The meaning of a Delmonico steak has changed over the years and from place to place. Depending on the place, the name today is regularly used as a synonym for a club steak, a New York strip steak, a boneless rib-eye steak, and several other cuts, as described below. This is unfortunate because the name originally applied to a very rare, tender and tasty steak that became world-famous in the 19th Century.

small steak from the front of the short loin of beef

Sometimes called a shell steak; a tender cut from the short loin.