Nick + Stef’s Meat 101

Nick + Stef’s Meat 101

Nick & Stef's presented their aged beef options on a table like a carnivorous still-life image.

I may not be in college anymore, but education is far from a thing of the past…as long as it tastes good. When I learned about the Meat 101 classes at Nick + Stef’s, I was happy to submit to some higher learning. Executive chef Megan Logan teaches classes regularly that focus on the finer points of her steakhouse’s premium meat program. I signed up for “A Well Aged Steak” class that covered dry-aged and wet-aged steaks, which culminated with an illuminating tasting.


Chef Los Angeles

Megan Logan shared beefy knowledge with “Meat 101” attendees.


GM Patrick Kirchen anticipated 12 people, but demand was so high that he set aside 33 seats by the glass-fronted meat locker to best showcase dry-aged and wet-aged rib-eye and New York steak.

Chef Los Angeles

Megan Logan is from Thousand Oaks and previously worked as sous chef at Patina and on the meat line in that restaurant.


Fun fact: Logan was a vegetarian for 12 years, but shifted after deciding to become a chef. Now she eats anything, but of course has preferences.

Steak Los Angeles

Logan presented meat in dramatic fashion, on planks in front of the impromptu “classroom.”

The night’s selection of USDA Prime Angus included 28-day, dry-aged ribeye, and 20-day, wet-aged ribeye.

Steak Los Angeles

Students also gained access to 28-day, dry-aged New York and 20-day, wet-aged New York.

Steak Los Angeles

Dry-aging is more expensive and more labor intensive, requiring daily beef wrapping and unwrapping.


Nick + Stef’s stores meat in a glass-fronted room with 87% humidity to remove excess moisture and 34-degree temperature, breaking down enzymes to make it the meat tender. After 28 days, the beef becomes gamier, and carries a reduced yield.

Only 3% of cattle is Prime, and that’s the only grade to dry-age. It needs fat cap to shield beef from bacteria, which gets shaved after aging. Nick + Stef’s cows are born in Texas and finished on corn for six months in states like Oklahoma and Nebraska to achieve optimum marbling and fat content.

Steak Los Angeles

Logan said they go through 18 shells per week (18-22 pounds each) at Nick + Stef’s. Each shell yields about five 18-ounce steaks and six or seven, 14-ounce cuts.


Nick + Stef’s only wet-ages lean cuts of beef like the tenderloin, which age in a Cryovac, in natural juices. However, Logan said not to let the beef wet age for too long or the beef breaks down.

Steak Los Angeles

Logan disappeared into the kitchen to cook the beef over a wood grill that burns oak and mesquite, finishing the steaks in a 1200-degree broiler.


She seasons each steak with salt and fresh cracked pink, black and white pepper. Clockwise from top right: we received a wet-aged, bone-in ribeye, dry-aged ribeye, dry-aged New York, and wet-aged, bone-in New York. Just about everybody at my communal table, including me, preferred the dry-aged ribeye. For my taste, it was drier, more concentrated, slightly gamier, and more savory.

Kirchen poured 2008 Scaggs Vineyard Mt. Veeder Montage, wine from musician Boz Scaggs, with the steak.

Side Dish Los Angeles

Nick + Stef’s also provides the option to add a variety of sides. I chose butternut squash-potato gnocchi with candied ginger.

Side Dish Los Angeles

My neighbors ordered a side of creamed spinach, and we passed skillets.

Nick & Stef’s treated me to Meat 101, but given the generous serving of Prime meat (easily 10 ounces), the wine pairing, and access to a wealth of meaty information, a $35 price tag seemed well worth it.

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Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

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