Diamond Jim Brady is one of histories most famed eaters, known to eat enough food to fuel a small city for his morning repast. However, could he truly have eaten that much? David Kamp looks into his gluttonous ways.
Salted caramel has gone from elite flavor profile to one of the country's favorite combinations.
If ever you needed an alibi when you're caught flipping through Maxim magazine, don't say "Jessica Alba." The men's magazine has picked the 10 Best Steakhouses in the US. Strangely, there's only one from Chicago and one from Texas, but multiple places from...Florida? Who knew? Here's the list, in no particular order:
Grill 23 Boston, MA - "beef comes from a small herd of purebred steer," www.grill23.com
The Big Texan Steak Ranch, Amarillo, TX - "If you can eat a 72-ounce steak and all the trimmings in under an hour, it's free. In 46 years only 7,000 people have done it." www.bigtexan.com
Pizza?!?! He's taking you out to grab a slice of pizza?!?! Forget it. What kind of cheapskate/Peter Pan/unimaginative guy is he!??! Drop him!
Don't pretend like you haven't done it before -- judged a guy (or girl) before you've even met, based on where they want to go on the first date. Fancy expensive reservations-30-days-in-advance-only and you're impressed, right? KFC drive-thru and...well, you get the picture.
The Steakhouse of My Dreams is a special place -- but you can't go get a reservation. It is my secret sanctuary. I repair there when the world is too much. Let the buxom belles of Avenue B ignore me; let editors repulse my pitches, and copy crones mangle my best phrases. I see what my life is like. I know that my Cadillac has a broken grill, and a big crack in the windshield. Indian boys pelt my windows with durian. I don't care. I just close my eyes, and I see that place of my most fevered meat-dreams.
Mastro's - They hold Awards Show parties here because it's located in ooh la la Beverly Hills. It's dark and steakhouse-y, but bring a sweater; for some reason, it feels like a meat locker inside. 246 N Canon Drive Beverly Hills, CA 90210 (310) 888-8782 www.mastrossteakhouse.com
The Palm - Fun, with caricatures all over the walls, so you don't feel like you have to be wearing a silk smoking jacket and holding a cigar. 9001 Santa Monica Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90069 (310) 550-8811 www.thepalm.com
BOA Steakhouse - The one at The Grafton Hotel is swanky, and you might want to bring your sunglasses for all the bright bling inside. The Santa Monica location is much less stressful (on your wardrobe, that is), catering to laid back westsiders and tourists. 8462 West Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA, (323) 650-8383, www.boasteak.com
Nick & Stef's - It's downtown, which is a sort of pain if you don't live downtown, and not very inviting, since downtown LA after dark isn't quite happenin' (yet). However, they put their beef out on display, which is very very sexy. 330 South Hope Street Los Angeles, CA (213) 680-0330 http://www.patinagroup.com/nickStef/
Sizzler - Just kidding. Wanted to make sure you were paying attention.
Ruth's Chris Steakhouse - When there are more than say, five of a certain restaurant, you can't help but feel like you're eating at Outback Steakhouse. However, Ruth keeps it real. For goodness' sake, the steaks come out in pools of sizzling butter! 224 S Beverly Drive Beverly Hills, CA 90212 (310) 859-8744 www.ruthschris.com
Morton's Steakhouse - Ooh la la. It's like an observatory with all the star sighting you can do there. Luckily, the steaks are good, too. 435 S. La Cienega Boulevard Los Angeles CA 90048 (310) 246-1501 www.mortons.com
Pacific Dining Car - There's one downtown, which is better than the Santa Monica location according to S. Irene Virbila (LA Times critic), but Santa Monica is closer to the westsiders. It may not be the best of the eight, but if you're craving steak at 4 am, Pacific Dining Car is open. 2700 Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90403 www.pacificdiningcar.com
Steakhouses, as a rule, all used to market themselves the same way. The place was presented as a sanctum sanctorum, an all-male preserve where men could drink whiskey, eat charred beef, and revel in their temporary liberation from the tyranny of women.
But times have changed; and the New York steakhouse has changed with them, giving yesteryear's cultural baggage the heave-ho. A few classic exemplars of the old school persist, and are rightly celebrated as temples of meat-worship; but now they compete with a new generation of steakhouses, all of whom bring a new, metrosexual take to the most primal of all restaurant concepts.
Typical of this breed is Quality Meats, a tarted-up meatery from the corporate group that brought you 78 different Smith and Wollensky restaurants, not to mention Cite, Maloney and Porcelli, and the Post House.
Also in the March issue: warm, gooey desserts, steakhouse greats, the debate over foie gras, and the
secret to great soups. Oh, and what about the secret to better biscuits? It's cheddar!
While it's absolutely adorable to don a frilly apron, pack a lunch box for the kids and bake
casseroles all day, I'd much rather put on a fur stole and go '50s retro-Rat-Pack-style. That means dining out at an
all-American steakhouse and twirling the night away into the bottom of my martini glass at a glamorous lounge.
In LA, there's certainly no shortage of steakhouses and most of them do try to re-create some of that old-school
class and sophistication. Pick up the phone and make a reservation, though, because you're probably not faaaabulous,
baby, faaaabulous enough to sashay in and grab the corner table.
BOA Steakhouse at The Grafton Hotel 8462 West Sunset Boulevard West Hollywood, CA
(323) 650-8383 www.boasteak.com
The Grill on the Alley 9560 Dayton Way Beverly Hills, CA 90210 (310) 276-0615 www.thegrill.com
Lincoln Steakhouse Americana 2460 Wilshire Boulevard Santa Monica, CA 90403 (310)
828-3304 www.lincolnsteakhouse.com
If ever you needed an alibi when you're caught flipping through Maxim magazine, don't say "Jessica Alba." The men's magazine has picked the 10 Best Steakhouses in the US. Strangely, there's only one from Chicago and one from Texas, but multiple places from...Florida? Who knew? Here's the list, in no particular order:
Pizza?!?! He's taking you out to grab a slice of pizza?!?! Forget it. What kind of cheapskate/Peter Pan/unimaginative guy is he!??! Drop him! 
Bon Appetit continues its 50th Anniversary. This month:
While it's absolutely adorable to don a frilly apron, pack a lunch box for the kids and bake
casseroles all day, I'd much rather put on a fur stole and go '50s retro-Rat-Pack-style. That means dining out at an
all-American steakhouse and twirling the night away into the bottom of my martini glass at a glamorous lounge. 
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