WCCO Viewers' Choice For Best Steak Dinner In Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- For meat lovers, there's nothing more satisfying than tucking into a perfect steak. There are plenty of places to get a choice plate of beef in the state of Minnesota, but we wanted to know which one is the tenderloin of restaurants.

You put in your two cents, and your votes sent Natalie Nyhus to Manny's Steakhouse in Minneapolis!

When you dine at Manny's in Minneapolis you'll find it's not just the meat that's a cut above the rest, because this steak house has personality. Manny's has a reputation for making lifelong employees, and the employees have a reputation for making lifelong customers.

"If you're here less than ten years, you're still the new guy," Manny's general manager Dave Wilson said.

Nancy Olson's been serving dry aged steak on the Manny's floor for thirteen years. She showed us the restaurant's double porterhouse.

"We like to call that the 'who's-your-daddy' steak," she said.

And Patrick Tierney, better known as Jocko, has been shaking martinis at the bar for 18 years. Jocko's got stories for days, memories that are captured in dozens of pictures on Manny's walls.

Marty Springstead -- one of the regulars -- was a major league umpire for 20 years and went on to become a supervisor. He was well known at Manny's, and at steakhouses around the country.

"We get such a wide range of people. That's what makes it special," Olson said. "We get people who have saved up all year and are here to celebrate an anniversary or birthday. We get people who are here every week."

Just about every celebrity who comes through town seems to make a stop at Manny's, like Mick Jagger who came by when the Rolling Stones were in town. Olson waited on him.

"He laughed at a couple of my jokes, which was great," she said.

It really is the kind of place visit if you're famous, or want to feel like you are.

"There's a saying that I have," Wilson said. 'Burgers to blugeons, Everyone gets treated the same.'"

And then there's the steak.

"The steaks are second to none," Tierney said.

They're wet-aged for 30 days, then dry-aged for up to four weeks, intensitying the beef flavor -- a true treat for the tastebuds.

"It's the best you can do," executive chef Jason Smith said. "We put out the best steak possible at Manny's."

The menu might not have a lot of choices, but Wilson said that's kind of the point.

"At Manny's, the belief is to keep the menu small, simple, and to buy the very best ingredients and steaks an cook them right," he said. "There's no magic other than to keep it simple and do it right."

The menu really is about the only thing that's small here. From the steak to the servers, a meal at Manny's is a special event.

"They know they're going to have fun when they come here, until they get the check," Tierney said with a laugh.

Your other favorite spots to have a steak dinner are Lake Elmo Inn, The Strip Club Meat & Fish in St. Paul and Murray's in Minneapolis.