So, bison is the new beef?
At $47, the bison filet at Eddie Merlot’s steakhouse is just as expensive as the New York strip steak. It’s also half the size.
The grass-fed meat has fewer calories, less cholesterol or fat than beef, and consumers can’t seem to get enough. Restaurants are raising prices while the meat -- once a niche item -- is now stocked by retailers including Whole Foods Market Inc., The Kroger Co. and Costco Wholesale Corp.
The growing appetite for bison is part of a wider trend toward organic foods, a small but expanding part of the food industry. Aside from the perceived health benefits, demand for such meat signals a rejection of factory-farming methods that account for most protein eaten in the U.S.
OK, organic, healthy, trendy, blah, blah, blah. What bison really has going for it is that it's so power-packed with flavor. The bison steak has to be half the size of a New York strip (and you should take smaller bites) or else it would just overwhelm you. Best steak I every had was a bison ribeye in, of all places, St. Paul, Minn.
