D'Artagnan
D’Artagnan Reviews - Best Online Steaks
D'Artagnan has a very unfair reputation for being expensive. Maybe it's because people are surprised expensive foods like truffles are expensive? We don't know, but as long-time customers, we believe D'Artagnan is more like a gourmet food boutique of culinary fantasies than a Texas steakhouse, and with amazing values among the best on the Internet.
About D’Artagnan Foods
D’Artagnan was founded by Ariane Daguine and George Faison in 1985. The company was active in promoting antibiotic-free, hormone-free, organic meat products to the food service industry in New York City. Over time, they opened a number of restaurants, rotisseries, and a retail shop. In 2005, Daguin bought Faison’s share of the company, and she became sole owner of the company.
The company’s unique selling proposition is that their customers are provided free-range, naturally produced meats in a way that was sustainable, humane and healthy.
- D’Artagnan offers an extensive menu of meats, including beef, pork, lamb, bison, buffalo, rabbit, venison, wild boar, and veal. They also offer a large poultry, including duck, chicken, turkey, capon, goose, guinea hen, pheasant, quail, squab, and wild Scottish game. Smoked and cured meats, bacon, sausage, confit, rillettes, pate, and mousse are available too.
- Beef is both wet and dry aged on different selections of meats.
- The beef they provide is grass fed. They focus on high-quality meats that are hormone-free, antibiotic-free, and organic to ensure their customers are provided with the best quality products they can offer.
- Venison is exclusive Cervena Red Deer from New Zealand, known as the finest quality venison in the world.
Exclusive Cervena Red Deer in New Zealand
- D’Artagnan offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee to their customers. They guarantee that customers will receive the correct order, orders will be shipped on time, the order will arrive in an insulated box that is packed correctly and that customers will be satisfied with the quality and taste of products. If customers are dissatisfied with their purchase, they will be issued a replacement or refund.
Venison Short Loin Steak served with Sauteed Potatoes and onions with Creamed Spinach
Our D’Artagnan Review
Venison Short Loin - Certified Cervena, New Zealand, 24 oz. - $62
Bucket List Steak. Maybe you've always wanted to try Venison, or perhaps it's been a while since you've had it, or maybe you've never had it because you think you won't like it. If any of those sounds like you, this is a steak for your bucket list. Don't be confused by the name D'Artagnan gives it. A Short Loin in this country is commonly known as a NY Strip, which comes from the Loin Primal where we enjoy Filet Mignon, Porterhouse, and T-Bone steaks. The Short Loin
is harvested from where the T-Bone no longer yields enough Filet Mignon to be called a T-Bone.
Your taste buds will think you are eating steak, not Venison. And not just any steak, but the cleanest, purest steak flavor you've ever had. If Adam and Eve ate a NY Strip steak, this is what it probably would have tasted like. It is very low in fat, and incredibly tender, so it is critical you do not overcook it. Our picture may look a little under, but it's perfectly cooked. The crust is perfect, and meat practically melts in your mouth as if activated by all the juices in the meat. It is unbelievable and worthy of an addition to your steak bucket list.
This is a great steak to add to your freezer inventory, and at $62, you can easily serve two or three, but why would you want to share a bucket list steak? Buy a few!
Top Sirloin Steaks served with Smoked Gouda Macaroni and Cheese and Sliced Beets
Natural Grass-fed Angus USDA Choice Top Sirloin Steaks 6 oz. - $7 Each
Bucket List Steak.
A bucket list steak doesn't have to be expensive to qualify for the list. It has to be a good value, meaning well worth the money, and pack a robust flavor and dining experience you'll remember forever. That why this Top Sirloin makes our list.
On the day we taste tested these steaks we also did a Private Reserve NY Strip from Omaha Steaks, a Chateaubriand Filet Mignon from Creekstone Farms, and the Wild Boar Roast we cut into a steak. If this Top Sirloin did not win best flavor and steak of the day, it tied with the Chateaubriand Filet Mignon. That is quite a mouthful (no pun intended) of a claim, but these steaks were that good. It is a Top Sirloin, so there is going to be a considerable texture difference between the Filet Mignon, but the flavor of the juicy beef was impossible not to notice.
The texture was equally impressive for a Sirloin Steak and perhaps one of the most tender we have ever had. It would be hard to imagine that you possibly visit this website, no matter what gourmet food item you are interested in, and not add these to your order. They are about as close to perfect as will get.
Sliced Wild Boar served with Spanish Rice and Sous-vide Zucchini and Whole Peeled Tomatoes
Wild Boar Mini Roast 28 oz. - $15 each
If you have never tried Wild Boar, this would be the product and the price you would want to start out with. It comes as a roast, but we trimmed off the silver skin and fat that gets buried inside any leftover cut of meat that gets packaged as an inexpensive roast. That left us a nice 1.5 pound steak. Sliced, as you can see in the picture, it almost has the shape of a NY Strip.
You have to nail the cooking just right with Boar, or it will become dry when you rest it. We grilled ours to 150 degrees and let it rest, where it climbed to 165 degrees. We nailed it. On the day we taste tested this boar, we were doing three other steaks, and we thought this Wild Boar competed for best of the day.
Wild Boar has a flavor between pork and beef. That might be the best way to describe it. Better than farm-raised pork, but not quite as good beef. This one was above the bar. The only exception to that guideline would be the Omaha Steaks King Cut Pork Chops, which are the best pork products we've ever had.
Ribeye Steak served with Cheesy Potatoes Au Gratin and Steamed Broccoli Florets
Ungraded (Australia) Grass-Fed Beef Ribeye Roast Cut into Steaks 23 oz. - $14
No secret we love to buy roasts on sale and cut our own steaks. We purchased this roast for $99, saving $70 and made seven thick 23 oz. Ribeye Steaks. It sounds like a super value, but in this case, our experience did not meet our expectations. When buying steak online, we prefer to buy USDA graded beef over anything from another country because we can't see what the marbling looks like. Reminder: This is a grass-fed steak meaning you can expect to see less marbling as the meat will be leaner, which, in our experience, is never an issue with American beef.
We gave the steaks extra attention when we salted them to dry them out as much as we could. We seasoned them liberally and preheated our grill to 750 degrees, which is as hot as it will get. It's a Weber, and it was 95 degrees outside on the day we grilled these steaks.
At that temperature we seared the steaks (notice the grill marks) for about a minute on each side, then we let them finish at 300 degrees with indirect heat until the internal temperature came up to 110 degrees. Lean steaks can be very easy to overcook. After the steaks rested, they came up to 126 degrees. From a preparation point of view, we thought we did everything we could to serve perfectly cooked steaks.
When we combined the elements of USDA ungraded and super lean didn't get the Ribeye flavor or the great value we anticipated. There wasn't any marbling on our steaks. They looked like a solid color of deep red, similar to bison meat.
Even a grass-fed steak, and especially a Ribeye, has some marbling, as shown on the D'Artagnan website for this product. It was no surprise to us these steaks, although they had an excellent texture, they lacked any flavor. Had it not been for the salt and pepper there may not have been any taste at all, and that is something that is usually very difficult to say about any Ribeye.
To us, this is not a big deal when you buy steaks online from reputable vendors. I was assured this was a one-time occurrence and this roast is a particular favorite of restaurants and consumers, with a high reorder rate. D'Artagnan stood by their satisfaction guarantee without issue. Try getting that kind of customer service from a supermarket or buyers club!
Roasted Boneless Leg of Lamb on the Carving Board
Boneless Leg of Lamb - Australian $60
When it comes to lamb, most people prefer the lamb chops, and rightly so. Lamb chops may be one of the perfect foods. Leg of lamb is often reserved as a holiday main for those families who celebrate their family tradition along with the holiday. Few people enjoy it as a part of their regular family menu.
Does Leg of Lamb have a "gamier" flavor than lamb chops? Absolutely, but if you wish to minimize that flavor, you can salt it heavily and wrap in paper towels or handiwipes a plastic bag overnight, and allow the salt to pull out a lot of the water, reducing the "gamey" flavor.
All you need is to sprinkle it with garlic and bake it until it's about 140 degrees, of course, you can adjust the temperature down if you like it rarer. Let it rest before carving, and you will have a fantastic Leg of Lamb. In fact, this one is the best I have ever had and the closest to tasting like rack of lamb. Well worth the price and plenty of delicious meat for large gatherings.
Sliced Venison Tri Tip Steaks Served with Grilled Asparagus and Roasted Corn.
Venison Tri Tip - 14 oz. - $25
We are in the midst of a new love affair with sirloin and especially tri-tip steaks. Today, we wanted to step outside of our beef comfort box and try some venison. We received two steaks, just under a pound each, for about $15 each. They are imported from New Zealand, and when we purchased them, they were on sale.
We had to do some trimming of fat and silver skin to be able to season and crust the meat. D'Artagnan is especially good at showing actual pictures of the products on their website, so there weren't any surprises. Venison is extremely lean and usually served rare to medium rare, so be careful not to overcook it. We sauteed our in butter and garlic to make a crust, then finished it in a 350-degree oven for about 15 minutes. We let it rest a good 20 minutes to finish cooking and let the juices recirculate before we sliced it. We plated the sliced with grilled asparagus and roasted corn. The picture shows a full Tri-Tip steak sliced, but you can easily get two servings. Make no mistake, this cut has some "gamey" flavor, but we didn't find as strong as others and loved the "clean" taste that comes with a wild, free-range animal eating grass as it should. Highly recommended!
Pan-seared Moulard Magret Duck Breast over Wild Rice and Roasted Asparagus
Moulard Magret Duck Breast - 14 oz. $9 on Sale.
These duck breasts are regularly $15. We picked up a half dozen when they were 40% off. We should have bought more. We say it all the time, join the email programs of your favorite companies and about twice a year you will be rewarded for your patronage and your loyalty with amazing deals.
Most people may have had duck breast once or twice, if at all. We hope we can get you to try this just once, and you'll find yourself passing over chicken breast for a perfect culinary dining experience. They are so easy to make. Season both sides and put the breast fat side down in a COLD pan. Put the heat on low and let the fat slowly melt. It will sound like you are cooking bacon if you're doing it right. Just wait till the fat side is crispy like you see in the picture and flip the duck to cook the other side. This one will take only a few minutes. Take it out of the pan, let it rest about 5 minutes, and serve.
And when you do service it, you'll be serving a piece of heaven. We like the Moulard duck because of its size. It's the perfect balance of crispy skin, fat, and moist breast meat. D'Artagnan is the only place we buy our duck, and you should too!
Our Conclusion
A good chef puts their "brand" name on every dish they serve. From creation to execution, each plate is a new obsession with perfection. Imagine highly dedicated chefs partner to create a gourmet food purveyor. You would expect every customer experience you will have to be executed perfectly, just like they are serving you a meal.
That would include shipping, packaging, gourmet trimming, and everything that gets overlooked unless a mistake happens. Understood though, it is the quality of the products that matter most to the typical D'Artagnan client, I would assume, and it is why I shop there.
They almost have a Pat LaFrieda "feel" to their website. They seem to stock everything a high-end restaurant would stock, and make selections available to the general public. Where Pat LaFrieda focuses on beef alone, D'Artagnan allows your imagination to wonder and dream with its menu selection.
Not to say that their beef isn't good, because it is. It is better than that. It is restaurant quality in a world where everyone overuses the term without respect to those who actually know what restaurant quality is. Angus, Grass-fed, and American and Japanese Wagyu are on the menu. The one thing that might be missing is USDA Prime.
Maybe you want to add some Foie Gras to your entertaining menu, or perhaps you want to shave some fresh truffles over a side dish. You can play with your whimsical gourmet fantasies right at this website. And you can do getting some pretty good values. The cost for shipping is well below average too.
The one caveat I might have with D'Artagnan is in regards to the amount of time I spend navigating the website looking for that last gourmet food item to add to my cart, so I get free shipping, only to find it is out of stock. Yuck. Sometimes it happens a lot; I think my record is nine times. But a small price to pay for all the gourmet joys I have experienced at this website through the years.
Kevin Bouchard
BestOnlineReviews.com
Submitted Customer Experiences
Be the first to share your D'Artagnan review.
Please Share Your D’Artagnan Review!
We would love to hear your experiences with D’Artagnan for any of their products or services. Upload your pictures to chefkevinbouchard@gmail.com.
Submit Your D’Artagnan Reviews
Additional References
- What is Marbling? - Best Online Steaks Blog
- USDA Certified Beef Programs - Companies certified with the USDA for the type and quality beef they sell. D'Artagnan is not listed.
- D'Artagnan Website