Raw taste

Last night (Thursday) I managed to take some time off to go to the restaurant with some friends and I had a very Parisian dish: un steak Tartare. That is raw beef, prepared with a mix of ingredients (including Ketchup, egg yoke, onions, Worcester sauce, etc.) In this restaurant (General Lafayette) they even add nut chips and blue cheese chucks. Yummy! Well that is if you like raw meat of course ;) I looked everywhere and could not find the origin of Steak Tartare for sure, but one thing seems to be certain; originally it was meant to be horse meat. My friends told me that in the US, restaurants would be reluctant to serve raw meat, because of liabilities...