Two old-school San Antonio steakhouse institutions square off to answer the age-old question: Where’s the beef?

It’s safe to say most of us who grew up in Texas had mid-priced, family-friendly steakhouses where mom and dad took us. For me, it was Bonanza and Sizzler.

If you grew up in San Antonio, I’ll bet those places were The Barn Door and Little Red Barn Steak House.

The Barn Door came along in 1953, with Little Red Barn trailing along in 1963. Separated by 10 years and 10 miles from north to south, they nevertheless share the DNA of Western kitsch, painted red as medium-rare with a design aesthetic that embraces saddles, oil lamps, cattle brands and fringe.

Starting at $15 to $22 and topping out around $35 to $40 for a steak with a salad and a side, both places represent a strong mid-range value in the super-heated steak market. Both places serve chicken-fried steak, pie a la mode, fried shrimp and margaritas for the grownups.

And both are locked in a fight for the best salad dressing and hot rolls in the city. In my book, any fight that results in the reascendance of Thousand Island dressing is a fight where everybody wins.

But today, only one of these steakhouse institutions will win.

In the same spirit of our previous throwdowns pitting Fred’s Fish Fry against Sea Island Shrimp House, Rudy’s against Bill Miller and Whataburger against Burger Boy, we present the Battle of the Barns: Barn Door versus Little Red Barn.

On ExpressNews.com: Fred’s Fish Fry vs. Sea Island Shrimp House

The Barn Door is a steakhouse that open in 1953 on North New Braunfels Avenue just inside Loop 410.

With room after room of farm tools, barbed wire, iron skillets, saddle blankets and butcher scales, The Barn Door could be an auction house, an antiques shop or the next episode of a hoarders show. But it all feeds into the narrative of this as a steakhouse with a history, from its founding 69 years ago under the Tassos family to current owner Randy Stokes, who guided it through the pandemic and added a speakeasy bar in the back.

Steaks and sides at The Barn Door include, clockwise from top left, a 15-ounce rib-eye steak, macaroni and cheese, chopped sirloin steak with queso and pico de gallo, sauteed mushrooms and a 12-ounce sirloin steak.

The food: I’ve loved sirloin since I was a kid for its lean, rangy character. Barn Door’s 12-ounce sirloin club steak delivered the juicy punch of a rib-eye with the leaner character of a New York Strip, striped with grill marks from charcoal and mesquite and seasoned with a perfect salt-and-pepper balance. A meticulous butcher’s trim produced a 15-ounce rib-eye without the cut’s sometimes flamboyant fatty shag and with an ideal balance of fat and lean in every bite.

You could almost stop the conversation right there, in between bites of a cheesy twice-baked potato, pull-apart yeast rolls and a crisp iceberg salad with Thousand Island dressing so thick and sweet and sharp that it almost made me forget how much I loved the garlic punch of The Barn Door’s famous Green Goddess dressing. But The Barn Door wasn’t done.

Chicken-fried steak is made with rib-eye steak and served with cream gravy, mashed potatoes, salad and fresh rolls at The Barn Door.

Its chicken-fried steak ranks among the top five in the city, a rib-eye as wide as the plate, pounded tender with every square inch enshrouded in crispy golden batter and peppered cream gravy. Another dish, prosaically called “Chopped Sirloin With or Without Queso” on the menu, turned out to be a work of bacon-wrapped steakhouse art draped in Day-Glo orange cheese with a thick scatter of pico de gallo. Ordered rare, it carried the taste and texture of steak tartare, formed with silky nuggets of beef instead of the smooth monotony of a uniform grind.

Strong sides and extras included stout mac and cheese crowned with toasted breadcrumbs, a dish of grilled asparagus with hollandaise sauce and fried shrimp so fresh and sweet that The Barn Door could’ve won the Fred’s Fish Fry battle.

The dining rooms at The Barn Door offer a mix of country-style decor and Western knickknacks and antiques.

The atmosphere: Despite the kountry-with-a-k collections all over the restaurant, The Barn Door is clean and organized, and the crew still sanitizes every table like a biohazard team.

The intangibles: The Barn Door attracts customers up and down the economic ladder. But if you’re standing on the top rung of that ladder, you can reach for a $300 bottle of red wine, if that’s your thing. Or just get them to text you the secret password and hang out at the speakeasy all night.

Where to find them: 8400 N. New Braunfels Ave., 210-824-0116, thebarndoorrestaurant.com

On ExpressNews.com: Bill Miller Bar-B-Q vs. Rudy’s Country Store and Bar-B-Q

Little Red Barn Steak House opened in 1963 on South Hackberry Street on the Southeast Side.

The outside of the Little Red Barn building used to proclaim “Over 1,000 Steaks a Day.” They’ve painted over that in favor of a more modern logo against a red backdrop with a Marlboro man silhouette, but not much else has changed in the 59 years since Ralph and Lili Hernandez opened the place.

The waitresses still dress like a high school drill team with fringed skirts and vests, the tables are still picnic tables and the walls are still painted with cattle brands from all over Texas and Mexico and the kitchen still sears sirloins, rib-eyes and T-bones on a flat-top grill.

A 10-ounce sirloin comes with a fresh roll, a loaded baked potato and a side salad with Green Goddess dressing at Little Red Barn Steak House, a steakhouse on South Hackberry Street on the Southeast Side.

The food: Don’t look for fancy menus with catchy descriptions. At Little Red Barn, you order from a 4-foot-tall board they bring to the table printed with the name and the price. That’s it. You get a side and a little bowl of iceberg salad with housemade Thousand Island and Green Goddess dressings every bit as good as The Barn Door. Call that a tie, then pour it on thick.

Little Red Barn’s 10-ounce sirloin was a tight mahogany slab with an even sear and not much else, leaving most of the salting and peppering to the customer. Despite its lack of finesse, the steak glowed medium-rare as ordered, and the steel plate made a full meal with a foil-wrapped baked potato and sweet dinner rolls brought warm to the table.

The rowdy farmhouse vibe of the place was reflected in the 14-ounce rib-eye with uneven margins of fat on the outside, something that might have contributed to the meat’s strong iron taste, almost like liver.

The Ringo is a chopped sirloin steak with grilled onions, jalapeños and melted cheese with a side of fries, a roll and a side salad at Little Red Barn Steak House.

Chicken-fried steak here was smaller than the plate-hogs we’ve grown used to, a sirloin pounded almost fork tender with a shaggy breading and a drape of country-style cream gravy that tasted like the best parts of what’s left behind in the frying pan.

They call their queso steak the Ringo here, a hamburger-patty slab pressed flat and dry and dressed with sweet grilled onions and jalapeños, with a concise melt of cheddar on top. I’d call it a cheeseburger, and maybe it would have worked better with lettuce, tomatoes and a bun.

The interior is set up like a family picnic at Little Red Barn Steak House. Waitresses wear fringed skirts and vests, and the walls are covered with cattle brands from Texas and Mexico.

The atmosphere: As wide open and loud as a picnic at a family reunion for people who actually like each other, Little Red Barn doesn’t take itself too seriously.

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A 10-ounce sirloin comes with a fresh roll, a loaded baked potato and a side salad (not pictured) at Little Red Barn Steak House.

Steaks and sides at Little Red Barn Steak House include, clockwise from top left, a 10-ounce sirloin steak with a loaded baked potato; a side salad with Thousand Island dressing; a chopped steak called the Ringo with cheese, jalapeños and onions and a side of fries; a side salad with Green Goddess dressing; a 14-ounce rib-eye steak with a loaded baked potato; fried shrimp; and chicken-fried steak with country gravy and a side of green beans.

Appetizers and cocktails include, from left, jalapeño poppers, a strawberry swirl frozen margarita and spicy chicken wings at Little Red Barn Steak House.

Chicken-fried steak options include country-style gravy and green beans at Little Red Barn Steak House.

A 14-ounce rib-eye steak comes with a loaded baked potato, a fresh roll and a side salad at Little Red Barn Steak House.

A 12-ounce sirloin steak comes with salad and a side at The Barn Door, a steakhouse on North New Braunfels Avenue just inside Loop 410.

Chicken-fried steak is made with rib-eye at The Barn Door, a steakhouse on North New Braunfels Avenue just inside Loop 410.

Chopped steak can be ordered with queso and pico de gallo at The Barn Door.

Steaks and sides include asparagus with hollandaise sauce, a 15-ounce rib-eye steak and freshly baked rolls at The Barn Door, a steakhouse on North New Braunfels Avenue on the Northeast Side.

Fried shrimp can be added as a side order at The Barn Door.

Cocktails include a strawberry lemonade daiquiri, foreground, and a variation on ranch water called Barn Water with jalapeño-cucumber-infused tequila at The Barn Door.

The Barn Door is a steakhouse that open in 1953 on North New Braunfels Avenue just inside Loop 410.

The intangibles: They’re open for lunch, and the parking lot’s bigger than a minor league baseball park. Come to play.

Where to find them: 1836 S. Hackberry St., 210-532-4235, lrbsteakhouse.com

On ExpressNews.com: Whataburger vs. Burger Boy

If steak’s the thing here — and it is — there’s no getting around the fact that a live-fire grill makes better steak than a fast-food flat top. And Barn Door’s queso steak is next-level West-Mex euphoria, in the same league as its open-range chicken-fried steak.

But both places made me feel the joy of community and good food. They’ve been around forever because they’ve earned it, and they’re ready to make another generation of family steakhouse memories.

msutter@express-news.net | Twitter: @fedmanwalking | Instagram: @fedmanwalking

Mike Sutter is the Express-News restaurant critic. Before joining the Taste Team in 2016, he served as restaurant critic for the Austin American-Statesman and editor of FedManWalking.com. He's appeared on NPR's "All Things Considered," ABC's "To Tell the Truth" and written for The Guardian, Bon Appetit and The Wall Street Journal.