Steak-Out: The Steak Dinner That Kept Showing Up

Did you know that North Alabama fancy takeout staple Steak-Out started with a late-night ribeye craving in 1984? Steak-Out's Founder David Martin was working late on an advertising deadline in Huntsville and wanted a steak. Not pizza. Not fast food. A real steak. That craving eventually became what we all know and love today as Steak-Out, which opened its first location on Jordan Lane in 1986.

I love that story because Steak-Out has been part of my own Huntsville story for almost as long as I can remember. It was a staple in my family growing up in North Alabama, even though we had ample access to beef with our Southern Tennessee cattle farm. There's just something about that charbroiled flavor, the baked potato gussied up with all the goodies, and a little salad and not having to do it yourself.

Later in life, my parents and i ate it around my Mama’s hospital bed when she was in the ICU at Huntsville Hospital -- one of those memories that sounds small until you realize how much food gets tied to the hardest days of your life. Earlier this year, when my husband was working in a restaurant in Athens, I’d pick up Steak-Out and eat it in the truck behind the restaurant while he worked, then sneak him a bite on breaks. I’ve eaten it at home, in hospitals, in parking lots alone, in completely different versions of my life. And I have always thought the concept should have been huge everywhere - I think they now have 9 locations? A steak dinner delivered to your door still feels kind of genius. And today as I sit on my couch with the broken foot that wrecked my October plans, I am grateful for places like this that can make hard moments still happy in some way. Maybe that is what I love most about places like this. They are not new. They are not trying to be the next thing. They just keep showing up. And sometimes, when you look back, you realize they were there for more of your life than you knew. Thank you Steak-Out Athens for being a part of my food writer origin story.