Delmonico Steak (chuck eye)

Delmonico Steak — The Ribeye's Best-Kept Neighbor.

The ribeye is cut from ribs 6 through 12. The Delmonico — also called chuck eye — comes from rib 5, the last rib before the chuck primal begins and the exact point where the ribeye's signature muscle group carries over. Same spinalis. Same longissimus. Nearly the same marbling. The name comes from Delmonico's restaurant in New York City, where butchers applied it to this rich, ribeye-adjacent cut — and your butcher will tell you the same thing today.

The nickname poor man's ribeye undersells it, but the comparison is accurate: this steak delivers the richness and depth of a ribeye at a price that makes you want to buy two. There's a reason you don't see it at most grocery stores — only two come from each animal, and packing them out individually takes effort that large operations don't bother with. At Solterra, where we believe in using every part of a well-raised animal, that extra effort is exactly the point.

One note: the Delmonico has a small line of connective tissue running through it from the chuck side. Cook it to medium-rare — 130–135°F — and it's not a factor. Cook it beyond that and it can tighten up. Treat it like a ribeye: screaming-hot cast iron, two to three minutes per side, butter and herbs in the last minute, rest for five. That's all it needs.

Intentionally raised. For those who believe in better.