I do not think that I could replicate the steak at a famous restaurant at home. But if this home experiment avoids my having to pay for $100 meals, it might be worth looking into.
Anyway, I’m sure part of the appeal comes from the “hobbyist” nature of the activity. Similar to barbecue, gardening, or cultivating exotic fishes.
I rarely eat out, as restaurants can’t complete with my cooking. It’s always some low quality grain-fed frozen steak cooked in cheap corn oil, and 2X cost. Or you can get a good steak for 4X cost at some fancy-pants poser restaurant.
Grass fed bison steak, yes aging matters, use lard or grass-fed butter, fry it up in a cast iron skillet, 1X cost.
Yes, it is. But you should go to a really good steakhouse and drop $50-80 for it (adjust for stupid prices in NY). Dry-aged is the only way you truly get the filet that melts in your mouth.