Texas Proposes Renaming the New York Strip Steak — but N.Y. Restaurants Aren’t Having It

A Texas government official is proposing to rename the “New York Strip Steak” the “Texas Strip” — but several New York restaurateurs aren’t keen on the idea.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick shared in a post on X on Friday, Feb. 28, that he filed a resolution to rename the steak cut to reflect the name of the Lone Star State in order to “better market Texas beef” and show representation for the state’s approximately “12.2 million head of cattle.”

“Liberal New York shouldn’t get the credit for our hard-working ranchers,” Patrick said on X. “We promote the Texas brand on everything made or grown in Texas because it benefits our economy and jobs.”

Under his new resolution, restaurants and grocery stores in the state would need to reprint their menus to read “Texas Strip” instead of “New York Strip Steak” — which is often considered a marbled and tender boneless short-loin strip steak.

The origin of the “New York Strip Steak” name is unknown, though it was thought to have had ties to the New York restaurant Delmonico’s — which used the moniker after its founding in 1827 and currently uses the name to describe its rib-eye cut of steak — according to The New York Times.

Dennis Turcinovic, the owner and managing partner of Delmonico’s Hospitality Group told the Times that he doesn’t think “there’s room for politics in this,” as the name is embedded in  “American culinary history.”

Mark Solasz, vice president of Master Purveyors, a wholesaler in the Bronx, agreed on the name’s significance, telling the Times that when restaurants call and say, “Give me one New York strip,” he knows “they mean the boneless strip loin.”

“Maybe the Texans will change it to the Texas strip, but I don’t think New York is going to change,” he added. “I don’t think this one is going to cross the border.”

The owners of several other prominent steak restaurants in New York City, including Ben & Jack’s Steakhouse and the Old Homestead, also noted that even if Texas decides to change the name of the steak cut, they won’t.

“Even if they change it, I’m going to leave it as the New York strip,” Ben & Jack’s Steakhouse president Harry Sinanaj told the Times.

The Old Homestead owner Greg Sherry chimed in, “I guess the lieutenant governor is looking for some P.R., but a New York steak is a New York steak.”