SteakCraft Works Wonders With Wagyu

Designed for Wagyu lovers with a passion for purity, SteakCraft is now open Fridays and Saturdays from 5pm until 9pm in the Crossroads Carmel shopping center. It shares a space with BreadSong, where 30 loaves, along with rolls, croissants and donuts, are baked daily for breakfast and lunch service. Some of the breads find their way to the dinner table in delectably different ways, along with succulent salads, vegetable sides and desserts. But as compelling as those dishes are, Wagyu beef is the real star.  

To say that SteakCraft owner Hans Hess is obsessed with Wagyu would be understating the matter. “From the very first time I tasted it, I have been in love with it,” admits Hess, who founded the Wagyu-based Elevation Burger on the East Coast more than 15 years ago. He found that he could not source enough product at the time, and switched to conventional beef. Now, Wagyu has gone from a blue moon rarity to a staple on most fine dining menus. SteakCraft is one of the very few steakhouses 100% committed to Wagyu only for its steaks and burgers. 

Still, though, the supply is very limited and highly specialized. Choosing a ranch for the flavor profile of cattle is like choosing a vineyard for exactly the kind of grapes you desire. 

“You cannot just source from a co-op type of operation and expect to get consistent product,” Hess explains. “Wagyu is so rare and so interesting and so flavorful, we can do things we cannot with commodity and standard genetics,” explains Hess. “Those animals have cuts that are tough and some that are not, whereas the Wagyu animal is not at all tough. All parts are edible and servable. It gives you access to more parts of the animal, which as a butcher is exciting!”

Because Wagyu beef has such an incredibly rich flavor and smooth consistency, you want to replicate that texture every time, as much as possible. “I go to other steak houses and order Wagyu and sometimes it’s great and the next time, it’s disappointing.  I never want that to happen at SteakCraft,” says Hess.

Which is why he currently sources only from Masami Cattle Ranch in Tehama County and A5 Wagyu (highest grade possible) from Kobe, Japan. Masami Cattle Ranch, Inc. is a 6,500-acre parcel founded by Masami Ishida in 1988, that conducts its own breeding program. Hess has been impressed with the beef from Masami Ranch, which are crosses and full-blooded cattle, all grain and grass fed. “You can see the fat is more white from grass feeding,” explains Hess. “We roast the muscles for sandwiches at BreadSong and save the juice for our red wine reduction.” 

The Japanese A5 cattle are fed only grape leaves, which leads to a far less fatty profile. He describes the flavor as very clean, with the fattiness being less dominant.

He likens the choosing of a Wagyu ranch to your choice of a farmer at the farmers market: you want that consistency of quality and dependability. 

With their selection of steaks, which are focused on ribeyes, filets and spinalis (carefully cut from the rib cap and considered to be the richest steak of all), they offer two optional flights of sauces. 

The Japanese sauce flight includes smoked shoyu, ponzu (slightly sweet) and a garlic sauce with Mirin, which is more savory, while the Classic sauce flight includes a horseradish, red wine reduction and garlic lemon aioli blend. The latter is the bomb with the duck fat fries, hand cut from Kennebec potatoes, which accompany each steak entree. 

Although he loves the sauces for dipping the fries, he says he’s a total purist when it comes to Wagyu. “We use really mature Tellicherry pepper and kosher salt on all roasts and steaks that we serve. This meat is so flavorful, it doesn’t need a lot of other competing flavors.”

Hess makes his own salt, using the bread ovens to dehydrate seawater, and he uses black Maldon as a finishing salt.

Thin cut Kobe strip loins are served with a salt block heated to 500°, on which guests can choose to sear their meat for as little or long as they want. “They can eat it raw, too!” says Hess. 

Among the favorites is the shareable ribeye for 3 or 4 people, plus the very popular filet mignon. The Delmonico steak cut from the short end of the rib has lots of chuck flavor with the tenderness of a ribeye. Hess also has a Denver cut, which has more marbling, and is firmer than a rib cap steak.  

They are currently developing a sashimi dish using A5 Kobe with red pickled ginger from Japan as a small bite appetizer. 

He’s also tweaking duck fat fried rolls with salt that turn into a magic explosion of umami delight. “These are flavors you are not expecting, almost spice notes from caramelizing,” says Hess.  “We put Rogue River Bleu and then deep fried Wagyu steak bits and maybe chimichurri to add a touch of brightness.” They also do a fried artichoke that is killer: after all, it’s done in duck fat. “It imparts that next level of flavor.”

He praises the culinary team, including Stefen Shatto, who formerly worked at Il Vecchio, and Jeremy Grandberg, whose sushi restaurant background helped him fashion the A5 sashimi appetizer. 

Hess describes the vegetable sides as really good, but simple, including browned butter creamed cauliflower, and a local mushroom medley of porcini, king oyster and trumpets. They also offer Brussels sprouts and bacon, just like a classic steak house. 

A new item on the menu is a thinly sliced stack of Russet potato layered with prosciutto that is cut into rectangles and deep fried. “We have tried this with all kinds of accouterments, from spicy burger sauce, to crème fraiche and garlic aioli.” says Hess. And yes, they do offer a house burger, which is a classic drive through style, double patty, cut from short rib, chuck and spinales served on a BreadSong brioche bun, with two slices of cheddar and their lemon aioli. They started with very special Amish cheddar, made in Wisconsin, which has an intense flavor that proved too much of a good thing, so they came back to good old Tillamook, because it just works. 

And don’t forget dessert. SteakCraft offers three of them, including a flourless chocolate torte with ganache, scratch-made cannoli with housemade ricotta and a sticky toffee bread pudding. He describes the cannoli as a “crispy, shattering experience” that has local Italians saying it reminds them of their grandmother’s versions. There is not a finer compliment than that. 

Except maybe when a customer tastes one of his steaks and says, “I never eat beef, but this is amazing!” 

SteakCraft is at 102 Crossroads Blvd, in the Carmel Crossroads Shopping Center.