Comments (0) Best Steak House - 2002
The Palm Restaurant
Readers' Choice: Saltgrass Steak House
Palm on Westheimer (the cognoscenti don't say "the") has a lot of special memories for Houstonians. When it opened in 1977, it epitomized the "anything goes" spirit of the oil boom. And it's still a boisterous joint with big steaks, big Bordeaux and few inhibitions. The Houston restaurant's walls are covered in caricatures, just like the Manhattan original, and it's fun to see how many faces you know. The New York chop house opened on Second Avenue in 1926. Legend has it that the name was a complete accident. Palm was supposed to be named Parma, but the name was changed by a bureaucrat who couldn't understand the owners' thick Italian accents. Palm's USDA Prime New York strip is perhaps the tastiest steak in town; dark brown, its edges hard and crispy, pink and dry along the sides, turning juicier and redder toward the middle. It's chewier than a filet or rib eye, but the flavor is worth it.
