Ordering Chicken At A Steakhouse Is A Quality Test The Restaurant Never Sees Coming

It's no surprise that the vast majority of steakhouses specialize in one thing — steak. Generally speaking, you're going to get the best dish possible by ordering a steak at these restaurants (though, you're better off avoiding filet mignon or beef tenderloin). But to see how consistent a restaurant you're visiting is, going outside of the box is crucial. Say, order a chicken from a steakhouse to find out if the quality of the less-prominent dishes is still up to par or if the restaurant's focus on certain dishes does not carry over to others.

Chip Carter, the producer and host of "Where The Food Comes From," agreed that offering good chicken is crucial to any steakhouse's identity as a great all-around restaurant. "If it's a good restaurant, they already know everything has to be good," Carter explained to us. "If a steakhouse also does great chicken, then that's an indicator of quality across the board. If they cheap out there ... then maybe they cut corners elsewhere." This is why it's an especially useful test if you want to decide if the restaurant is worth recommending to others, as great chicken can inform you that you can trust just about anything on the menu.

When it comes to actually deciphering just how good a steakhouse is at making chicken, the first thing to take notice of is how many chicken options actually appear on the menu. Chip Carter explained, "If there are multiple chicken dishes on a steakhouse menu, then it's something they do well and are proud of ... They've put time into developing those dishes. If it's just a random grilled chicken breast they slap on the menu to provide that option, skip it."

Furthermore, Carter said that once you actually have the chicken on your plate, it should have a lot of the best qualities of a great steak dinner. "You want the chicken to perform like the steak: Texture, appearance and, of course above all, taste," the host explained, "[...] If it's 'too' tender — you bite and it doesn't put up any kind of fight — or tastes like it's been marinated in some chemical stew, you're somewhere that just doesn't care about chicken." This acidic, overmarinated taste is something that should be avoided when making chicken at home and is thus especially damning when encountered at a restaurant. 

Nevertheless, while this can be a good test, there is a certain level of grace you should give to steakhouses if its chicken falls short of extraordinary. After all, many would argue that it's best to follow the late, great Anthony Bourdain's go-to line when ordering at restaurants: "I'll have what you're good at."