AUSTIN (KXAN) — A concurrent resolution filed in the Texas House of Representatives could soon designate the tomahawk ribeye as the official steak of Texas — but there’s a bit of beef between the House and Senate on which steak cut is supreme.
Rep. Ken King (R-Canadian), filed House Concurrent Resolution 101 in response to the Senate Concurrent Resolution 26, which had proposed renaming the New York Strip steak as the Texas Strip and classifying it as the official state steak. In a soci al media post last week, King grilled the Senate for its selection of the strip steak to receive the designation — one he deemed “an objectively inferior cut of meat.”
“The Texas House is raising the steaks today, and we have a bone to pick with anyone who disputes that the tomahawk ribeye is the most premium cut in the Lone Star State,” King said in a statement. “While the Texas Senate butters up a lesser cut, we won’t let them outflank our efforts to sear the tomahawk’s rightful place in Texas history. The Senate’s ‘Texas Strip’ might shine on a sizzling plate of fajitas, but when it comes to the superior steak, the tomahawk ribeye is a cut above the rest. I look forward to steering this resolution to passage.”
Representatives discussed that concurrent resolution as part of the Texas House of Representatives’ Committee on State Affairs on Wednesday.
“This is probably the most important piece of legislation we’re going to take up today,” King joked while introducing the concurrent resolution, which he said is designed to acknowledged the important role the cattle industry has played in Texas’ economy and history.
Ultimately, HCR 101 is left pending following its discussion Wednesday.
The Texas chambers aren’t the only ones throwing barbs over the official state steak. A New York restaurant owner said he filed a lawsuit earlier this month after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called on the Texas Senate to change the name of the New York Strip to the Texas Strip.
The Albany War Room Tavern, a restaurant and bar located in the New York capital, is the business being the litigation. On March 3, a representative for the restaurant’s owner, Todd Shapiro, said he would file the $1 million suit against the State of Texas in the coming weeks.
Shapiro later confirmed in a radio show interview March 5 that his lawyers filed a suit the previous day in Manhattan.
“I think [Patrick’s] using a cheap publicity stunt. I mean, you know, he should worry about the measles right now as an outbreak is going on right now with Texas,” Shapiro said. “I mean, people’s lives are in trouble and he’s worried about changing the name of the steak. I mean, that doesn’t sound like good government to me.”
