What you're calling "Old Binion's Steak Special," we refer to as the late-night $2 steak at the Horseshoe. It was a big 10-ounce New York strip that came with salad, potato, vegetable, and rolls and was served, mostly, from 10 pm to 6 am.
This was the Las Vegas meal deal for so long that no one remembered exactly how long. In early 1995, when the Binions raised the price to $3 and we predicted that the $2 steak had disappeared forever, we went on a quest to try to discover when the steak first appeared. In Special Collections at the UNLV library, we thumbed through roughly 100 issues of Fabulous Las Vegas, a local entertainment weekly published from 1950 to 1973.
Though we didn’t find any ads for the $2 steak, we did come away with a hypothesis as to why its origins were so obscure. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, cheap eats were available all over town: We found examples of 89-cent buffets and $5.95 dinner shows. Though certainly a good deal back then, a $2 steak served only late at night wasn’t the eye-opener in the old days that it was in the new.
At some point in the mid- to late ‘70s, the prices of many of Las Vegas’ meal deals started to rise, while the Binion’s steak remained frozen in a bargain time warp until it began to get noticed in the ‘80s -- it was the first LVA number-one value in 1983 -- then legendized in the ‘90s.
Also in 1995, we asked around for personal recollections of the steak. Anthony Curtis remembered eating one in 1979, shortly after he arrived in Las Vegas. Various others remembered earlier experiences. We heard that when Jack Binion himself was asked how long the $2 steak had been around, he shrugged and said, "Forever."
Early 1995 wasn't the first time the Horseshoe upped the price of the $2 steak to $3. They did so twice in the '80s, but quickly rolled it back to $2. Finally, the Horseshoe could no longer fade the losses of its venerable food leader. The casino claimed to serve nearly 250,000 late-night steaks in 1994 -- 700 a night. So they raised the price a buck and the $3 tab lasted a couple of years.
Binion’s rolled back the price to $2 one more time in March 1997. Five months later, it was gone. They didn’t raise the price a buck, or even two. They didn't diminish the quality of the meal. They didn't scale back the hours. They ended the thing. And it disappeared for good into the mists of history.
Luckily, a couple months later, Ellis Island saw an opportunity and took it. They introduced an eight-ounce filet-cut sirloin, with soup or salad, potato, and garlic bread. They charged $2.95, but it was available 24 hours a day. Over the years, this meal has gone through two minor changes: The price has been raised to $4.95 and garlic green beans now come with it.
The Ellis Island steak dinner has been in existence for nearly nine years, is available around the clock, and is a better cut of meat and all-around meal. Today, $4.95 might be an even bigger loss leader than $2 was back then. Still, we feel it’s got a few more years to go before it supplants the "Old Binion’s Steak Special" as the best meal deal ever.
