Steak 48

Steak 48 sits at the corner of Sharon Road and Morrison Boulevard in the Apex SouthPark development, at 4425 Sharon Road, from the Mastro family — brothers Jeffrey and Michael with their father Dennis, alongside business partner Scott Troilo, a family with a long history in American steakhouses. It is a white-tablecloth room and it says so: the dress code discourages athletic wear, revealing clothing and printed t-shirts, and prefers collared shirts and sports coats. The menu is priced accordingly, running prime steakhouse meatballs at $16, chef's cut hanging bacon with local honey and togarashi at $29, Pacific yellowtail hamachi with crispy shallot and yuzu ponzu at $39, a king crab and avocado stack at $43, and steaks from a 12oz New York strip at $65 up to a 46oz bone-in wagyu tomahawk at $295. Queen City Nerve readers made it runner-up for both Best SouthPark Restaurant and Best Steakhouse in 2024. Doors open at 4pm daily.

The bar prints a section headed "zero proof", and all three drinks are $16 — the same price as much of the cocktail list, which at this kind of restaurant is the signal that matters. Two are built on Seedlip. The Blueberry Lemon Sour uses Seedlip Spice 94 with blueberry purée, fresh-pressed lemon and egg white, giving it the weight and foam a sour needs. Lychee and Tonic pairs Seedlip Garden 108 with lychee purée, lime, Fever-Tree elderflower tonic and mint — the lightest of the three and the one that works best before a heavy meal. The Passionfruit Margarita is built on Ritual Zero Proof's agave alternative with passionfruit purée, fresh-pressed lime and a Tajín rim, and it is worth noting that this drink has been described elsewhere, including previously on this page, as using a Seedlip agave expression; the restaurant's own current menu says Ritual. If you are choosing on the basis of a specific brand, that distinction is real.