New Haven, CTSteakhouse

Self-taught chef Attilio Marini built this State Street chophouse around cooking steaks in screaming-hot cast iron, an obsession CTbites traces to a magazine cover of a porterhouse in a pan. The kitchen sears its cuts around 550 degrees for a heavy crust in the Old Homestead and Peter Luger mold. Go for the cast-iron porterhouse and start with something from the raw bar, since the oyster side of the name is not an afterthought here.

The Ferraro family, in the New Haven grocery business for generations, opened Salvatore's in Hamden's Spring Glen neighborhood, and CTbites covered the debut. The kitchen runs toward high-grade beef, including a Grade 10 Wagyu New York strip listed at $72, plus a classic Delmonico. Owner Victoria Ferraro's grocery roots show in the sourcing. Order the Wagyu strip if you want to see the top of the menu, or the Delmonico for the steakhouse standard done straight.

Saltbrick Prime opened in Branford's Lock Works Square with a room built around a wall of pink Himalayan salt bricks, a decorative signature covered by Daily Nutmeg and Branford Patch. The dry-aging itself happens at its sister restaurant, David Burke Prime at Foxwoods, and Saltbrick serves those aged cuts; the menu runs from a 30- and 55-day ribeye to a 40-day porterhouse for two. Come for a long-aged ribeye and the raw-bar starters.