From Taylor's to Dear John's: Angelenos are obsessed with old-school steakhouses

How far would you travel for a good steak?

For actor and director Eric Wareheim, best known as half of the pioneering duo Tim & Eric, the answer turned into a three-year journey across the United States, a sprawling tour of iconic dining rooms, veteran servers and the rituals that define America’s most enduring steakhouses.

The result is his new book, Steakhouse: The People, the Places, the Recipes.

Wareheim joined LAist 89.3’s AirTalk recently, talking to host Larry Mantle about how the project grew from a simple “best of” list into a full cultural record.

“Every city has five more, not on anyone’s list,” he said, describing the scale of the country’s steakhouse universe.

Understanding the appeal

For Wareheim, a great steakhouse is built on atmosphere as much as what’s on the plate. Newer restaurants may source fancier meat, he said, but the old-school places offer a different kind of comfort — a sense of continuity that’s increasingly rare.

A suited-up Wareheim sampling prime cuts as he documents America’s great steakhouses.

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Marcus Nilsson

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What became clear in reporting the book, he said, is that steakhouses serve as more than dining rooms. They’re gathering places for birthdays, anniversaries and decades-long family traditions. They’re neighborhood anchors. And they’re deeply specific to their cities, each one carrying its own rituals, quirks and regulars.

An archival look at the people who built the classic American steakhouse, one dining room meeting at a time.

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The local perspective

It didn’t take long for AirTalk listeners to jump in with their own L.A. favorites.

• George Petrelli’s Steakhouse in Culver City: “They bring the meat in and butcher everything right there in the shop — cutting, dressing, even grinding the beef on the premises,” said Douglas in Long Beach.
  
• 555 East in Long Beach, which recently marked its 40th anniversary: “It was a grand celebration for the regulars — incredible prime rib, as much as you wanted, plus all sorts of other good things. Their steaks were terrific, and for dessert, they served a molten, individually baked pudding in its own little casserole dish," raved Harriet in Seal Beach.
  
• Dear John’s in Culver City: “So dark you can’t see for the first five minutes,” joked Michael in Sherman Oaks.
   
• Magic Lamp in Rancho Cucamonga: Its classic neon signage was singled out by Eric via email.
  
• Dan Tana’s in West Hollywood: "The best New York strip in town," said Jennifer in Silver Lake.

• Valley Inn Restaurant and Martini Bar in Sherman Oaks: Rose emailed that it was once the favorite steakhouse of legendary UCLA coach John Wooden. 
  
• Betsy in Altadena: Praised by local resident Peggy as her new go-to, calling its real-wood, fire-seared steaks “a bright spot amongst the ashes” — a nod to the community recovering from the Eaton Fire.
  
• Wareheim himself shouted out Taylor’s in Koreatown, the first steakhouse he and his comedy partner Tim Heidecker visited years ago. This formative experience planted the seed for the book.

From neon signs to prime rib rituals, Wareheim’s book captures the soul of the American steakhouse.

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In addition, Steakhouse also makes mention of plenty of other L.A.–based restaurants that make beef their specialty, including:

Clearman’s Steak ’n Stein (Pico Rivera — classic mid-century steakhouse known for prime rib).
Soot Bull Jip (Koreatown — Korean barbecue)
Langer’s Delicatessen (MacArthur Park — famed pastrami)
Thien An Bo 7 Mon (Rosemead — Vietnamese seven-courses-of-beef restaurant)
Niku X (Downtown L.A. — high-end dry-aged/robot-assisted steakhouse)
Musso & Frank Grill (Hollywood — iconic old-school chophouse)
Majordomo (Chinatown — modern Korean-American takes on large-format beef)

Veteran servers

Wareheim argued that the heart of any steakhouse isn’t the cut of meat — it’s the staff. Many of the places he visited have servers who’ve been there 30 or 40 years, passing down the rhythms of the room like a craft.

“You want to go to a serious server, a lifer who knows exactly what the best thing is,” he said. “You can let go and just let these veterans guide you. And that’s a good feeling.”