Arquivos US - Argentinian Steakhouse

Asado Steakhouse

Asado Steakhouse is another very popular name for an Argentinian Steakhouse in the US and anywhere in the world. In this post we mention the Asado Steakhouse in East London and the renown Asado Steakhouse at Tacoma, near Seattle in the US.

Asado Steakhouse Tacoma – Washington, USA

Asado Steakhouse at Tacoma, near Seattle offers a sophisticated grill atmosphere, and a wide array of beef cuts, though not Argentinian sourced.

Asado has an Argentine fare, but it is not just a steak restaurant. The Argentinian food traditions are a mix of Italian and Spanish cuisines, so Asado also offers pasta and fish dishes with a Mediterranean origin.

The steakhouse manager explains in this video that Asado Cucina Argentina is certainly not an inexpensive place to dine, but it is worth the experience. An it is also more affordable than other Argentinian Steakhouses like El Gaucho.

Asado Cucina Argentina is owned by John Xitco, Troy Christian and Sean Quinn. Coming from the oil distribution industry, for John Asado was his first restaurant. On the contrary, Troy helped Mckay launching El Gaucho restaurant and had an extensive experience in the business. As partner of El Gaucho, he hired Sean Quinn as executive chef.

Asado Steakhouse was lately ranked as the most romantic place to dine. But it is also perfect for a group of friends and couples.

The new terrace at Asado Steakhouse Tacoma, just opened (August 2021) offers early diners (from 4pm) cocktails and appetizers (try Argentinian empanadas), no reservations needed, but arrive early as it gets packed.

asado argentinian steakhouse terrace opened 2021 — New patio at Asado Tacoma Steakhouse

Asado Steakhouse Menu at Tacoma-Seattle:

Asado Steakhouse Tacoma – Seattle reservations and contact details

Tacoma
2810 6th Avenue
Tacoma, WA — 98406
253-272-7770

info@asadotacoma.com

El Gaucho Argentinian Steakhouse, most likely not an Argentine restaurant

El Gaucho is the most common name of an Argentinian Steakhouse outside Argentina. Referring to the Gaucho, the Argentinian cowboy, El Gaucho names thousands of Argentinian food restaurants in the world, almost exlusively owned and run by non Argentinians.

Many of them are already chains of many El Gaucho “parrillas”, the name of Argentinian steakhouses in Argentina. El Gaucho steakhouse could mean a posh restaurant in some English cities, or a dirty Turkish run joint in Amsterdam.

The true Argentinian steakhouses, the parrillas, are unpretentious. Beef is so widely available and so inexpensive in Argentina, that is a basic staple even for the poorer classes. Argentinians, together with neighboring Uruguayans eat more beef than anybody else in the word. Argentina has a population of 43 ml people and a cattle stock of over 50 million cows, while Uruguay has around 2.5 cows per inhabitant.

Let’s go through many of the Argentinian steakhouses and restaurant chais called El Gaucho in every continent

El Gaucho Seattle

Elgaucho.com

El Gaucho from Seattle owns 5 restaurants and a hotel. It is owned by Paul MacKay, who reopened it in 1996 after the original El Gaucho, founded by Jiam Ward in 1953, was sold and then closed in 1985.

paul mackay from el gaucho seattle retired 2014

This is a classy El Gaucho. The original one at Seattle was a steakhouse who Bob Hope, The Carpenters and Peggy Lee used to be frequent patrons.

Today El Gaucho steakhouse, at its 5 locations is a place with premium food and service, where people meat to close business. In addition to the original El Gaucho in Seattle, the other El Gaucho are in Tacoma, Portland, Bellevue, and a seafood version of El Gaucho called Aqua.

El Gaucho Manila The Philippines

Located at the Trump Tower in Manila, El Gaucho Argentinian Steakhouse is a luxury grill.

El Gaucho restaurants The Netherlands

GauchosGrill.nl

With eleven restaurants in The Neteherlands, el Gaucho Grill is an iconic Argentine restaurant chain the country.

el gaucho argentinian steakhouse the netherlands

El Gaucho Argentinian Steakhouse Curacao

One of the few “El Gaucho” who actually serve Argentinian beef.

El Gaucho, Seattle, not Argentinian steakhouse

Despite its Argentinian name, El Gaucho steakhouse, at Seattle Washington, is not an Argentine grill. All the beef is 100% American, including not only the meat and the way to cut it. You won’t find any tira de asado, vacío o chinchulines at El Gaucho in Seattle.

El Gaucho is the most common Argentinian steakhouse outside Argentina, but because of being such a common place, it is rarely a true Argentinian owned and run parrilla.

However, El Gaucho has great beef cuts, and they respect the Argentinian tradition of grilling the best Angus beef, raised and fattened without using hormones or antibiotics like 90% of the US cattle ranchers do.

Matt Ramsey is the executive chef at El Gaucho in Seattle, and explains a bit more the beef cuts they serve in the video below.

El Gaucho grills 28-day dry-aged Certified Angus beef, only prime cuts from the Niman Ranch. Niman Ranch is now a brand with over 700 cattle ranchers producing high quality meats, including beef and sheep.

Certified Angus bee is a brand that’s been around since the late 70s, and their big thing is about consistency and quality. Standards are so crazy that only 1 in 5 cattle angus influence cattle earn the right to be a part of the program.

Niman Ranches, part of Certified Angus beef, don’t use any antibiotics or hormones in their beef. Another great thing about Niman ranch is that they have complete control of their product from start to finish, which is very rare in this industry in the US, where 7 large industrial meat packing companies process over 70% of the beef.

El Gaucho Seattle only offers dry aged cuts, also a very non Argentinian way to treat beef

Large beef cuts, especially the ones with fat and a high grade of marbling, such as a prime top sirloin are put on a rack in a temperature-controlled room to dry age them.

The room requires a lot of air circulation going around the beef, and that air circulation creates this gnarly looking shell on the outside of the cut.

That is an indicator of chemical process produced naturally. The enzymes are breaking down the connective tissue so as to have a more tender steak.

Also with dry aging there’s a lot of moisture loss and moisture loss just means that there’s gonna be a more concentrated beef flavor.

The disadvantage of dry aged beef: it is expensive

With dry aging there’s a downside: it is expensive.

The reason why it’s so expensive is because that moisture loss you’re losing about 10 to 15 percent of the original weight of the beef cut.

Additionally, the shell that’s around the cut protecting the beef from any bacteria entering into the meat has to come off and that’s completely inedible.

El Gaucho Seattle serves only prima grade USDA standard beef, and uses only selected premium cuts such as Sirloin, Loin, Rib Eyes, New York and T-Bones

As per the USDA classification of beef, there are three common types of grades used for quality beef:

Prime
Choice
Select

The grading is directly related to the marbling of the cuts. The more marbling, the more flavor.