Who's got the best steak in Pensacola? Start with our list of five foodie favorites.

When you need to curb a craving for a nice, juicy steak, not just any restaurant will cut it. Luckily, Pensacola has a handful of renowned steakhouses that hit the spot when the red meat craving calls. Whether you like your steak sous vide, chargrilled, dry-aged or dripping with a black garlic butter, we found some of the best. Check out our top five picks for steak in Pensacola.

The District: Seville Steak and Seafood

123 E. Government St.

The two things that make The District’s steak shine are the grade of meat, and the fact that they are dry-aged, a process only possible for higher grades of meat with a large, evenly distributed fat content. If you think your steak tastes extraordinarily exceptional, it’s on purpose. Due to the select criteria, dry-aged beef is hard to find. The process concentrates and saturates the meat’s natural flavor and tenderizes the texture. At The District, the moisture is evaporated from the muscle, concentrating the meat’s flavor and taste, according to The District website. Then, the beef’s natural enzymes break down the connective tissue in the muscle, making the beef more tender. Once the meat is aged in The District’s temperature and humidity-controlled meat locker, the beef is flame broiled in the 1,600-degree oven before being prepped on your plate.

As a bonus, the restaurant is also beautifully nestled in the heart of Pensacola and tied to the city’s history. The two-story building was built in 1888 over a parcel of property that was the site of the Spanish Presidio and British Fort Pensacola where Andrew Jackson walked. The District: Seville Steak & Seafood was built 130 years later with modern furnishings, but still carrying the sophistication of the old-world setting.

McGuire’s Irish Pub

600 E. Gregory St.

McGuire’s is another iconic Pensacola favorite, and part of its reputation, aside from its boisterous live music and Irish décor, is tied to its steaks. The restaurant stands by being voted “Best of the Gulf Coast” for steak and is one of the rare restaurants serving U.S.D.A. Certified Prime Steaks, according to the McGuire’s website. Only 5% of all beef is good enough to be graded prime.

Not only are the steaks a high-quality cut, but they are chargrilled over hickory wood fire. They are served with McGuire’s famous Irish honey black bread and a choice of side. Some of the top choices include the 16-ounce peppercorn prime steak, with peppercorn hammered in to form a pepper crust, or the 16-ounce ribeye steak that is hand cut daily and has the most fat marbling of all the prime cuts, giving it plenty of flavor.

Jackson’s Steakhouse

400 S. Palafox St.

Jackson’s has been a destination dining establishment since first opening in 1999 and is championed by executive chef Irv Miller. The menu is built around fresh, local, seasonal ingredients and Midwestern wet-aged beef that is selected by hand. The steaks are cut from grain-fed beef from the heartland and are served with garlic confit and 100% natural demi-glace, the Jackson's website states. Jackson's, too, is known for its "prime" beef cuts, which are considered superior to average cuts of beef due to their abundant marbling, tenderness and flavor. These top-of-the-line cuts are used to create menu favorites like the 16-ounce prime New York Strip and 16-ounce Delmonico.

The toppings take the steak to the next level and include jumbo lump crab, butter-seared Maine sea scallops, fried Gulf Coast oysters, grilled Gulf coast shrimp or a foie compound butter.

The steaks can also be complemented by deep-dish sides that carry their own elegance, including the roasted wild mushrooms with garlic butter and truffle salt, crispy Brussels sprouts with cane syrup-balsamic vinaigrette and scallop potato gratin with bacon.

Restaurant IRON

22 N. Palafox St.

Restaurant IRON has a reputation for preparing food with a standard for excellence. Diners can choose from the 8-ounce filet mignon or 18-ounce prime rib, where the Angus beef is ethically sourced from Evan’s Meats out of Alabama. The steaks come with the restaurant’s signature Black Garlic Butter and a seasonal side, including unique options like the hot honey Brussels, garlic risotto and cheddar rice grits. The steaks can also be upgraded with optional toppers, with some of the standouts being the Bodacious Olive White Truffle Oil, the Crater Lake Blue Cheese, Creole Dusted Gulf Shrimp, Louisiana Crawfish Cream, or if you really want to feel extra fancy, the seared grade A Foie Gras.

BarSteak

19 S. Palafox St.

While BarSteak is the newest on the list, its addition to downtown Pensacola’s dining scene brings a wide variety of specialty butcher cuts set at market price. Some of these select cuts include Denver, pub, culotte, Sierra, hangar, flat iron, teras major and tri-tip. Some of the regularly offered cuts include the 14-ounce bone-in prime New York strip, 14-ounce prime ribeye and 12-ounce waygu A grade 8/9 chuck steak. One of the added delights is the steaks are served with house-made Parisian whipped potatoes that are blended from a French recipe created by Michelin chef Joel Robuchen. They also come with a choice of vegetable including asparagus, heirloom carrots, broccolini and haricot verts.

What’s special about BarSteak is the sous vide style of cooking that ensures an even temperature across the steak, a nice crust, and the ability to be ready in minutes. Each steak will take a water bath for about four hours before it is ordered, then cooked quickly at an extremely high temperature.

“So, your mid-rare steak is made rare from edge to edge rather than what you get in a steakhouse where you have made rare in the center, so the entire steak flavor profile changes,” restaurateur Johnny Mascia said. “It's literally plated within two or three minutes of receiving the ticket.”

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Best steakhouses in Pensacola: five of our all-time favorites