There’s something very specific about the pleasures of a good steakhouse. You walk in knowing exactly what you want: an expensive steak, aged and buttery, with a big California Cabernet. It’s self-indulgent capitalism, and for a long time, it was impossible to find at a chain. Enter Ruth’s Chris, which got started in New Orleans in 1965, and in the years since, daringly challenged the notion that a chain restaurant had to be mediocre.

Bread comes to the table fresh and warm. The chopped salad sports a little spill of fried onions on top that adds texture but steals thunder from the tasty blue cheese. Steak arrives as refreshingly rare as ordered, with a peppery sizzle, and extra melted butter on request (do it!). Creamed spinach is like a dream—an irresistible pile of fatty goodness. Though they should be good, we would pass on the barbecue shrimp, but admit to a fondness for the seared tuna appetizer—yeah, we know it’s now a cliché. Forgive us, the bread pudding is also a fave.

Ruth’s airport location is the more corporate (and locally patronized) of the two; the St. Paul Square outpost offers both a historic setting and celebrating conventioneers. You choose.