From the rudimentary masculine places of old, contemporary steakhouses have mutated into higher forms of restaurant life.

The menus still touch all the steakhouse basics but augment them with far more interesting options than the proverbial icy shrimp cocktails and prefab Caesar salads. Along with a reinvented menu, the steakhouse wine list has also evolved into a more intelligent, diverse and satisfying set of selections.

Gone at many steakhouses are the clumsy, heavy lists constructed under the delusion that only cabernet sauvignon and Bordeaux go with red meat, especially if the wines are too young and very expensive. Cabernet and Bordeaux can of course be great with steak and lamb, provided they are sufficiently aged. But today so many other wines, many of which were unknown or unavailable 20 years ago, are equally wonderful, more appealing to many people and easier on the wallet.