A Lakeview Legend

Fifty years ago last year a Lakeview staple arrived on the scene. The Steak Knife was a comfortable hangout for residents of the enclave of Lakeview.  It had a lively bar scene and a great steakhouse menu that would become a neighborhood favorite, attracting visitors to the neighborhood just to eat there. It is even more popular half a century later.

After a few years, the restaurant moved across the street to a former bank building with a distinctly mid-century look. The terrazzo floors were not touched, and neither was much else. It’s a no-frills but still handsome dining room that exudes that familiar emotional kind of comfort. 

The bar has always been a hangout for the area because the origins of this restaurant are in a bar. Current owner Bobby Roth’s dad was a bar owner, and he started The Steak Knife with Ernie Masson of Masson’s fame. Patrons of the bar just moved to the restaurant, giving the new place a built-in clientele.

Here is good steakhouse fare. It isn’t only steaks that people come for. There is a lot else on the menu, and the seafood is very good too. On a recent visit to The Steak Knife, I discovered what I consider to be the most unusual appetizer in town. It is called the Tidbit, and it amounts to a pan of melted cheese that is served tableside with crostini. What’s not to love about gobs of melted cheese?

What makes this so unique is the presentation. A waiter arrives with a tray stand and sets up shop. He puts a hot pan on the stand and begins to portion out sections of the melted cheese onto the appetizer plates. These globs of melted cheese and herbs are served with crostini.

Tom ordered fried oysters as an appetizer. They come perfectly fried, plump, crispy, and golden brown. The remoulade has a nice horseradish component. These are very good. 

We also got catfish fingers this evening. The fried seafood here is good so we wanted to try it. Here was a generous portion of delicate fingers of catfish fried to perfection. The tartar sauce was good and together it was a tasty bite.

I got the crabmeat au gratin as an entree, though it is available in both sizes. It also comes with crostini. This was disappointing. I seem to remember that the crabmeat au gratin is a dish of some renown here, but I found it not thick enough. It was tasty, though, and how could anyone possibly complain about any dish with crabmeat at the base?

For entrees, we ordered the way we usually do at steakhouses. Since I am not much of a meat eater, we split a filet, and an order of potatoes of one kind and a loaded baked potato, as well as creamed spinach. Creamed spinach is the one essential side in all steakhouses.

The filet comes the New Orleans way, with sizzling butter and a little chopped parsley on top. It was nicely crusted and buttery tender. Everything you’d want in a steak.

I was disappointed in the baked potato, which seemed sort of bare when the cheese and butter had melted. There was a lot of bacon in this very large potato, but it seemed a little naked. It was cooked to the potato sweet spot, though I had to ask for more butter. A potato that large requires a lot of butter.

The creamed spinach was very good. Among the best, and I get it wherever I go. I wish the portion had been larger.

We had enough food here but I wanted to get the Seraphine salad, which is named after Bobby Roth's mother. It is an avocado half stuffed with artichoke and hearts of palm, served over mixed greens with a vinaigrette dressing and topped with red onion and asparagus. That sounds like a meal in itself.

We have also finished a meal here with bread pudding, but not tonight.

The Steak Knife is such a comfortable place to eat, we would come every week if we lived in the neighborhood. The people who do live in the neighborhood are lucky to have it as a hangout.