In Search Of Toronto’s Best Steak Restaurant

Toronto is a multicultural gastronomic Mecca. We live in a city where no matter the type of food you crave, you are likely to find an incredible offering in the GTA. Amongst the traditional ethnic choices are several contenders (or pretenders) for the title of best steak in the city. For those of us who eat red meat, we all have our favorite spots and are loyal to our choices.

With that in mind, a friend of mine and a few of his buddies recently decided to engage in a one night battle, a dual for, in their minds, the best steak between the two previously undefeated champions, Harbour 60 and Jacobs & Co. So we are clear there was a certain degree of scientific control in place. The men went to both places on the same evening. Prior to eating the same cut of meat, a 16 oz New York Strip Steak, no alcohol was consumed, and no other food was ordered but the steaks.

For those wishing to engage in the same type of contest, be sure to bring either a thick wad of cash or a credit card with lots of room left on it. Neither place is cheap, and the steak alone will run you at least $50. Keep in mind that when you order the steak, it comes all alone on the plate. Everything else is extra.

With that in mind, the boys headed first to Jacobs & Co. The agreed upon steak was ordered, 16 oz, New York Strip cooked medium rare. At Jacobs & Co., like many famous steakhouses, their offering is dry-aged, here for 38 days. For the novice who isn’t up to speed on what exactly this means and difference in taste, allow me to give you a short lesson: When a cut of meat is dry-aged, it is hung in a chilled temperature controlled room with little to no moisture at all. This process in essence removes the moisture from the meat, a step that enhances and enriches the body and flavor of the meat. When one goes to the traditional grocery store, most of the steaks you see in the butcher’s display case are bright red in color, which is a clear sign that a steak has not been dry-aged. Conversely, a dry aged steak has a more matte look to the meat. Connoisseurs, then look to the ‘marbling on the meat. To the novice, this is the fat content. The more white lines you see in the steak, the higher the fat content, resulting in a greater flavor in the steak.

Prior to ordering their steak, the gentleman were given a preview of the steak they would be eating. The steak had the above referenced color to it, and marbling was most evident. This steak had adequate marbling, not to the liking of my good friend.

The steak these carnivores chose arrived promptly and exactly as ordered. The steak arrived sliced for easy consumption. Upon the first bite, it was obvious that this was a high quality cut of meat. The steak held good flavor, was easy to chew all the while remaining tender and juicy. It was a good piece of meat.

Undeterred, the foursome headed to Harbor 60, which many a steak lover consider the premiere steak in town. Harbor 60, unlike Jacob & Co uses an aging process called wet aging. In this process, the steak is placed in a vacuum sealed bag, and then similarly in a temperature controlled environment. There is a noticeable difference in flavor between a dry-aged steak and a wet-aged steak.

At Harbor 60, they wet-age their steaks for 28 days. The steak presented to the men, had even less marbling then the Jacob steak. The same steak was ordered and it arrived at the table sliced as well. It also arrived exactly as ordered. The meat on first taste had a distinct metallic undertone which is common when eating wet-aged meat. This specific steak, however seemed far “chewier” than the steak from Jacobs & Co. Where the flavor from Jacobs & Co, was instantly noticeable, at Harbor 60 it was clearly lacking.

As between these two fine establishments, as tested by these 4 self proclaimed experts, Jacobs & Co is the superior of the two. They also have reached the conclusion that in the search for the top steak aging process, they much prefer dry-aged steaks as opposed to steaks that are wet-aged. The clear winner in this contest was Jacobs & Co. Harbor 60, in their minds did not live up to it’s reputation as the king of Toronto Steak Champion. Perhaps, a change in how they age their meat would improve the score from this bunch.