Grub StreetNew York

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When the first thing we hear about a piece of meat is that “it doesn’t taste at all like Roquefort cheese,” we tend not to get overly excited. But when it’s Shane McBride talking, we stop and listen. Craftsteak holds the record for the longest-aged steaks in New York, topping out, until recently, at a ridiculous 56 days. (That’s about twice as long as the standard month, which itself is a rarity in this day and age.) Now the chef has taken to serving strip steaks aged for truly unheard-of lengths of time — including one that went 78 days before cooking. We’d assume that such extreme mummification would result in the meat taking on a ghoulish funk, but McBride assures us otherwise.

“It has an underlying funk, but mostly a real intense beef flavor, an attractive zing to it that’s not nasty or off-putting at all. It’s actually delicious,” McBride tells us. Not nasty? You don’t say! (We would hope not: The eighteen-ounce bone-in steak goes for a hefty $59.) On the one hand, McBride has never erred when it comes to meat; on the other, no one to our knowledge has ever aged a steak that long without producing something monstrous. “Trust me, you have to taste this,” McBride says. If its looks are any indication, we expect a truly intense experience. But we’ll skip the cheese course entirely.