Not only did I grow up with this restaurant serving as a family steakhouse destination, but it’s also where I got my very first job, including where I learned how to operate a DJ booth.
When was the last time you sunk your teeth into a delicious Kensington Club, herb roasted Prime Rib, Hawaiian chicken and that unlimited salad? If you ate at a steak and beer growing up then you know what I’m talking about. If not, sit down and learn.
Steak and Ale is planning a big comeback after closing its last 58 locations in 2008. The concept was founded by Norman Brinker in Dallas in 1966, but was recently purchased by what is now known as Legendary Restaurant Brands, also outside Dallas in 2015. The planning and journey towards reopening the Steak & Ale brand has been underway for several years now. The other concept they bought that has already been put back into operation is Bennigans, along with a new version called Bennigans On The Fly, from 2018.
The new Steak & Ale will have multiple Legendary-owned locations starting this year with their grand opening in Burnsville, Minnesota, along with other Midwestern properties branching out from there. Will we see any in Texas and Arkansas? The odds are pretty good considering they’ll be franchised by S&A this time around. Not sure if all of our favorites will return or not, the salad may not return as I read between the lines in an article posted on RestaurantBusinessOnline.com. I’m sure they’ll try new things, but let’s face it, who doesn’t want a family-friendly and affordable steak house in their hometown?
On a personal note…
I’d love to see Steak & Ale come back, my first job was as a dishwasher at an S&A location on the west side of Houston in 1976-ish-blah blah. I was 14 at the time, but I worked hard to get out of that dish hole and soon became the Salad Bar Guy. It didn’t take long and I was grilling those wonderful steaks, smoking lobster tails and cutting up prime rib for all the hungry customers in the Spring Branch area. As for the DJ booth, after work, we would sometimes play in the booth trying to figure everything out. Very beautiful memories indeed.
In this first photo you can just see the location of the old Steak and Ale where I used to work some time ago. This photo is from Google Maps and was taken in 2008, just before it closed for good.
This is the same location in 2023…
Even if Steak and Ale goes back to Houston, they definitely won’t be in that location. Progress…
Would love a Steak and Ale or even a Bennigans way back at Ark-La-Tex, was any of these restaurants on your favorites list?
50 most popular restaurant chains in America
YouGov investigated the most popular restaurant brands in the country, and Stacker compiled the list to give readers context on the findings. Read on to peruse the vast and divergent variety of American restaurants—maybe you’ll even find a favorite or two.
