Best Old-Fashioned Steakhouse

Lil' Abner's Steak House
8501 N. Silverbell Road

STAFF PICK: Talk about tradition--the grill at Lil' Abner's has probably cooked more real meat in its 55 years than all the McDonald's in Arizona combined. And the longest gig in musical history has to be Dean Armstrong's great western band, the Arizona Dancehands, who've been playing at Abner's since long before their temples went gray.

The patio provides a little outdoor ambiance. It was a whole lot better before Charlie Keating's thugs clear-cut everything in the desert within a mile or so; but you can change your perspective--and your politics--by sitting on the opposite side of the patio, where the vista of still more new homes signifies the end of an era...and probably a longer wait for a table.