What Is Delmonico Steak? The American Steakhouse Classic With Five Different Definitions

Featured Snippet Intro

A Delmonico steak is a thick, premium cut of beef named after Delmonico’s Restaurant, the New York City steakhouse that popularized it in 1837. The confusing truth: there is no single, USDA-defined Delmonico cut. American butchers and steakhouses use the name for at least five different cuts, most commonly a thick-cut boneless ribeye, but also top loin, New York strip, top sirloin, or even chuck eye. When you order a Delmonico, what arrives on the plate depends entirely on whose menu you are reading. This guide explains all five definitions, the restaurant history behind the name, and how to order one without surprises.

[QUOTE PLACEHOLDER 1 - Master butcher / James Beard food historian on why Delmonico has no fixed definition]

The Confusing Truth: There Is No Single Definition

If you ask ten American butchers what a Delmonico steak is, you will get five different answers and at least two arguments. The Delmonico is the only well-known American steak name that the USDA does not regulate as a specific subprimal or retail cut. The North American Meat Institute’s Meat Buyer’s Guide, the trade reference that defines virtually every retail beef cut sold in the United States, does not list Delmonico as a standardized item.

That ambiguity is not a modern marketing accident. It is baked into the name itself.

The original Delmonico steak at Delmonico’s Restaurant in 1837 New York was a thick, premium-grade cut, and the kitchen used whatever section of the steer they considered the best eating on a given day. The name traveled out of the restaurant and into American butcher shops over the next century, but the specification never did. Each region, each butcher counter, and eventually each chain steakhouse settled on its own definition.

Today, the word “Delmonico” on a menu functions less as a cut designation and more as a quality signal. It means: thick, well-marbled, premium, hand-cut. The actual muscle on the plate varies.

This guide breaks down all five cuts you might receive, what most modern American butchers mean when they say Delmonico, and how to order one without ending up with something you did not expect.

Delmonico’s Restaurant: Where the Name Started (1837 NYC)

To understand why one steak has five definitions, you have to start at the source: Delmonico’s Restaurant in lower Manhattan.

Founded in 1827 by Swiss brothers Giovanni and Pietro Delmonico as a small wine and pastry shop on William Street, the operation expanded into a full restaurant in 1837. It is widely credited as the first true restaurant in the United States. Before Delmonico’s, American “eating houses” served fixed-time table d’hote meals at communal tables. Delmonico’s introduced a printed menu, private tables, choice of dishes, and choice of timing. Nearly every convention of the modern American restaurant traces back to that room.

The Delmonico steak appeared on the original 1838 menu, written in both French and English. It was priced at the top of the steak section. By the 1850s and 1860s, Delmonico’s was the most famous restaurant in the country, hosting Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. The Delmonico steak rode that fame into the American culinary vocabulary.

Crucially, the restaurant’s chefs, most famously Charles Ranhofer (head chef 1862-1896 and author of The Epicurean, 1894), never published a single, fixed specification for what cut the Delmonico had to come from. Ranhofer’s The Epicurean describes the Delmonico preparation, the seasoning, the cooking method, and the service, but the source cut is described only as a thick, choice steak from the short loin or rib. The flexibility was intentional. The Delmonico was a quality tier, not a butchery diagram.

[QUOTE PLACEHOLDER 2 - Food historian on Delmonico’s Restaurant as the birthplace of the American steakhouse]

When Delmonico’s eventually closed for good in 1923 (Prohibition killed the wine-driven business model), the name was already loose in the American supply chain. Butchers across the country were selling “Delmonico steaks” cut from whatever premium section their shop favored. Nobody owned the term. Nobody standardized it. And that is how we got here.

The original Delmonico’s building at 56 Beaver Street still stands. A successor restaurant operating under the Delmonico’s name reopened on the site in 1998 and continues to serve a Delmonico steak on its menu today, cut as a bone-in ribeye. Even the restaurant that owns the name has settled on one specific cut, while the rest of the country uses the term for at least four others.

The Five Different Cuts Called Delmonico

Here are the five cuts you will most commonly encounter under the Delmonico name in American butcher shops and steakhouses, ranked from most to least common.

1. Boneless Ribeye (The Most Common Modern Definition)

In most American butcher shops today, a Delmonico steak means a thick-cut, boneless ribeye from the rib primal, specifically the longissimus dorsi muscle, usually cut 1.5 to 2 inches thick. This is the cut you will receive at most independent butcher counters when you ask for a Delmonico without further specification.

Why ribeye won the definitional war: marbling. The ribeye has the highest intramuscular fat content of the common American steak cuts, which is what most modern eaters want in a premium steak. When the Delmonico name became a quality signal rather than a cut signal, the highest-marbled cut naturally claimed it. If you want to know more about how marbling drives steak eating quality, see our beef marbling score guide.

Order this with confidence at: most independent butcher shops, most farm-direct meat suppliers including Circle 7 Meats, and most non-chain steakhouses west of the Mississippi.

2. Top Loin / Boneless Strip (The Northeastern Definition)

In parts of the Northeast, particularly in older New York and New England butcher traditions closer to the original restaurant, a Delmonico is a thick-cut top loin, the boneless version of what is sold elsewhere as a New York strip or Kansas City strip. The top loin comes from the short loin primal, the same primal that yields the bone-in T-bone and porterhouse.

This is closer to what the original Delmonico’s kitchen likely served in the 19th century, and it remains the standard at the modern Delmonico’s restaurant on Beaver Street.

If you want to understand how the strip eats differently from a ribeye, our how to cook New York strip steak guide covers it in detail.

3. New York Strip (Bone-In Variant)

Some steakhouses and butchers use Delmonico to mean specifically a bone-in New York strip, also from the short loin. This is essentially definition #2 with the bone left in for presentation and flavor. You will see this most often at older East Coast steakhouses and at restaurants that want to honor the 19th-century convention of serving steaks bone-in.

For the bone-in ribeye comparison, see our porterhouse vs ribeye breakdown, which covers how bone-in cuts eat differently from boneless equivalents.

4. Top Sirloin (The Midwestern Definition)

In parts of the Midwest, particularly in older Chicago and Kansas City butcher traditions, a Delmonico can mean a thick-cut top sirloin steak from the sirloin primal. This is a leaner cut than the ribeye or top loin, with less marbling but more pronounced beefy flavor. It is also significantly cheaper at wholesale.

This definition is fading but still occasionally surfaces at older butcher counters and at chain steakhouses trying to use the Delmonico name on a lower-cost cut.

5. Chuck Eye Steak (The Budget Definition)

The chuck eye is sometimes called the “poor man’s ribeye” because it comes from the same longissimus dorsi muscle as the ribeye, but from the section that extends forward into the chuck primal. A skilled butcher can cut two to three chuck eye steaks per side of beef that eat remarkably close to a true ribeye at a fraction of the cost.

Some butchers, particularly older traditional shops and some grocery store meat counters, sell these as Delmonico steaks. This is the definition most likely to surprise a customer, because the price point is much lower than the other four cuts and the eating quality is genuinely good if cooked correctly.

[QUOTE PLACEHOLDER 3 - Circle 7 Meats butcher on which Delmonico definition the shop uses and why]

Why the Confusion Exists

Five definitions for one steak name is unusual even by the loose standards of American butchery. Three forces drove the fragmentation.

The original restaurant never specified. As covered above, Delmonico’s chef Charles Ranhofer wrote the Delmonico into The Epicurean as a preparation, not a cut. There was no founding document to point to when later butchers and restaurants disagreed.

Regional butchery traditions diverged. American beef cutting traditions developed differently in the Northeast (closer to European boneless-cut conventions), the Midwest (driven by Chicago meatpacking and stockyard conventions), and the West and South (which absorbed influence from both plus the Mexican vaquero tradition). Each region applied the prestigious Delmonico name to its own preferred premium cut.

Chain steakhouses and grocery stores monetized the ambiguity. From the 1950s onward, large-scale operators realized they could put “Delmonico” on a menu or label and charge a premium without anyone being able to dispute the cut. Some used it honestly (Ruth’s Chris, for example, has historically used Delmonico to mean a specific high-grade ribeye). Others used it to dress up cheaper cuts. The USDA never stepped in because there was no original standard to enforce.

The result: a steak name that means “premium” but does not mean any one thing.

How to Order a Delmonico at a Steakhouse

The rule is simple: ask.

If you see Delmonico on a menu and the menu description does not specify the cut, ask the server which cut the kitchen is serving. Reputable steakhouses train staff to answer this question because they know the ambiguity exists. The answer should be specific: “It’s a 16-ounce bone-in ribeye” or “It’s a 14-ounce top loin.” If the answer is vague (“It’s just our Delmonico, sir”), you are probably looking at a kitchen that does not want to commit, which is itself useful information.

At a butcher counter, the same rule applies. Ask the butcher which primal the Delmonico comes from. A confident answer tells you the shop. A shrugged answer tells you more.

At Circle 7 Meats, our Delmonico is a thick-cut boneless ribeye from the rib primal, cut 1.75 inches thick from our pasture-raised beef. We use the most common modern definition because that is what most of our customers expect and because the ribeye delivers the marbling and tenderness that earned the Delmonico name its reputation. If you want a different cut under a different name, our full beef selection lists every cut by its anatomical name with no ambiguity.

What Most US Butchers Mean Today: The Boneless Ribeye

If we have to give a single answer to “what is a Delmonico steak in 2026,” it is this: a thick-cut boneless ribeye, typically 1.5 to 2 inches thick, well-marbled, USDA Choice or Prime grade or equivalent.

That is the definition used by:

• Most independent butcher shops nationally (per informal surveys conducted by the Butcher Magazine trade publication in 2019 and 2023).
• Most farm-direct meat suppliers, including Circle 7 Meats.
• The majority of independent steakhouses outside the older Northeastern circuit.
• Most high-end grocery store meat programs (Whole Foods, regional chains).
• Most online direct-to-consumer beef retailers.

The boneless ribeye Delmonico is what you will get unless you are at a 19th-century-throwback New York steakhouse, an older Midwestern operator, or a grocery store using the term loosely on a chuck eye.

For a deep dive on the cut itself, our how to cook ribeye steak guide covers everything from selection to plating. If you want to understand the difference between a Delmonico ribeye and a bone-in tomahawk, see our how to cook tomahawk steak and cowboy steak vs tomahawk breakdowns.

Cooking Method: It Depends on Which Cut

Because the Delmonico can be five different cuts, there is no single best cooking method. The right approach depends on which cut you actually have. Here is the short version for each.

Boneless ribeye Delmonico (1.5 to 2 inches thick): Reverse sear. Start in a 250 F oven until internal temperature hits 115 F (about 30 to 40 minutes), then finish in a screaming-hot cast iron pan with butter, garlic, and thyme for 60 to 90 seconds per side. Pull at 130 F internal, rest 8 to 10 minutes. The thickness rewards the slow start.

Top loin or New York strip Delmonico: Hot and fast. Cast iron or grill at maximum heat, 3 to 4 minutes per side for medium-rare. The leaner profile dries out under slow cooking. See our how to cook New York strip steak for the full method.

Bone-in New York strip Delmonico: Reverse sear works here too because the bone insulates and the cook takes longer. Same approach as the bone-in ribeye method in our how to cook tomahawk steak guide.

Top sirloin Delmonico: Hot and fast, similar to a New York strip, but pull 5 degrees earlier. Top sirloin tightens up quickly past medium-rare.

Chuck eye Delmonico: Treat it like a ribeye, but accept that it has more connective tissue. A 12 to 24 hour dry brine (kosher salt, uncovered in the fridge) before cooking helps significantly. Reverse sear works. Pull at 130 F.

Across all five cuts, the universal rules apply: salt early or at the moment of cooking (never 10 minutes before, which is the worst window), use a probe thermometer, rest the steak before cutting, and slice against the grain. For the full framework, see our beef marbling score guide and dry-aged vs wet-aged beef explainer.

Wagyu Delmonico: The Premium Tier

A growing number of premium butchers and steakhouses now offer a Wagyu Delmonico, which is a boneless Wagyu ribeye cut to Delmonico thickness (1.5 to 2 inches). The Wagyu version takes the most common modern Delmonico definition and pushes the marbling to its upper limit.

A typical American Wagyu Delmonico from a reputable producer carries a marbling score of BMS 6 to 9 on the Japanese scale, compared to BMS 4 to 5 for USDA Prime. A Japanese A5 Wagyu Delmonico can run BMS 10 to 12, which is so densely marbled it cooks like a different protein entirely (thinner cuts, lower heat, smaller portions).

For the marbling framework and how to read scores, see our what is Wagyu beef primer. For the head-to-head comparison with conventional beef, see Wagyu vs Angus beef.

Circle 7 Meats offers an American Wagyu Delmonico cut from our Japanese-genetics herd, dry-aged 28 days, BMS 7 to 8. It is the cut we recommend when a customer wants the Delmonico experience pushed past the conventional ribeye ceiling without crossing into A5 territory and the different cooking constraints that come with it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a Delmonico steak the same as a ribeye?

Usually yes, but not always. In most American butcher shops in 2026, a Delmonico is a thick-cut boneless ribeye. However, the name has also been historically applied to top loin, New York strip, top sirloin, and chuck eye steaks. The only way to know for certain is to ask the butcher or server which cut they are serving.

Why does Delmonico steak have so many definitions?

Because the original Delmonico’s Restaurant in 1837 New York never specified which cut the steak had to come from. Chef Charles Ranhofer’s The Epicurean described the Delmonico as a preparation, not a specific cut. When the name spread out of the restaurant into American butcher shops over the next century, each region settled on its own preferred premium cut. The USDA never standardized the term, so all five definitions remain valid today.

Is Delmonico steak expensive?

It depends on which cut. A boneless ribeye Delmonico typically prices at $20 to $40 per pound at retail for USDA Choice, $35 to $60 per pound for USDA Prime, and $80 to $150 per pound for American Wagyu. A chuck eye Delmonico runs $10 to $18 per pound. The price gap between definitions is one reason the ambiguity matters when ordering.

Where can I buy a real Delmonico steak?

Reputable independent butcher shops, farm-direct meat suppliers, and high-end grocery store meat programs all carry Delmonico steaks. Circle 7 Meats ships pasture-raised Delmonico ribeyes nationally, cut to 1.75 inches and dry-aged. When buying, always confirm which specific cut the supplier means by Delmonico.

Is the Delmonico’s restaurant in New York still open?

A successor restaurant operating under the Delmonico’s name reopened at the original 56 Beaver Street location in 1998 after the original closed in 1923 due to Prohibition. The current operation has gone through ownership changes but continues to serve a Delmonico steak, cut as a bone-in ribeye, on its menu.

What is the difference between a Delmonico and a New York strip?

In some definitions, nothing - the Delmonico is a thick-cut New York strip in older Northeastern butcher traditions. In the more common modern definition, a Delmonico is a boneless ribeye and a New York strip is a top loin steak from a different primal (short loin instead of rib). The ribeye has more marbling and richer flavor; the strip has firmer texture and more pronounced beefy character.

How thick should a Delmonico steak be?

Traditionally 1.5 to 2 inches thick. The thickness is part of what defines the Delmonico as distinct from a standard ribeye or strip steak, which are often cut thinner (0.75 to 1.25 inches). The thickness allows for proper crust development on the exterior while keeping the interior at medium-rare, especially with a reverse sear method.

Can I dry age a Delmonico steak at home?

A whole subprimal (a full boneless ribeye or strip loin) can be dry aged in a dedicated chamber or a properly set up refrigerator for 28 to 45 days. Individual Delmonico steaks should not be dry aged at home because the surface-area-to-volume ratio is wrong and you will lose most of the weight to trim. For the full method and food safety guidelines, see our dry-aged vs wet-aged beef guide.

The Bottom Line

The Delmonico is the most famous American steak with the least standardized definition. It started at one restaurant in 1837 New York that never specified the cut, spread through regional butcher traditions that each picked their own, and arrived in 2026 as five different cuts sold under one name.

The practical takeaway: when you see Delmonico on a menu or a butcher counter, ask which cut. In most cases the answer will be a thick-cut boneless ribeye, which is what we cut at Circle 7 Meats and what we recommend if you are buying from anyone who does not specify. If the answer is something else, you now know what to expect and how to cook it.

The name is a quality signal. The cut is a conversation.

For more on building a complete steak program at home, see our buying half whole cow guide and how to cook prime rib breakdown. For the leaner alternative-cut conversation, hanger steak vs skirt steak covers the budget end of the premium beef map.

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Image Specs

1. Hero image: Overhead shot of a 1.75-inch thick boneless ribeye Delmonico on a white butcher paper background, raw, showing marbling pattern clearly. Natural light, slight shadow. Filename: delmonico-steak-hero.jpg. Alt: “Thick-cut boneless ribeye Delmonico steak showing marbling, the most common modern definition of Delmonico.”

2. Historical engraving: Period engraving or sepia photograph of Delmonico’s Restaurant exterior at 56 Beaver Street, NYC, circa 1890. Public domain or Library of Congress source. Filename: delmonicos-restaurant-1890.jpg. Alt: “Delmonico’s Restaurant in lower Manhattan, circa 1890, the original American steakhouse that gave the Delmonico steak its name.”

3. Five-cuts comparison chart: Diagram showing a beef carcass with the five Delmonico cut locations highlighted in different colors: boneless ribeye (rib primal), top loin / NY strip (short loin), bone-in NY strip (short loin), top sirloin (sirloin), chuck eye (chuck). Filename: five-delmonico-cuts-diagram.jpg. Alt: “Beef carcass diagram showing the five different cuts called Delmonico across American butcher traditions.”

4. Reverse sear in progress: Boneless ribeye Delmonico in a cast iron pan mid-sear, butter and thyme visible, deep crust forming. Filename: delmonico-reverse-sear.jpg. Alt: “Delmonico ribeye being reverse-seared in cast iron with butter and thyme, the recommended cooking method for the thick-cut boneless ribeye Delmonico.”

5. Sliced finished steak: Delmonico ribeye sliced against the grain on a wooden board, showing a perfect medium-rare interior, juices pooling slightly, finishing salt on top. Filename: delmonico-sliced-medium-rare.jpg. Alt: “Sliced Delmonico steak at medium-rare internal temperature, showing the target doneness and grain direction.”

6. Wagyu Delmonico comparison: Side-by-side of a USDA Prime boneless ribeye Delmonico and an American Wagyu Delmonico, raw, showing the marbling difference. Filename: wagyu-vs-prime-delmonico.jpg. Alt: “American Wagyu Delmonico ribeye next to USDA Prime Delmonico ribeye, showing the marbling difference between the two grades.”

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External Citations (8)

1. Ranhofer, Charles. The Epicurean: A Complete Treatise of Analytical and Practical Studies on the Culinary Art. New York: Charles Ranhofer, 1894. Original Delmonico’s chef’s reference work. Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/epicureancomplet00ranh
2. North American Meat Institute. The Meat Buyer’s Guide. 8th edition. The trade reference for standardized US beef cuts. https://www.meatinstitute.org/
3. USDA Agricultural Marketing Service. Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications (IMPS) for Fresh Beef. Series 100. The federal standard for beef cut specifications. https://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards/imps
4. Lobel, Stanley, Leon, Evan, Mark, and David. Lobel’s Meat Bible: All You Need to Know About Meat and Poultry from America’s Master Butchers. Chronicle Books, 2009. Butcher trade reference covering Delmonico definitions across US regions.
5. Thomas, Lately. Delmonico’s: A Century of Splendor. Houghton Mifflin, 1967. The definitive historical work on Delmonico’s Restaurant.
6. Butcher Magazine (trade publication). Survey reporting on regional definitions of the Delmonico cut, 2019 and 2023 editions. https://www.butchermagazine.com/
7. Library of Congress, American Memory Collection. Historical menus from Delmonico’s Restaurant, 1838-1923. https://www.loc.gov/collections/
8. Mariani, John F. The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink. Bloomsbury, revised edition 2013. Entry on Delmonico’s and the Delmonico steak.

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Internal Link Index (12)

1. /blog/how-to-cook-ribeye-steak/ - Ribeye cooking framework
2. /blog/how-to-cook-new-york-strip-steak/ - NY strip method
3. /blog/porterhouse-vs-ribeye/ - Bone-in vs boneless comparison
4. /blog/beef-marbling-score-guide/ - Marbling framework
5. /blog/dry-aged-vs-wet-aged-beef/ - Aging methods
6. /blog/how-to-cook-tomahawk-steak/ - Thick-cut bone-in method
7. /blog/wagyu-vs-angus-beef/ - Wagyu comparison
8. /blog/what-is-wagyu-beef/ - Wagyu primer
9. /blog/cowboy-steak-vs-tomahawk/ - Related thick-cut ribeye cuts
10. /blog/how-to-cook-prime-rib/ - Roast cooking framework
11. /blog/hanger-steak-vs-skirt-steak/ - Budget cut comparison
12. /blog/buying-half-whole-cow-guide/ - Whole-animal purchasing
13. /shop/beef/ - Circle 7 beef catalog

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Quote Placeholders Reference

• Quote 1: Master butcher or James Beard food historian on why Delmonico has no fixed definition. Source target: Stanley Lobel (Lobel’s of NY) or Pat LaFrieda. Placed in intro section.
• Quote 2: Food historian on Delmonico’s Restaurant as the birthplace of the American steakhouse. Source target: John Mariani or Andrew F. Smith. Placed in restaurant history section.
• Quote 3: Circle 7 Meats butcher (head butcher / owner) on which Delmonico definition the shop uses and why. Internal sourcing required. Placed in five cuts section.