For 40 years, the Big Steer has welcomed hungry diners to its classic steakhouse. (Photo: Seeta Lee)
By Seeta Lee
The massive cow statue in front of the Big Steer in Altoona seems to be either a source of embarrassment or a beacon of deliciousness. At 5 p.m. on a recent Sunday, the cow’s yellowed, illuminated sign reads, “Happy 20th birthday, Emma!” It’s unclear if Emma is an employee or the guest of honor at a big party inside. It wasn’t apparent from the half-paved, half-gravel parking lot where I spot a pickup from Ohio, another from Georgia, and a smattering of cars, crossovers, and other trucks from across Iowa.
The Big Steer Restaurant and Lounge, at 1715 Adventureland Drive, is known for old-school steak. Everything about the atmosphere embodies that, from the rodeo- and ranch-themed art on the wood paneling to the “cowcktails” and “mootinis” on the Big Stir booze menu. Despite the theme that makes a city dweller like me cringe, the eatery is and has been my top spot for steak for two decades — half of its 40-year history. I could have gone earlier, but I let my biases get in the way until I finally got over myself and saw it for what it was: a place to be comfortable and lovingly fed.
“We have people who come in flip-flops and people who come in wearing three-piece suits,” co-owner Sherry Fix tells me. She and her husband, Randy, own and run the Big Steer together, and plan to pass the business to their son. Their daughter serves there once a week. Their grandchildren work there, too, or have in the past.
The menu offers traditional steakhouse fare: top sirloin, New York strip, rib-eye and prime rib, a favorite among regulars. The Big Steer still has spaghetti as a side, which you’ll rarely see in more modern steakhouses.
What sold me on my first visit wasn’t just the steak or the throwback atmosphere. It was the hash browns. I was excited to order hash browns as a side for dinner, and I’m still excited now. They’re perfect: crispy and golden brown on the outside, and soft, buttery and hot on the inside. They’re more comforting than french fries have ever been.
The menu also offers a whole ocean of seafood, including salmon, roughy, crab cakes, and pasta with scallops, crab and shrimp in lobster cream sauce. “We sell a lot — a lot — of shrimp. I get it all the time,” Fix said, talking up the classic shrimp cocktail, fried shrimp, boiled shrimp and a couple of surf-and-turf variations.
But not for me. I want steak. I’ve never known a steak to come out of the kitchen at the wrong temperature. My top sirloin (8 ounces for $33) and my husband’s filet (6 ounces for $39) are almost impossibly tender right at the first cut. And the first bite embodies why I love steak: that salty hit, followed by hot juices and melt-in-the-mouth beef. The Big Steer has it mastered.
In truth, it’s a lot of food. Our meal, which totaled about $90 before tip, included two steaks, one soda, fresh bread, spreadably soft butter, four sides and an unmerciful dessert. I hadn’t planned on ordering dessert because I knew how much food we’d get. But my husband spied the lemon cake ($9) on the way in, and he will never turn down lemon cake.
Our server, a true Midwestern mom, tells us she’ll bring two spoons. I initially shrug it off, but when she brings the cake to the table, my resolve vanishes. The yellow, white and red dessert seems like a third of a sheet cake. The thick whipped cream contrasts with the fresh raspberries on top and the sauce drizzled on the plate. When we’re almost finished, the server asks us how it was. I rave, then ask where they get their cakes. She smiles. “They’re made in-house.”
Of course they are. There’s no way a practically unchanged, family business like this would take shortcuts. Even after a fire closed the restaurant for 11 months during the pandemic, they restored the interior to a fresher version of the same cowboy-core theme they’ve always had.
The Big Steer is tried and true precisely because they do things the same way they have been doing them since 1984. Like their hash browns and steak, you don’t mess with perfection.
Show Comments (0)