Primed for Success

	Meat Me Later

CHICAGO -- Does the bull that sired your steak matter to you?
It does if you're David Burke, the New York City chef who has been called the Willy Wonka of haute cuisine.

Burke has recently applied his brand of whimsy to the staid, lionized steakhouse, and in Chicago no less, home to meaty stalwarts such as Gibson's and Morton's (MRT Quote).

"There's not always room for another restaurant, but there's always room for a good restaurant," says Burke, recognizing the fact that the Windy City is home to some of the best artery-clogging prime-rib spots around.

And although David Burke's Primehouse aspires to be one of the best steakhouses in a cutthroat world of Morton's, Ruth's Chris Steak House (RUTH Quote), Smith & Wollensky (SWRG Quote) and other steakhouse powers, "we're not there yet," he admits.

But it's not for lack of trying.

The journey to a Burke-worthy cut of meat begins with Prime, the 2,500-pound bull he and business partner Stephen Hanson bought to give birth to the restaurant's prime meats. ...