I kind of feel like it's my mission in life to find out where the best steak in the world is. So far, I can't say that the best steak in the U.S. is found outside of Chicago. I've found the NYC steakhouses enormously overrated.

For my money, I've never found anything to beat the original State Street Morton's in Chicago. It's always just a half-notch above the others.

Of course, that said, I'm still waiting for my pilgrimage to Bern's in Tampa. I've always wanted to go there, and I've got this notion in my head that if anyplace can beat the original Morton's, it's Bern's. But we'll just have to see about that.

It's a terrific thing, though, that you can get well-aged prime meat all over the country now. Having a really sublime beef experience, though, is still hit-or-miss, I've found. But when you get that tang of the perfectly aged steak ... well, it's all worth it.