The Rib-Eye Rule

Arif is a reasonable man. He sees a good sirloin on special — nicely marbled, half the price of the rib-eye — and he does the sensible thing: he buys it. Nothing is wrong with that steak. That is exactly the problem.

Because I didn't want a steak that was fine. I wanted the one I'd been thinking about all week. And a fridge full of fine, on-sale, perfectly-acceptable steak is how you end up eating steak three times a week and never once feeling like you actually had it.

So we made a rule. If it's not a rib-eye, don't buy it. If we want it once a week, we have it once a week. Once a month — fine. Once every six months — also fine. The frequency is ours to choose. The quality is not up for negotiation. I would rather have it rarely and have it be it.

It turns out the rib-eye rule isn't really about steak. It's the whole shop. A great meal can't bloom out of a so-so cupboard — so we'd rather keep one finishing salt worth reaching for than a drawer of things that are merely okay. When the steak is the good one, you don't drown it. You finish it with a pinch of something that was also the good one, and you let them both be themselves.