John Mariani takes a cross-country tour of great American steakhouses.

WRITING THE WORDS “GREAT AMERICAN STEAKHOUSES" is pretty much like saying “Great Jewish Delis” or “Great Ford Muscle Cars.” Like, there’s something else?

America invented the steakhouse, and no one does it better. True, there were beefhouses in England in the 19th century, but they were more devoted to roast beef (as London’s Simpson’s-on-the-Strand is to this day). The way American steakhouses serve our sirloins, porterhouses, filet mignons, T-bones and ribeyes is as indigenous as the way we play baseball or make electric guitars.

U.S. steakhouses have been around in one form or another since the mid-19th century, when the western ranges filled up with steers rather than pigs, but it wasn’t really until the end of the century, in New York, that the genre took on its special features: Here, at places like the Palm, the Old Homestead, Gallagher’s and Peter Luger’s, the no-frills, testosterone-rich, boisterous, modern steakhouse came into its own.

Today, the sawdust floors may be gone, and true, dry-aged Prime beef may be getting tougher to find, but the American steakhouse endures, both in its traditional, well-beloved form and in a remarkable range of new ones geared to attract as many carnivorous females as males. Good as the national chains like Smith & Wollensky, Ruth’s Chris and Morton’s are, I like the stamp of individuality of the independents. Here are my favorites in five U.S. cities.

Al Biernat’s, Dallas, Texas

4217 Oak Lawn Avenue, 214-219-2201
It’s pronounced “Ber-NAY,” which gives it a slightly French accent, but proprietor Al Biernat couldn’t be more of a Texas gentleman, greeting everyone like a regular, treating people with consummate hospitality and making sure the food is consistent with his own vision of what a modern steakhouse in Dallas should be: He buys the best beef, serves the coldest cocktails and stocks one of the best wine lists in Texas.

The pillared dining room has color and swagger, the bar attracts the longest-legged women in Dallas and the booths are big and roomy. You sit at the bar and order a perfect martini, then move to your table and try to decide whether you’ll go with the 19-ounce bone-in New York strip, dry-aged for 24 days to give it maximum flavor, or the “cowboy cut”-24 ounces of great beef that will make a trencherman (or Dallas linebacker) weep. There is also a platter of three massive double loin Colorado lamb chops that’s hard to turn down. And if you prefer seafood, the species are varied, but all beautifully grilled.

Dickie Brennan’s Steakhouse, New Orleans, Louisiana

716 Iberville Street, 504-522-2467
New Orleans is home to a lot of good steakhouses, not least Ruth’s Chris, which started out here. But to my mind, the one with the most personality has the owner’s name on the door-Dickie Brennan, whose family members also run great New Orleans restaurants like Commander’s Palace, Mr. B’s Bistro, the Palace Café and Café Adelaide. Anyone who’s ever been to any of these places knows that the Brennans don’t skimp on quality or quantity, and that’s certainly the case at DB’s Steakhouse, where the food is “Creoleized” to give it a true Louisiana swing. So, here in this subterranean dining room decked out with swords and rifles, the steaks aren’t grilled or broiled: They’re slapped onto a red-hot black iron skillet and given a searing that produces a crispy but juicy crust, oozing beef juices.

You must start off with a Sazerac cocktail at the bar, and at least a dozen or so oysters. The black bean stew is good, too. Then sit back and smell the aroma of the steak coming to your roomy table, along with the wonderful sweet frying smells of potatoes and onions. The sirloin is the featured cut here, but don’t neglect the mixed grill of Louisiana andouille sausage, filet mignon, chicken and pork tenderloin, with three sauces on the side. Finish it off with a portion of bananas Foster bread pudding with a warm rum raisin crème anglaise, and don’t think about anything until lunch the next day.

The Grill on the Alley, Beverly Hills, California

9560 Dayton Way, 310-276-0615
No, not everyone in L.A. is a vegan who brings prayer beads to restaurants. The city’s entertainment segment has always been full of agents and producers who need red meat to sustain their afternoon mano a mano battles, and now, with the Atkins Diet in full swing, you never know what muscular actor will be sitting in the next booth over at the Grill on the Alley in Beverly Hills, which really can boast it hasn’t had an empty seat since opening back in 1984.

The menu is pretty typical of steakhouses everywhere in America, except the California Cobb salad is nonpareil, and the Dungeness crab Louis is to die for. The best cut of beef here is the porterhouse (yes, you may share), and the fish and desserts like rice pudding make this a favorite of power lunchers from the nearby William Morris and Creative Artists agencies. Who’s that coming through the door?

Chicago Chop House, Chicago, Illinois

60 West Ontario Street, 312-787-7100
Steakhouses, like the Bulls and the Bears, are major topics of debate in Chicago, a city with plenty of contenders for top ranking, from the brusque, clubby Gene & Georgetti to the more democratic Eli’s the Place for Steak and the dressier Gibson’s. And this is Morton’s hometown.

Nevertheless, for a visitor to Chicago wanting a sure thing, the well-named Chicago Chop House delivers, on three floors in a handsome townhouse setting festooned with more than 1,400 historic photos of the Windy City’s heritage. Owner John Pontarelli gets his Prime, corn-fed Nebraska and Iowa beef from Chicago suppliers, and one of the specialties here is a prime rib roasted slowly for five hours, then charbroiled to give additional flavor. The T-bone is the top steak cut here, the broiled Lake Superior whitefish is a fine non-meat-eater’s alternative, and the crowd hobnobs happily with local pols and celebs at both lunch and dinner.

Grill 23, Boston, Massachusetts

161 Berkeley Street, 617-542-2255
This is one of the more elegant steakhouses in Boston (jackets and ties requested), with a Brahmin sense of propriety, Corinthian columns, sculpted ceilings, marble-and-wood floors and mahogany walls, all the legacy of the 75-year-old Salada Tea Building that Grill 23 has occupied since 1983. It is not, however-not by a long shot-pretentious or quiet; indeed, it’s one of the most convivial restaurants in Beantown, whose citizenry voted it “Best American Restaurant” in Boston magazine.

The best way to begin is with New England shellfish on ice-lobster, shrimp, oysters, clams and mussels-then move on to the massive Delmonico steak cut from a rib roast, with side orders of hash browns and macaroni and cheese with truffles. The wine list is rich and deep with the bordeaux, burgundies and cabernets that go with this kind of fare, and the staff still know how to mix a proper cocktail.

Ben Benson’s, New York, New York

123 West 52nd Street, 212-581-8888
How could one possibly choose the very best steakhouse in NYC, when the city is home to so many homegrown and chain varieties? True, there are those who swear the porterhouse at Peter Luger’s is unparalleled, but you have to horse it out to Brooklyn to get it. And yes, the original (and still great) Palm is where it’s always been, and so is the first of the Smith & Wollenksys, and the century-old Old Homestead in Greenwich Village. But they’ve all branched out, so when I want a steak in NYC, I head for Ben Benson’s, where every dish, cocktail and bottle of wine seems to be part of the personal commitment of its namesake owner.

The folk art, the outdoor tables and the bonhomie of the waitstaff are good reasons to become a regular, but the food’s what’s most important-from the meaty barley soup and fat crab cakes to the five-pound steamed lobsters, dismantled with finesse at your table by a waiter who’s done it a million times. And then there’s the superb beef, well-marbled and succulent to the bone, along with perfect lamb chops and surprisingly good fried chicken. The onion rings are perfect, and the creamed spinach has no equal anywhere else.

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John Mariani is a food writer for Esquire and Wine Spectator. Email John at editor@executivetravelmag.com.