Rehoboth's Houston-White Co. offers old-school swagger and steak

There's something about the smell of salty air and the roar of ocean waves that can rustle up an appetite fit for a cattle rancher.

Rehoboth Beach's restaurant scene has many different dining options, but keeping red meat lovers sated has been surprisingly small scale. 

Although 1776 Steakhouse on Coastal Highway (Del. 1) in the Midway Shopping Center has been around for at least 20 years – it's been under different ownership since 2007 –a luxury, throwback steakhouse has been missing from Rehoboth's downtown scene.

Perhaps the school of thought has been, and rightly so, tourists tend to seek out seafood in a seashore town. Or they just want the usual beach foods – pizza, ice cream and Thrasher's fries.

But what about the vacationers (and locals) who want to get dressed up for a fancy meal and splurge on more turf than surf?

The new Houston-White Co. restaurant at 315 Rehoboth Ave., across from Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats, is aimed directly at beef eaters. This destination for steak lovers is owned by Megan Kee who also runs La Fable, a lovely, traditional French bistro on Baltimore Avenue.

Kee is well-acquainted with the Houston-White Co. location. It was once the home of the short-lived but well-received Bramble & Brine restaurant, which she ran with her now former husband.  

The building has received an elegant, sophisticated makeover. While the outside still looks like a charmingly renovated beach cottage, the inside is pure steakhouse swagger and swank. 

It's warm and inviting, with a modern and masculine, slightly Rat Pack-ish atmosphere that's closer to Sullivan's Steakhouse than Peter Luger.

If slabs of blood-red steak and glasses of inky red wines like Italy's Torrebruna Sangiovese or Decoy Cabernet Sauvignon from Sonoma County, California, are your thing, Houston-White Co. is your place.

Here, you'll find premium, richly-marbled meats at premium prices. Costs might give pause – a 48-ounce USDA prime porterhouse will set you back $115. But, let's get real, you're probably not coming here if you're budget-conscious.

A porterhouse, which tends to serve two, is considered "the king of steaks," and sometimes it's good to be king and eat like one.

There are other less expensive, high-quality cuts, though a meal for two, along with wine and/or cocktails, will easily creep into the triple digits. 

At Houston-White Co., you get what you pay for and that is a damn fine steak and impeccable service from attentive, well-versed veterans. Portions also are more than generous; I saw more than a few takeout boxes going out the door. 

The name Houston-White Co. is a part of Delaware's history. It was once a Millsboro lumber-milling business operated by Kee's family, the Whites, from about the 1890s to the 1970s. 

The Houston (pronounce it HOUSE-ton) of the company was former U.S. Rep. Henry A. Houston. The Sussex County Democrat served one term in Congress, from 1903 until 1905, during President Theodore Roosevelt's administration.

The company is celebrated in framed news items on walls. The dinner-only restaurant, with seating for about 55 people, has both leather banquettes and tables.

The glassed-in kitchen is exposed and you can watch the action from some of the dining areas. Or you can grab one of the eight seats at the bar, sip icy cold cocktails like a Cham-Cham ($11), Pimms Mule ($11) or Negroni ($11) and engage in snappy, repartee with the well-heeled, mixed-age crowd.

The menu reads like a steakhouse primer. Time-honored appetizers include wedge and Caesar salads ($12), clams casino ($120 and jumbo shrimp cocktail ($17).

À la carte offerings feature an 8-ounce USDA prime barrel-cut ribeye ($37) and a 10-ounce, $32 Wagyu flank steak, while a prime 12-ounce New York strip is $45, the prime 20-ounce Kansas City strip is $65, and a 28-ounce prime tomahawk ribeye is $95.

So what is prime beef and why is it so expensive? It means it's produced from young, well-fed cattle with abundant marbling, according to the National Cattlemen's Association. Produced in smaller quantities than other grades, prime beef tends to be found mostly in upscale hotels and restaurants. Prime roasts and steaks are excellent for roasting, grilling or broiling.

The Houston-White Co. kitchen also has "composed entrees," such as beef stroganoff ($34), crispy skinned salmon ($28) and a cast-iron fried chicken ($27). Classic surf-and-turf (a 6-ounce prime petit filet and a 6-ounce Maine lobster tail) along with asparagus and potato wedges is $62.

The $9 side dishes available are traditional steakhouse accompaniments: creamed spinach, baked potato, onion rings and macaroni and cheese.

Toppers for the meats include whipped horseradish and au poivre (both $4), bone marrow demi-glace, bearnaise and Stilton butter (all $5) and braised bacon ($6).

Listen for the recited daily specials which can include veal or lamb chops, a seafood tower, whole lobster and a fish option.

I'm an unabashed fan of the wedge salad. Iceberg lettuce doesn't get enough respect, and this is crunchy, essential steakhouse fare.

The wedge salad comes on a chilled plate with drizzles of blue cheese dressing, a generous amount of Stilton blue cheese, cherry tomatoes, a confetti of red onion and hearty chunks of bacon. A serving of warm bread was brought immediately after the salad along with soft and slightly salted butter. 

A dining pal and I split the salad and briefly thought about doing the same with a steak since we planned to get sides. We honestly weren't being cheapskates. The smallest à la carte beef cut is 8 ounces. While serious carnivores will have no problem devouring that amount of beef, or more, for those of us who love beef but don't eat red meat that often anymore (hands up), more than 8 ounces can seem almost Flintstonian in one seating.

But, our server gently nudged us toward ordering our own steak. Some of the larger bone-in cuts are sliced for sharing. 

It felt a bit like upselling, but I can't say I wasn't grateful to have leftover steak the next day. The New York strip (12-ounces) came beautifully seared just a notch above medium-rare, as requested, and was simply a beautiful, juicy, beefy, tender yet still slightly chewy, cut. 

The medium-rare, thick-cut, rich-tasting Delmonico ribeye, named after the New York steakhouse, was just as pleasing.

A side order of horseradish cream to dab on the beef was cold and creamy with enough bite to keep it interesting, but not too much that it was overpowering. We were less enthralled with the Stilton butter which proved to be too rich after a few bites. 

Mushrooms, served whole, are always a nice partner to beef, while the whipped potatoes were merely fine, and didn't rise above the ordinary.

After so much lavish food, you'd think the meal would be over. And I thought it was until I saw a server walk by with a plate of chocolate that turned out to be the restaurant's famed "ugly cake" ($12).

Don't let the name dissuade you from ordering it. As the name suggests, the log-shaped, deep chocolate cake is certainly no beauty. And the squiggles of chocolate ganache on the top and tufts of homemade whipped cream on the side are apparently only meant to please the tongue, not the eye.

But this moist cake, along with a pot for French-pressed coffee served at the table, was a decadent way to end a delightful meal. Kee told us she was recently thinking about taking the cake, a family recipe, off the dessert menu. We pleaded with her not to, and when she saw our wiped clean plate, she said she would reconsider. Let's hope so.

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Contact Patricia Talorico at (302) 324-2861 or ptalorico@delawareonline.com and on Twitter @pattytalorico

IF YOU GO:

WHAT: Houston-White Co., a new luxury steakhouse in Rehoboth Beach owned by Megan Kee.

WHERE: 315 Rehoboth Ave.

HOURS: Open most days by 5 p.m. The restaurant is closed on Wednesdays.

CONTACT: Call (302) 227-8511 or visit the Houston-White Co. Facebook page