Tea Steak House

When we first ate at the Tea Steak House several years ago, it was in the middle of nowhere. Nowhere has since become somewhere as houses have gone up in the countryside all around. Still, this combination restaurant and bar in the community of Tea has an unspoiled rural character that adds flavor to supper.

Start with onion rings or deep-fried cheese balls, then move on to an iceberg lettuce salad that you dress yourself from a caddy that contains ranch, 1000 Island, and French dressing. A selection of bland white rolls and cellophane-wrapped crackers is the standard steak-house breadbasket in this region.

We love the pound-plus T-bone, a cushiony slab of meat that oozes juice at the first poke of a knife. It’s a good thing to order hash brown potatoes on the side to soak up the beef’s seepage; they are great potatoes in their own right (much better than the foil-wrapped baked potato or uninteresting French fries). We also ordered filet mignon, which came splayed open and wrapped in bacon, and it was amazing just how different these two cuts of beef were: each excellent, but while the T-bone had a vivid, almost gamey smack and tight-knit texture that rewarded serious chewing, the filet was cream-gentle in flavor and wanted to melt on the tongue.

The Tea Steak House serves more than steak. You can eat chicken or ham, halibut, perch, lobster tails, or a Saint & Sinner supper of one lobster tail and one small sirloin.