Fried Chicken News
Frenchy steak frites are the new fried chicken in Dallas
Steak frites from Medium Rare
Dallas super loves dining trends. Something new comes in and everyone — restaurants and customers alike — pile on. Who remembers the great fried chicken trend of 2017? Or pizza. (And more pizza.) Detroit pizza. Bagels! When Dallas likes something, it likes it a lot.
Today, it's steak frites: a seared steak cut into diagonal slices, served with French fries and a sauce — usually au poivre, béarnaise, or bordelaise — and frequently some kind of pretend-stab at greenery such as a side salad.
It's a French-created dish, most famously served at a Paris restaurant called Le Relais de l'Entrecôte. Pre-trend, you'd find it at the occasional French restaurant in Dallas. But about a year ago, it started showing up on menus everywhere.
Most of the credit/blame for the steak frites trend goes to Medium Rare, the DC-based restaurant that is on a major expansion, including a location that just opened in Dallas at the end of May. Founders Mark Bucher and Tom Gregg created the concept as an American version of Le Relais de L’Entrecote, keying in on the simplicity of the menu — it only serves steak frites — and its crowd-pleasing amenity of serving seconds for free.
"I went to visit Tom in Paris and we saw people waiting in line," Bucher says. "French people are not the most patient people, you don't see too many places with people waiting in line. And then you get in, and they abruptly ask, 'How do you want your steak cooked?' That's it."
They debuted their Americanized version in 2011, with a menu limited to steak frites, plus a vegetarian option featuring portabella mushroom.
"Single-item concepts are picking up traction in this century," Bucher says. "Ten years ago, it was chicken tenders. There are good economic reasons and customers like it. The reality is that, even at your favorite restaurant, you usually order the same thing every time."
Steak frites resonate because the food is familiar, especially in a steakhouse-town like Dallas. But it has a French name, which makes it fancy and exotic for the aspirational young foodie. And it comes pre-sliced, like a little happy meal.
It's also usually pretty cheap: The diagonal slicing cuts against the grain, making each bite more tender, so restaurants don't need to use high-grade cuts of steak to achieve a nice result.
Sauce notes:
- Bordelaise: a brown sauce made with red wine, bone marrow, butter, shallots, and sauce demi-glace.
- Béarnaise sauce: pale sauce made with butter, egg yolk, white wine vinegar, shallot, black pepper, and tarragon.
- Au poivre, AKA peppercorn: pan sauce with cognac, cream, and black pepper.
Here's some steak frites around town (and there's others in this similar non-subsubcriber DMN roundup - it's a buzzy trend!):
Dakota's Steakhouse. Subterranean restaurant which reopened in 2021 does steak frites as a lunch special for $19.84 — a clever price because it symbolizes the year the restaurant debuted. They do a rotating 6-oz "chef's choice" of steak with fries and Bordelaise plus a watercress salad, for which they get major bonus points.
D.L. Mack's. The version from this Chicago-inspired tavern from Vandelay Hospitality gets seared in a saucepan, sliced, then drenched with roasted tomato beurre blanc, a common topping for seafood and pasta, before being topped by McDonald's-style "skinny fries."
Dudley's Sports Grill. New restaurant from a co-owner of Christies Sports Bar & Grill, now open in Rockwall, has a steak frites with flavorful variants, consisting of a 10-oz strip with brandy peppercorn sauce and Parmesan fries for $35.
The Finch. Neighborhood restaurant with locations in Dallas and Grand Prairie does a $39 steak frites featuring black Angus NY strip cut in medallion-style bites, with a spin on the usual sauce: an herby creamy l’entrecôte sauce associated with a Paris restaurant called Cafe de Paris. With Parmesan herbed fries whose size resembles McDonald's.
Grand Lux Cafe. Galleria Dallas location just added steak frites as one of its new menu items: It's a wood-grilled "butcher’s steak" topped with red wine sauce and a ramekin of garlic-herb butter, served with Parmesan fries, for $33.95.
La Parisienne French Bistro. Frisco bistro has a distinct French profile and menu, with French onion soup, poulet frites, and boeuf bourguignon, giving it a little more credibility for its steak frites. It offers it in two sizes: 6- or 8-ounce for $35 or $42, with pommes frites and both sauce bernaise and Bordelaise. Both!
Little Daisy. Recently opened restaurant at the Thompson Dallas hotel in downtown Dallas uses Snake River Wagyu with a choice of a 7-oz filet for $54 or a 10-oz NY strip for $68, with choice of Bearnaise or au poivre.
The Mitchell. Downtown Dallas restaurant-bar introduced a tres French new menu in February, featuring steak frites for $25. They use the teres major cut of beef, cut thickly, with Provencal salsa, Bordelaise aioli, and extra-browned pommes frites (skinny fries).
National Anthem. Downtown Dallas restaurant from trend-savvy chef Nick Badovinus in the historic Magnolia Petroleum Building does steak frites with a 10-oz Angus flatiron steak and "voodoo sauce" LOL Nick for $37. (His perennial favorite Neighborhood Services has the same dish for $42.)
NDA Brasserie. Harwood Hospitality Group restaurant only open for breakfast and lunch has hanger steak frites, featuring HWD TX Wagyu, with frites, bearnaise, and frisee salad for $34. (They do a chicken version, too: Cajun chicken with French fries.)
Renny's Dallas. Restaurant from honcho Mark Maguire opened in 2023 — a trendier spinoff of his longtime restaurant Maguire's — so of course there are steak frites, featuring a pepper-crusted 6-ounce tenderloin and fries with brandy peppercorn sauce for $44.
Steakyard. Cheap-leaning steakhouse has steak frites as its centerpiece, with three renditions, all served with brandy peppercorn sauce (which comes in a cute little gravy boat), and thin fries: 9-oz tenderloin for $25, 10-oz picanha coulotte for $32, or 14-oz Akaushi ribeye for $48.
Toussaint Brasserie. Restaurant at the Renaissance Hotel Saint Elm in downtown Dallas is French inspired, so steak frites would be a shoo-in. Its version is a hefty 12-oz Prime NY strip with garlic butter & salsa, truffle pommes frites, and sauce persillade for $42.
Wade's Landing. Hipster restaurant in downtown Rockwall does a clever twist on steak frites that's like a combination of steak frites and the Argentinian dish chimichurri steak, featuring a 6-oz filet with perky chimichurri sauce and truffle Parmesan fries for $29.
Whiskey Cake Kitchen & Bar. Both the Las Colinas and Plano locations of this local chain are doing steak frites with choice of a petite tender steak for $27 or a ribeye for $39, with whiskey peppercorn sauce, shishitos, and hand-cut fries.
XOXO Dining Room. Fun, girl-centric restaurant on Ross Avenue has a "large plate" steak frites featuring a 10-oz Prime NY strip and truffle fries for $49.
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