Steiner Ranch Steakhouse

Saddles, shorts and sandals at a country clubhouse where beef still rules the range

By Mike Sutter
AMERICAN-STATESMAN RESTAURANT CRITIC
Thursday, June 11, 2009

Travis Tritt crossed my mind a few times as we navigated the winding road up to the Steiner Ranch Steakhouse. It was that 'Country Club' song of his, the one that rhymes 'limousine' with 'wore-out jeans.' That one where he doesn't quite belong at the fancy place, but that's all right, because he's a member of his own Dixie-cup 'country' club. Get it?

Steiner Ranch is that kind of double-entendre country club. It's a tri-level lodge the color of a West Texas dust storm, steeped in the rodeo and ranching history of the Steiner family. Their black-and-white photos are on the walls, men in wide hats and leather chaps working with livestock. Their achievements radiate from glass cases next to museum-quality tooled saddles.

It's window dressing here, a mythical pretext for selling steak. The men here are more likely to be dressed in shorts and loafers without socks than they are in jeans and boots, because in the middle of this nice, rolling subdivision, that's what the terrain calls for. Nobody's quicker to dispel the Texas stereotype than actual Texans.

We sat outside, which is the best place to be on the first floor. The weather was cool for late May, and rainstorms swept across the vista of Lake Travis not far away, the fleeting cloudbursts giving a time-lapse feel to the dappled sunset. A band on the lawn played a wistful, acoustic cover of Bryan Adams' 'Summer of '69' to no one in particular.

There was a rowdy graduation party on the third level. The second-floor dining room, with dark wood, white table linens and sweeping horizon views of the lake, would have been my choice for indoor seating. But we wanted to be outside, among the free-range children and the noisy tangle at the bar. It was quite a show, managed with humor and grace by our young waiter, who stayed cool as intermittent rain chased people around the patio.

Let's cut through all that to get to the beef. Judging from our eight-ounce prime filet ($32) and a Viking war club of a 22-ounce bone-in rib-eye ($39), Steiner Ranch doesn't mess around when it comes to steak. Rare and mid-rare, both were cooked perfectly and both gave that deep satisfaction of rich beef that triggers primordial dreams. (Please tell me I'm not the only one who practically hallucinates in my sleep after a big steak dinner.)

The prices are surely a wake-up call, though. Does it help if I tell you the steaks came with mashed potatoes and asparagus? Or that prime filet will run you about $29 a pound at the store? From that price point, quick math tells me that I paid about $17 above the price of the meat for somebody else to cook my half-pound filet, add a few sides and clean up. I'm just saying.

Steak is the big reason to come here, but Steiner Ranch has more than a token side menu of starters and 'Other Thans,' including mussels, cedar-plank salmon, chicken-fried elk, lamb and a double-bone pork chop. An appetizer of baby-back pork ribs for $12 was enough meat for a main course, a half-rack basted in sweet barbecue sauce, fall-apart tender and easy to share. Hope you like rosemary. A lot.

And $19 seemed reasonable for six grilled shrimp, if for no other reason than the fact that they were bigger than the bait-size beasts that pass for shrimp at so many other places and were overcooked only a little bit instead of turned into shrimp jerky. They came with al dente asparagus and a functional blend of orzo pasta and wild rice. Lemon wrapped in gauze to catch accidental sprays of juice was a nice touch. We also tried a spinach salad with egg, bacon and green apple (save your $7.50) and crab soup, an unassuming but filling bowl of creamy potato chowder for $6.

None of this food would have been out of place in a room with flowers and violin music. I could have come closer to that indoors, but I chose the whirlwind. And even though the frat-pitch howling from the bar and the crush of beach shirts and flip-flops set up a disconnect between the clubhouse atmosphere and the high-end prices, Steiner Ranch reminded me that good steak and good service count for something, even when there's less 'country' and more 'club.'

msutter@statesman.com; 912-5902

Steiner Ranch Steakhouse

5424 Steiner Ranch Blvd., 381-0800, www.steinersteakhouse.com

Rating (fine dining):

Hours: 5 to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays. 5 to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Appetizers 4 to 5 p.m. daily.

Prices: Starters $7 (chips and salsa) to $16 (mussels). Soups and salads $6-$8.50. Steaks $21 (10-ounce prime rib) to $48 (24-ounce prime porterhouse). Other main courses start at $12 (Steiner burger), with several at $19 (chicken-fried elk, grilled mahi mahi), topping out at $29 (12-ounce lamb chop). Desserts $7.

Payment: All major cards

Bar: Full bar service, including margaritas, cocktails, scotch and draft beer Shiner Bock, Widmer Hefeweizen and Dos Equis). The wine list includes more than 20 by the glass, from $6.50 (Louis Latour chardonnay, Trinity Oaks pinot noir) to $15 (Provenance merlot). More than 150 bottles overall, with a solid selection in the $20-$40 range (Groth sauvignon blanc $39, McPherson viognier $28, Louis M. Martini Sonoma cabernet $39).

Wheelchair access: Yes