Surf and turf

Lobster and Steak in a Prince Edward Island restaurant.

Surf and turf or Surf 'n' Turf is a main course particularly common in North American steakhouses which combines seafood and meat, usually American lobster tail or shrimp (usually either grilled or breaded and fried) and steak.

The term originated along the Atlantic coast of North America. Its earliest-known published use is in a 1967 advertisement in the Buffalo, New York Yellow Pages, placed by a restaurant called Michael's House of Steaks. Jane and Michael Stern claim that it was served under this name in the SkyCity restaurant (in Seattle's Space Needle) at the 1962 World's Fair. In the Sterns' Encyclopedia of Bad Taste, Surf 'n' Turf epitomizes culinary kitsch: "the point ... is to maximize hedonistic extravagance" by ordering the two most expensive things on the menu; that is, the menu is guided not by aesthetic concerns, but for the sake of vulgar display.

The dish is becoming more popular in the United Kingdom, where the pub chain Wetherspoons has a "Surf and Turf" on its standard menu (consisting of a 10oz rump steak served with a portion of Scampi). The dish is also called "reef and beef" in Australia. At the American restaurant franchise Steak and Ale, the entrée is listed as "Steak and Tail."