Last week I visited my friend Bill Latham’s new restaurant, Char. The atmosphere was warm, comfortable and casual, and the menu was loaded with my favorite comfort foods. Our dinner was outstanding. It looks like Bill has done it again.

For me the ultimate comfort food is not the typical one-pot dish such as pot-au-feu, bouillabaisse or osso bucco. The comfort-food meal that I catch myself daydreaming about is a Certified Black Angus or prime-grade, bone-in ribeye steak accompanied by a handful of crispy-on-the-outside, homemade and hand-cut french fries. Char’s beef was as good as it gets.

A good-quality steak cooked medium rare is one of the true pleasures in life. But it must be medium rare.

A sign hangs in the dining room of Crescent City Grill that says, “Don’t complain when we burn your well done steak.” If a customer doesn’t smother a well-done steak with steak sauce, they usually send it back to the kitchen because it is dry and tastes as stale as last week’s classified ad section. This never happens with medium or medium-rare steaks.

Personally, I would rather order a hamburger than eat a steak well done. The result is the same, so why not save the money? I always eat hamburger medium-well (hamburger should be cooked to at least 160 degrees).

Customers order steaks in many different ways. Years ago, when I worked as a waiter, I had a regular customer who ordered his steak cooked 30 seconds on each side. It was enough to turn a devoted carnivore into a vegetarian. Thirty seconds on each side is like eating some type of Kansas City Sushi. No thanks. Occasionally we get the customer who proudly pulls out the corny and oft-used, “just knock his horns off and wipe his rump,” when asked how he would like his steak cooked.

In the Paul Newman movie, “The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean”, Stacey Keach played the notorious outlaw Bad Bob, who, when asked how he would like his horse cooked, replied, “blue.”

Too done is not good, but too rare, in my opinion, is almost as bad. I was born a rare steak eater. In my late 20s I became a medium-rare person. I think a steak tastes better medium rare. The additional heat used to reach a temperature of medium rare is needed to break down more muscle and tissue, creating a tenderer product. A rare steak is almost always tougher than, and not as flavorful as, a medium-rare steak.

When I met my wife she was a well-done person. After a year of ribbing I worked her down to medium well and then to medium. Nowadays, she is a medium-rare person, and grateful to be one.

My friend, Pat Zachary, likes his steak cooked “Pittsburg style,” which is rare in the center and heavily charred on the outside. Pittsburg is the only way I like to eat a rare steak. However, heavily charred steaks might present their own set of unique problems.

Jim Felton, head of molecular and structural biology at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif., says, “If you eat a lot of well-done cooked meat products, you have higher risks of colon cancer, breast cancer and possibly prostate cancer.”

The heterocyclic amines in grilled meat are created when the muscle in meat gets heated to around 400 degrees, according to the National Cancer Institute. “But meat sliced thin and cooked quickly avoids the problem,” Felton says.

This might be the first time in my life that I have agreed on anything with someone from Berkley.

On the other hand, Mary K. Young, executive director of Nutrition Strategy and Research with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says, “Meat, such as beef, is a natural source of many nutrients, some of which have antioxidant properties. Antioxidants help prevent oxygen damage to cells, which are implicated in the development of heart disease, cancer and other diseases.” Tell it, sister. And pass me another New York strip steak.

Whom do you believe?

Well-done steaks cause cancer? I am skeptical. The day is not far off that some nerdy research scientist issues a report that warns us that swallowing our own saliva is harmful to our health and has caused chronic cauliflower ear in laboratory mice.

Nevertheless, be on the safe side and come on over to where the flavor is … with all of us enjoying medium-rare steaks.


Roquefort Tenderloin

6 8-ounce beef tenderloin fillets
3 tablespoons Crescent City Grill Steak Seasoning
3 ounces clarified butter
3 ounces brandy
2 tablespoons shallots, small dice
1 cup veal demi-glace*
4 ounces Roquefort or bleu cheese crumbles
1/4 cup     heavy cream

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large skillet, heat butter over high heat. Season fillets liberally with steak seasoning. Place fillets in skillet three at a time and sear both sides. Repeat with the remaining three steaks. Place browned fillets on a baking sheet and place in oven. Turn down heat on the skillet to low-medium. Add shallots and sauté two to three minutes. Deglaze with brandy, stir well and add demi-glace. Add one-half of the bleu cheese and the cream and continue to stir well, cooking four to five minutes longer. Remove from heat. When fillets have reached medium rare, sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and allow cheese to melt slightly. Place fillets on six plates and top with equal amounts of sauce.

* Demi-glace is strained veal stock that has been reduced by 50 to 60 percent.