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Why Ruth’s Chris Odenton made the SteakMap list

Odenton sits beside Fort Meade, which makes this a room that does a lot of promotions, retirements and last-night-before-a-move dinners. The cut that suits that best is the one most people overlook: the 8oz petite filet.

Their menu describes it plainly as a smaller version of the most tender cut of tenderloin, and it is the sensible order for anyone who wants a proper steakhouse dinner without spending the evening working through 26 ounces of ribeye. Paired with grilled jumbo shrimp, it is the most popular thing on the board by their own account.

The method

Everything here is USDA Prime corn-fed Midwestern beef, seared in an 1800-degree broiler and served on a plate heated to 500 degrees, sizzling in butter.

That broiler is the reason to eat at a steakhouse rather than cook at home. A domestic oven tops out around 550 degrees; at 1800 the exterior crusts almost instantly, so the middle can still be genuinely rare when it reaches you. It is not a technique you can replicate in a home kitchen.

The full board

An 11oz classic filet alongside the 8oz petite, a 16oz New York strip and the 19oz bone-in the founder preferred, a 16oz ribeye, a 26oz bone-in Cowboy Ribeye, a 24oz T-bone, a 16oz bone-in filet, a 40oz porterhouse for two and a 40oz Prime tomahawk.

Also a 16oz double bone-in Berkshire pork chop and three extra-thick lamb chops marinated overnight with mint.

Prices

Ruth’s Chris does not publish per-location pricing online, so SteakMap has no verified figures for the Odenton room specifically. Sides are ordered separately and built to share.

Read the guide to the best steakhouses in Maryland.