Originally Posted by Visconti

Tastes especially in food are, of course, highly individualized but, generally speaking, the concept of grass-fed beef definitely sounds a whole lot more appetizing in theory and on paper than its experience in reality

In my view, most who have grown up with USDA Prime cornfed beef will likely find the grass-fed version here underwhelming, overly lean, too chewy, gamey in a bad way (unlike the dry-aged type) and the only thing more overhyped than the marketing is its price—buyer’s remorse comes to mind here. Conversely, the experience is the almost the direct opposite when those who have grown up with grass-fed beef try our cornfed ones for the first time, and you can see their expression on that first bite that just screams, “wow, this is better than anything I’ve ever had.”

And, to put into context, while I may not have covered the globe as extensively as some of you FT’ers here, I have been to my share of places where I’ve tried the best steaks they have to offer including Kobe and Matsuda (Matsuzaka) beef in Japan; and, in my very humble opinion, I’d take the best Chicago ribeye over any of them everyday of the week and twice on Sundays.

And, to your point, the correct wine pairing can potentially be sublime. A well marbled dry aged ribeye (think David Burke’s steakhouse in Chicago before it closed) is still the best pairing I’ve ever had with a fine Cabernet with that sought-after strong taste of cassis—again, IMHO pairs better with our steaks than anything I’ve ever had in France.