A MAN OUTSIDE McKendrick's Steak House is having a heated discussion with one of the restaurant's managers about the valet parking. It's a Thursday evening, and it seems that every space in the lot of Park Place Shopping Center is taken Ñ by a McKendrick's customer. He's left with nowhere to park.

Under the restaurant's sprawling outside awning is typical steak house scenery — three casually dressed, 50ish guys smoking cigars; a lone woman in stilettos checking her face in her compact. At an all-American steakhouse like McKendrick's, the former feeds on the latter as much as they do the $45 filets.

Elissa Eubanks/Staff (ENLARGE)
Evidence clearly shows that this McKendrick's Steak House 16-ounce ribeye is juicy, with just enough char to add texture and depth.
Elissa Eubanks/Staff (ENLARGE)
Maryland lump crab cakes at Kendrick's Steak House
Elissa Eubanks/Staff (ENLARGE)
Chilled oysters add a nice twist to the vast menu of meat-heavy offerings. The steak house excels at fine fare and solid service.
Elissa Eubanks/Staff (ENLARGE)
Coconut cream pie at McKendrick's Steak House.
Elissa Eubanks/Staff (ENLARGE)
With a menu that includes Maryland lump crab cakes and luscious coconut cream pie with macaroon crust, McKendrick's has more than enough hearty fare to go with the hearty décor.
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Inside, the scene is middle-aged mayhem — the bar is four deep, yet every woman has a seat. The bartenders have a brawny look and an even brawnier attitude, though they become almost kittenish once you order a glass of wine. Underneath the attitude, they're never anything but gentlemanly and softspoken.

A dose of gentlemanly is a timid way of summing up what McKendrick's dishes out, along with the center-cut steaks and Australian lobster (and those gigan-dor-mous onion rings the waiters call "Dunonion" rings, referring to the steakhouse's almost-Dunwoody address).

Like most Atlanta steakhouses, McKendrick's broods with testosterone — in the clientele, the leather-backed horseshoe booths and the oak-paneled walls. Steaks like these are a conventioneer's dream, along with an after-dinner cigar, a single malt scotch served neat and a late-night trip to the Cheetah.

McKendrick's is all part of the package, and the vintaged attitude of its wait staff knows it. There are beloved regulars here, to be sure, but mid-week this staff knows its buttered side of the bread, and caters to it handsomely.

So a woman dining sans un homme is a bit of an anomaly, and the staff can get flustered between wine and rings without a man around. It felt as if I'd shown up in the locker room unannounced. After ordering a bottle of Chateau de LaMarque Bordeaux, Haut-Medoc (I thought an extremely unassuming choice, especially for a 2000 vintage), my waiter began to refer to me as "hot shot."

He sold me on a bone-in filet (yes, I know this doesn't make sense to anyone but beef people), a special cut of tenderloin (filet mignon) with the bone in. But my favorite cut at McKendrick's is the porterhouse — a whoppingly huge, pink-centered, richly marbled and lusciously charred 24-ounce beauty that, if able to speak, would bellow "yeah, baby" before the first bite.

I'm normally a ribeye kind of gal, and McKendrick's doesn't disappoint with this cut, either. Neither do they with a charred 12-ounce New York strip, or 20 ounces of perfectly pink lamb chops. For the record, all the meat at McKendrick's is slightly charred.

After so much meat, the waiter began to trust me.

"Hey hot shot," he said to me after delivering a basket of warm bread, "save room for the garlic spinach. You can handle it."

So garlic spinach it was, wilted and drenched in butter and garlic. And feathery crab cakes with deep-fried capers. And a wedge of cold iceberg lettuce with tomatoes, Maytag blue and bacon. And a luscious coconut cream pie with a macaroon crust and custard filling.

All were wonderful and unremarkable at the same time. For these are the things that we know and love about a great steakhouse. We expect this level of merit and showmanship, and McKendrick's delivers it.

KEY TO RATINGS
Outstanding: Sets the standard for fine dining in the region.
Excellent: One of the best in the Atlanta area.
Very good: Merits a drive if you're looking for this kind of dining.
Good: A worthy addition to its neighborhood, but food may be hit or miss.
Fair: The food is more miss than hit.
Restaurants that do not meet these criteria are rated Poor.

Pricing code: $$$$ means above $35; $$$ means $20-$35; $$ means $10-$20; $ means $10 or less. ® means reservations accepted.