Beef used to be simple. Remember when the only question was, “Do you want cheese on your burger?” And a slider was the secret weapon pitch of two dominant Baseball Hall of Fame Bobs: Feller and Gibson. Now, there are so many options and terms thrown around that it’s hard to keep it all straight. Never fear, however — I’m prepared to break down the confusion while examining high-end beef sliders.
First of all, Kobe (a place) beef is wagyu (a breed). Most Kobe/wagyu beef eaten outside of Japan is domestic Kobe-style beef. Restaurateurs use these terms to connote luxury. My unforgettable encounter with wagyu came at acclaimed chef Grant Achatz’s avant-garde Chicago bar, The Aviary. For a mere $21 — tongue firmly in cheek — three tiny bites of lightly seared A5 wagyu are served with a itty-bitty dollop of yuzu kosho mustard for an ideal accent. It’s pure indulgence, yet perfection.
But while we’re at it, let me clarify some other words that’re part of any discussion about beef. I’ll take the very complicated topic that is Japanese beef and try to give you a brief (inadequate) overview. There’s loads of info online if you want to be a beef geek.
Wagyu is notable for intense marbling, which is what determines flavor. Japanese beef is graded A to C (yield) and 1 to 5 (marbling, firmness and color), with A5 being the highest grade. Most Japanese wagyu is A4 to A5. I joke that A5 looks like fat held together by squiggles of beef. It has mostly monounsaturated fatty acids (aka "the good fats") rich in omega-3s, too — up to 30 percent more unsaturated fat than Angus cattle. The fat dissolves like butter, leaving a clean, dry palate.
Angus beef is also a breed, originally from Scotland, that has a high degree of marbling.
Notably from Argentina, grass-fed beef tastes different from most of what we eat, which is grain-fed. It’s an acquired taste for most diners from the U.S.
Dry-aging beef concentrates flavor and tenderizes. Filet mignon is about texture, while rib-eye is about flavor.
Prime beef has more marbling than choice and select. Most beef available at the local grocery store is select or choice, with prime reserved for restaurants. Costco does offer some prime that’s excellent, but pricey.
How does this translate to Kobe sliders? Well, I visited five local restaurants to find out.
Kobe Beef Sliders: $14
Three sliders topped with tiny cornichon garnishes make for a pleasant presentation. The hand-shaped patties are fresh and served on fabulous, buttery mini brioche buns made at the next-door bakery. Cheddar drips down the meat, which sits on a tangy bourbon aioli. For me, the thinly sliced jalapeño could go, but that’s a personal choice.
THE LIVING ROOM ON MAIN, DUNEDIN
Wagyu Beef Sliders: $15
Two wagyu sliders also look preformed and, therefore, frozen. They taste fine, though, with caramelized onions, melted Brie and a bit of horseradish caper sauce on small brioche rolls. The accompanying Montreal steak pomme frites are excellent as well.
OCEAN PRIME, TAMPA
Kobe Sliders: $13
A new treatment from what’s listed on the online menu is served in the restaurant’s energetic lounge, which is buzzing. Two double-stack sliders are expertly well balanced by Tillamook Cheddar, thin slices of lettuce, perfect, mild bread-and-butter pickles, and a grace note of diced onion. Beef is the star on a toasted bun. However, I’d like a touch more salt.
Kobe Gorgonzola Sliders: $15
A trio of Kobe sliders comes with wild mushroom demi-glace and Gorgonzola on pretzel rolls. The lunchtime burgers look too perfect, which indicates they were frozen. The demi-glace appears to be packaged brown gravy with canned mushrooms. And Gorgonzola is overly assertive if your goal is to highlight the beef. Still, with a view, I don’t really care.
SQUARE 1 BURGERS & BAR, VARIOUS LOCATIONS
Kobe Pimento Sliders: $11
Here, the beef stands out. It’s juicy and seductive — with applewood-smoked bacon, coleslaw, pimento cheese and a sliver of green bell pepper. The brioche bun bottom gets soggy from the slaw, and I remove the pepper to focus on the beef. Nevertheless, these are two great sliders.
Bottom line: While each slider variety above is tasty, the seduction of Kobe is largely absent. I doubt we could pick them out in a blind tasting.
Sliders aren’t the only options on the Kobe bandwagon, either. Birch & Vine offers wagyu rib-eye carpaccio (which I can’t wait to try) in downtown St. Pete, and Roy’s has a full-size wagyu burger at its Tampa location. Clearwater Beach’s Clear Sky Cafe serves wagyu meatloaf, and Bonefish Grill restaurants in town provide another twist with wagyu beef pot-stickers.
Forgetting sliders, the very best way to sort out the luxe beef offerings isn’t cheap, but it is delicious. Tampa legend Bern’s Steak House features a sampler with 3 ounces each of 100-day dry-aged Delmonico, filet mignon and Japanese wagyu strip. It’s just under $100, though if having the side-by-side comparison is on your bucket list, this is much cheaper than a trip to Japan.
I encourage you to enjoy the Kobe-style sliders as I did. That being said, until you’ve experienced the real deal almost melting on your tongue, they’re a shadow of the umami-filled explosion that true wagyu brings.
This article appears in Oct 19-26, 2017.