When the New York Mercantile Exchange moved its operations online a little more than a year ago, veteran trader Daniel de la Vega realized that he “missed the excitement of the trading pit, where everyone shouts their orders.”

But he soon found a way to recreate that excitement. A fan of the Frankie & Johnnie’s steakhouses in Manhattan and Hoboken, de la Vega was also a regular at a place in his own Jersey City neighborhood, Edward’s Steak House, whose chef, Edward Gozdz, de la Vega admired.

When the opportunity arose in early 2007, de la Vega bought the place and made Gozdz a partner. Now the former commodities trader is back in his element. “A well-run kitchen feels just like a trading floor,” he says. “Controlled pandemonium.”

Beef is more than a commodity at Edward’s, which opened in 2004 in an 1870s townhouse that had many previous incarnations, including a speakeasy during Prohibition. Beef is an obsession. Chef Gozdz (pronounced Gahtz) serves Indiana-bred, grain-fed USDA Prime Angus, aged 18 to 21 days. He broils most cuts in a 1500º Garland broiler. A simple rub of kosher salt and cracked black pepper produces what he calls a “salt-crust char.” Nothing too fancy. As Gozdz says, “Leave well enough alone.”

A native of Lodi, Gozdz earned a culinary degree from Johnson & Wales in Rhode Island, then cooked at New York steak emporiums including the Post House, Cité, and the Old Homestead. He claims to have originated the Kobe beef burger as executive chef of the Old Homestead. After the 9/11 attacks, he was enticed back to Jersey by the new owners of the townhouse, who then named the restaurant for him.

When de la Vega took over, he renovated the whole place, upgraded and expanded the kitchen, and restored the vintage bar. “I love restaurants and dreamt about owning one for 30 years,” he says. “This was my chance.” Judging by weekend reservations stacked back-to-back like jets on the Newark-Liberty tarmac, owner and chef are in synch.

Gozdz’s filet mignon was downright velvety, his brawny bone-in rib steak intensely flavorful. The flatiron steak (a top shoulder cut named for its triangular shape) was luscious in texture and intriguingly flavored with a rub of espresso and bittersweet Dutch cocoa. The massive porterhouse for two was not quite as tender as other cuts, and its crusty char was a bit dry.

My favorite steak at Edward’s turns out to be the chef’s as well: the 16-ounce New York strip sirloin au poivre. It is coated with cracked black pepper, sautéed, and served in a lickable sauce of red wine, veal stock, brandy, and cream. It mates well with Edward’s two best side dishes: caramelized onions to spoon over the steak, and thick slices of deliriously flavorful applewood-smoked bacon. Cut the bacon bite-size and spear one with every forkful of meat. Spuds, surprisingly, were good but not sensational. Best were the latke-like grated hash browns.

An old American expression went, “Ye gods and little fishes!” Edward’s aquatic entrées include moist, pan-cooked Chilean sea bass in earthy Parmesan broth, and pan-seared scallops with grilled pineapple and coconut broth. Worthy starters include lump crabmeat cocktail. Tuna tartare has whimsy that works: chunks of yellowfin tuna in a cup-shaped egg-roll wrapper in a pool of honey wasabi sauce. Beef carpaccio is vibrant with truffle oil, microgreens, and shaved Parmesan. Filet mignon “burgers,” twin 3-ounce whole medallions on mini buns daubed with fresh horseradish cream, are downright sensational.

For dessert, perhaps you were expecting cheesecake? It’s here—and excellent. Another steakhouse mainstay, chocolate mousse, is dense with fine Caillebaut chocolate.

In short, Edward’s has everything you expect in a steakhouse except gruff waiters. The staff is pleasant, young, and well-trained. It’s a cognitive dissonance you adjust to pretty quickly.