What's on the Pepper Lunch Menu?
Premium proteins, bold flavor, and the sizzle you hear before you see the plate.
Every Pepper Lunch order starts the same way. A cast iron plate sits in the kitchen, heating past 500°F. The moment it comes off the burner, the line cook stages the components — a mound of steamed rice, a ring of fresh-cut protein, a spoonful of our signature garlic butter sauce — and sends it to the pass. By the time it reaches your table, you can hear it before the server sets it down.
That sizzle isn't a garnish. It's the whole idea. Pepper Lunch was built in 1994 around a single premise: great beef cooked fast, and finished by the guest, on a plate that stays hotter than any home range can manage. Thirty years later, the menu has grown — but every dish still honors the same mechanic.
The Pepper Rice family
Our Pepper Rice plates are the most-ordered dish in every market we serve. The construction is simple: seasoned rice at the center, a ring of corn and scallions around it, raw-cut protein layered on top. You stir, you sear, you season — the plate does the cooking as you eat.
- Beef Pepper Rice — the original, Certified Angus Beef shaved thin over buttered rice, finished with our house pepper sauce.
- Salmon Pepper Rice — skin-on Atlantic salmon, brightened with a squeeze of lemon once the plate hits 500°F.
- Chicken Pepper Rice — marinated dark-meat thigh, seared against the plate for a crisp edge.
- Kimchi Pepper Rice — our vegetarian option, built around aged cabbage kimchi and toasted sesame butter.
The plate is the chef. Your job is to decide when the meat is done.
The steak plates
For guests who want the sizzle without the stir, the steak plates deliver the whole experience on one cast iron canvas. The Angus Cut Steak arrives raw-face-down — you flip it when the edges go dark. The Beef Hot Plate comes with a side of our pepper sauce and garlic butter so you can finish it your way. We don't plate these in the kitchen because the sear you hear at the table is better than anything we can build on a salamander.
Sides, sauces, and how to build your plate
We keep the sauces on the table because the plate is still cooking while you eat. Our house pepper sauce is bright and acidic; the garlic butter is rich and savory. Most regulars use both. The miso soup and side salad are included with every rice plate — the soup is there to cleanse between bites, not to fill the table.
What's new in 2026
The Surf & Turf LTO — a split plate of Certified Angus Beef and jumbo shrimp — is running through the summer. The dessert program launched earlier this year with matcha brûlée and a black sesame affogato. And for the kids menu, which opens this spring, we built a fun-sized Beef Pepper Rice that comes in a smaller cast-iron skillet at a safer temperature.
