Vancouver steakhouse Elisa has been on a roll this year: the popular restaurant was awarded Restaurant of the Year and Best Steakhouse by Vancouver Magazine, and also placed on the prestigious Canada’s Top 100 Restaurants and World’s 101 Best Steak Restaurants lists.

Anyone who has visited this brick-and-mortar restaurant would know that Elisa serves up some pretty good steaks, importing cuts from farms across Canada and even other countries like Japan and the United States. While we love dining at Elisa for a night out, sometimes we feel like staying in and cooking up a steak dinner ourselves. To cook a steak that’s worthy of Elisa’s standards, we followed executive chef Andrew Richardson for a day to learn more about cooking the perfect steak dinner.

The perfect pair

While many believe a quality cut is what makes a steak dinner, Richardson states that it’s just as much about the sides as it is about the meat. Mashed potatoes and mac and cheese may be popular picks, but Richardson highly recommends fresh vegetables to balance out the richness of steaks.

Richardson sources his produce from Sole Food Street Farms, an urban farm located in Olympic Village. The farm produces a wide variety of fruits and vegetables throughout the year, and you can purchase them at their weekly farmers market on Wednesdays.

“I’m a true believer in organic produce—it’s always fresh and tasty,” Richardson says. “When we get deliveries and the produce comes in the kitchen, the team eats it immediately.”

Finding the right cut

If you’re looking for quality cuts, head over to Elisa’s sister butcher shop, Luigi & Sons. Opened in 2022, the shop offers all the cuts served at Elisa, as well as pork and lamb chops.

Going to the butcher shop can be intimidating for first-time visitors, but head butcher Brett Vilcu is more than happy to help you find the right cut. For the introverts, here’s a simple guide to finding the perfect steak:

1. Tenderloin: The leanest cut with a mild, delicate flavour.
2. Striploin: A lean cut with a little more bite to it and a subtle sweetness.
3. Ribeye: One of the fattiest cuts, perfect for those who want a luscious and decadent experience—Richardson’s personal favourite!

Those who wish to get into the nitty gritty of buying the perfect steak, ask your local butcher about how the meat has been treated. Dry-aged steaks develop an earthier and beefier taste, while wet-aged steaks tend to have a sweeter and more vibrant flavour. Most of Elisa’s steaks are dry-aged for 40 days for a tender bite with depth of flavour.

If you’re not in the mood to prepare a side, check out Luigi & Sons’ display fridge, where you’ll find salads and pastries—all curated to pair with your chosen steaks. To elevate your dinner, you can also pick up a variety of compound butters, from classic garlic to blue cheese.

It’s time to cook

For the tutorial, Richardson picked out a 40-day, dry-aged ribeye from the Blue Dot Reserves in Prince Edward Island. Freshly harvested carrots and spring onions from Sole Food Street Farms have been selected as a side.

While Elisa’s wood-fired grill adds a signature smokiness, all you really need is a stove, a pan, and a pair of tongs to grill your steak. But before anything hits the pan, temper your steak for at least 20 minutes to bring it to room temperature.

“A common mistake people make when cooking steak is that they don’t temper at all or for long enough,” he tells us. “You spend money on a good steak, but it feels tough when you eat it because it hasn’t been tempered long enough.”

Tempering ensures the meat cooks evenly throughout, preventing overcooked edges and underdone centers. Once at room temperature, Richardson coats the steak generously with Maldon sea salt so it will develop a golden brown crust.

“We’re not using black pepper and olive oil at this point as they burn very easily,” he notes. “Especially with a fire and charcoal like [the wood-fired grill], it can get bitter and acrid, which spoils the flavour of the steak.”

Cooking to medium-rare takes 10 minutes: three minutes per side on medium-high heat to develop the crust, then two minutes per side on medium-low to reach the perfect internal temperature.

Another common mistake? Cutting into the steak too soon after taking it off the heat. Richardson insists on resting the steak for at least 15 minutes.

The steak is a muscle, he explains.

“When you apply heat to it, it starts to pump so you have to give it time to stop pumping after cooking. If it [has] just come off the fire and you cut into it immediately, you get a steak that’s tough and you’ll lose all the juices that contain the flavour.”

Richardson rests his steak on a wire rack to ensure that the steak does not sit in its own juices as it cools. The warm juices can potentially result in a soggy steak and an uneven rest, leading to a tougher steak. As the steak rests, Richardson takes this time to season the steak with a liberal amount of Italian olive oil and Wayanad single variety black pepper from Kerala, India.

The result? A tender steak with crisp golden edges and a perfectly pink centre. By seasoning the steak while it’s resting, the olive oil and black pepper are able to fuse with the beef juices to create a smoke, earthy and rich flavour. Pair that with lightly sauteed spring onions and carrots and you’ll get a refreshing contrast to the rich steak.