339 - 31 Years of McKendrick's Steak House, and What's New on the Menu - Chef Branden Holte

Podcast 339 - 31 Years of McKendrick's Steak House, and What's New on the Menu - Chef Branden Holte

McKendrick's is a Dunwoody institution. Claudia and Doug McKendrick opened it across from Perimeter Mall in 1995. It's been named one of the top five power bars in Atlanta and has won the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence every year since 2003. Servers who've been there more than a decade are still bringing out the same great steaks. That corner of Park Place has watched restaurants come and go, and McKendrick's just keeps holding it down.

There's a new chef now. Branden Holte came on in June, brought in by operating partner Anthony Casiello. He's an Atlanta guy, and the first thing I wanted to know was whether he touched the steaks. He didn't. Same cuts, same purveyor, still Meats by Linz and the Linz Heritage Angus line. The real changes are in places you wouldn't think to look, like a rebuilt fish program where nothing goes to waste and a tuna tataki that replaced an old tuna tartare that had gotten a bit played out. Little changes, and they sound like they add up. If you've been to McKendrick's before but not lately, now's the time to go back.