Jak's Grill

3701 NE 45th Avenue
206-985-8545

We have continued exploring Seattle's outer reaches with our native guides. Our latest target was Jak's Grill in the University District. Jak's is a local chain with branches in West Seattle and Issaquah, but the parking is better here in the University District, so that is where we went to check out the aged Nebraska beef and even more aged Nebraska beef.

When judging a restaurant, one usually has to take a number of factors into account. There is the food, the ambience, the service and so on. When judging a steakhouse, there is really only one thing that matters, and that's the beef. Jak's has excellent, astoundingly good beef, which is to say that it has the aged beef tanginess and dryness that is hard to get anywhere else except in a very good steakhouse. We had the 20 ounce porterhouse. In fact, the two of us ate three of them. In our defense, we'll note that they cut their steaks lean, without a lot of fat along the edges.

Good beef is almost like a drug. A supermarket steak is just not the same food. This was good beef, and it took us some serious eating before we had our fill.

As for the other factors, Jak's does not do that poorly. The bread was a good sourdough. The green beans, the token vegetable, were crisp and delicious in butter. The romaine salad was honest and well dressed. The french fries were not bad, but the potato dish to order on the side was the potato pancakes, crisp outside, soft inside, and full of chives. There was decor, classic steak house, with dark wood and simple chairs. There was service, and a number of good, well trained waiters and waitresses who got us our beef the way we wanted it.

So, the next time we get a craving for real beef, aged and dried, we know where to go. When the urge hits you, try out Jak's Grill for your next serious beef fix.