AUSTIN (KXAN) — A New York restaurant owner said he filed a lawsuit this month after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called on the Texas Senate to change the name of the New York Strip steak to the “Texas Strip.”
Patrick said he spoke with cattle feeders and raisers in late February, with many crediting the New York Strip as their favorite cut of meat.
“I asked why we didn’t call it a ‘Texas Strip’ because New York has mostly dairy cows,” Patrick wrote in a social media post. “Just because a New York restaurant named Texas beef a New York Strip in the 19th century doesn’t mean we need to keep doing that.”
That drew the attention of the Albany War Room Tavern, a restaurant and bar located in the New York capital. 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.
In a subsequent interview with the Mendte in the Morning radio show March 5, Shapiro said his lawyers filed a lawsuit March 4 in Manhattan, citing the possibility of a “jeopardized” business should Texas’ name change gain momentum.
“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.”
The state of Texas is home to 12.2 million cattle and calves, amounting to 14% of the country’s total inventory, the Texas Farm Bureau shared last month. While Texas’ resolution would only be applicable in the state, Patrick said in his post state leaders “want this to catch on across the country and around the globe” — something Shapiro said is supporting his suit.
The Albany War Room Tavern curated the restaurant around New York dishes, imagery and elements, with odes to prominent political New Yorkers like former Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt, who both served as governor of the state.
“Located in the political epicenter of the State of New York, The War Room Tavern will embrace the culture, cuisine, and political history of New York in a chic and upscale restaurant,” the restaurant’s website read. “Built into a 1890s-era brownstone located in the shadow of the historic Capitol building, the War Room has been dubbed the ‘Planet Hollywood of State Politics.'”
Shapiro told Mendte in the Morning “there’s no question” Texas’ change would impact his business.
“We sell everything New York. Everything about us is New York,” he said. “When [customers] come in, they want a New York strip. That’s one of our biggest things is they don’t want to go come in and order something that has the word ‘Texas’ on it.”
