t go somewhere where they treat me like my family does, believe us, we understand.  No, seriously, we really, really understand.  We’re describing that fictitious hypothetical family that we all want to be a part of, okay? 

Overseeing all of the beef greatness in Del Frisco’s kitchen is Executive Chef David Holben.  You’ve seen his name from his days at now gone The Riviera where he opened and ran the kitchen for 9 years and established it as one of the premier dining establishments in Dallas.  He also held the post as Exec Chef at dearly departed Toscano (wow, we miss that place) and made Culpepper’s a household name in nearby Rockwall before making the move to DF’s.  That puts Del Frisco’s on a very short list of prime steakhouses that actually have a classically trained Executive Chef supervising their suppers.  So in addition to charring up the perfect piece of beef, you’ll also see some more haûte cuisine items like sesame seared ahi tuna and his now famous chicken fried lobster among other things as specials and on the bar menu.  At a great steakhouse, we typically zone out when they’re running through the chef’s specials but this is one of those where it actually behooves you to pay attention.

The wine list has become legendary at the whole Del Frisco’s enterprise.  They are regulars at wine auctions in Napa and elsewhere spending what seems to be a bottomless budget on the best grape juice to be had for their ever growing list of locations.  Set your expectations for an obscene amount of Napa reds some in verticals of 10+ yrs.  Every big label from every great year has a spot on their list.  Now, a big cab from California and a piece of beef has a very special place in my heart but more and more I find myself looking for more interesting and affordable selections from Italy, Spain, Argentina, and Australia.  Don’t be afraid to experiment.  At the end of the day, if you’re just trying to match up a red wine with beef, the options are aplenty.  Or, do what we like to do sometimes.  Say you want to spend $50, $75, $100, $150 whatever on a bottle.  Ask for the sommelier and tell them to bring the most interesting bottle he’s got at your price point.  Hey, that’s their job and we’ve found that most really enjoy the idea of putting diners onto a new bottle of wine.

Of course, unparalleled customer service doesn’t just happen.  You’ve got to have a leader that believes in it, instills it in the staff, and demands it night in and night out for each and every customer.  Someone that listens to and understands their customer base.  Dee Lincoln, quite simply, sets the standard for front of the house hospitality in the Dallas fine dining business.  Not that she’s there every night (she’s also an exec with parent company Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon and oversees the rapid expansion of the Del Frisco brand) but her Cajun heritage and passion for pleasing people has permeated its way through the entire service team.  As noted above, they really go the extra mile to make you feel like anything besides just another customer and that kind of sincerity always begins at the top of an organization.  She has also stamped her name on the back room at Del Frisco’s where an (shhhh!) occasional cigar is lit.  With overstuffed leather chairs and sofas, live piano music, and a nice TV to keep up on the game of the moment, Havana Dee’s is a 21 gun salute to the good life.  Why not just change the name to Dee Frisco’s and be done with it??

Considering its name recognition and how quickly outposts have sprung up in Vegas, NYC, Houston, and beyond, it’s really hard to believe Del Frisco’s is still a mere teenager in the crowded world of luxe loins.  But while staunch chains like Morton’s and The Palm rested on their laurels and were happy to collect cash from their regulars while their brand collected dust, Del’s stuck with their simple philosophy of ‘doing it a little bit better’ and have subsequently become one of the hottest and fast growing high end steak house chains out there.  We’d just like to thank the cow gods that the original is right here in the north Dallas Forty.

Hey, like they say in Cajun country - Laissez les bon temps rouler!