Road Kill — the Cheapest Beef Plate and Why It Is Underrated

Chopped steak means ground beef formed into a thick patty and grilled. It is not a hamburger — there is no bun, it is thicker than a burger patty, and it is served as a plate with sides rather than as a sandwich.

The smothering is what makes it. Sautéed onions and mushrooms with melted jack cheese over the top, which on a cut steak would be a paid addition and here is simply part of the dish.

Because it is ground rather than cut, the texture is soft throughout and there is no doneness decision to get wrong. That is a genuine advantage for anyone who has been disappointed by steak in the past, and it is the reason this plate suits older diners and children better than a sirloin does.

It sits at the bottom of the beef pricing on the menu and it arrives with two made-from-scratch sides, the free rolls and the free peanuts. On pure food-per-dollar it is difficult to beat anywhere on the board outside the Early Dine window.

Compared with the 6oz sirloin, which is the other budget beef order, you get a larger portion of beef and the smothering included, for less. What you give up is the texture and the char of a cut steak, which is a real trade rather than a free lunch.

If your reason for choosing the 6oz sirloin is price rather than preference, this is worth trying once. If your reason is that you specifically want a steak, it is not a substitute and you should not expect it to be.

It is roadhouse humour and it is doing the same job the Rattlesnake Bites name does — signalling that this is not a restaurant that takes itself seriously. Nobody at the company thinks it is a sophisticated name.

It does cost the dish orders. People scan a menu quickly, and a plate called Road Kill sitting under a list of hand-cut steaks is not going to win a browse. That is precisely why it stays good value.

Ask for the onions and mushrooms heavy if you like them — this is a smothered dish and there is no reason to be shy about the part that makes it work.

Pair it with a starchy side and a green one rather than two starches. The plate is soft and rich throughout, and a crisp side does more for it than mashed potato does.

And do not order it alongside a shared fried starter. It is a substantial, heavy plate on its own, and stacking a Cactus Blossom in front of it is how a good-value order becomes an uncomfortable evening.

Anyone who has ordered a steak and been disappointed by the doneness. There is no doneness decision here — it is ground beef cooked through — which removes the single most common source of disappointment at any steakhouse.

Anyone eating with older relatives or young children who find a cut steak hard work. The texture is soft throughout and it needs no sawing, which is a practical advantage that never appears on a menu and matters a great deal at some tables.

And anyone ordering on a budget who still wants beef. It is the cheapest route to a proper beef plate with two sides, and the smothering that is a paid extra on a cut steak is included here as standard.

Who it is not for: anyone who specifically wants char, crust and the texture of a grilled steak. This is a different dish and it will not stand in for one, however well priced it is.