Flat Iron Grill

Warm surroundings, great beverage choices and delicious food with a hint of the exotic make Flat Iron Grill the kind of place you want to return to. It has a neighborhood feel and plenty of menu options to intrigue you.

Owner Sean Quinn's 28-year history in the business has put him in the perfect position to open his own place. His life plan was all about playing soccer until the all-too-common "there goes the knee" scenario took place. He took a job working at a restaurant in Bellingham and found that he enjoyed the kitchen culture. Leaving Western Washington University, he signed up for the culinary program at South Seattle Community College. His chef pedigree is impressive: eight years as executive chef at Daniel's in Bellevue and opening executive chef at El Gaucho in Tacoma where he stayed for five years.

Owner Sean Quinn on Flat Iron's deck

He left El Gaucho to create restaurants in Tacoma with two partners. They designed and ran Asado and Masa with Sean as the opening chef of both. About three years ago, he left the partnership. "Masa was turning into a night club and I didn't want to be a night club owner," he says. He created a consulting firm with one of the partners and helped open Maxwell's in Tacoma, a café in Normandy Park and took on a large project in Scottsdale, Arizona. They designed an 8,000 square foot, two-story Argentinean-themed restaurant from the ground up and were a couple months from opening when the owner/money man found out he had inoperable cancer. The project collapsed.

"With the economy the way it was, there were fewer consulting dollars," recalls Sean. "And honestly, I didn't like consulting. I really enjoy creating and didn't want to be a chef for someone else. When the opportunity presented itself in Issaquah, we jumped on it and opened Flat Iron Grill quickly: signing in early December 2009 and opening February 10, 2010. I like Gilman Village and live in Snoqualmie. There are some challenges. We can't be seen from the street and would like a larger bar, but we've done well right from the beginning. We want to offer good food and good value. We don't mark up our wine as much as other restaurants. I've worked at high-end places and just want to give people the opportunity to have a nice piece of meat without paying $60."

He named the restaurant Flat Iron Grill so people would have some idea what to expect. "People often name a restaurant after a family member. But what does that tell you? When I was at Asado, I was using different cuts of value meats like hangar and flat iron. I always thought Flat Iron Grill would be a good descriptive name." In addition to steaks, they offer seafood, pork, chicken, jambalaya and more. Nearly everything except bread is house-made. They cure their own meat, pickle things and create their own sauces and dressings. The South American flare comes in with chorizo, chimichurri sauce, ancho pepper hollandaise and sauce criolla in various dishes.

Flat iron steak with chimichurri

Having been in the kitchen most of his career, Sean likes running the front of the house. He realized quickly that he would not be able to do the owner's job and cook as well, but knew just who he wanted as his executive chef: Cody Reaves. Cody was Sean's sous chef at El Gaucho and he has great respect for his skills. Plus Cody lived in Argentina for a year. After leaving El Gaucho, Cody helped the catering arm of Pacific Grill in Tacoma, then became executive chef at Sip on the Issaquah plateau. Sean pulled him from Sip to open the restaurant in Scottsdale. When it aborted, Cody returned to open Sip in downtown Seattle. "I feel that one reason we've done so well is that Cody has a loyal following from his Sip days. With my history on the Eastside, we're known quantities," says Sean. "Plus we have a great staff. I think it's the best crew I've ever worked with. This is the most fun I've had in my 28 years in the business."

Sean is a firm believer in reinventing yourself to keep people coming back. "Part of that is refreshing your menu. We do that seasonally and also keep some customer favorites. People were disappointed when we took halibut off, but we won't serve previously frozen fish. We've also created a really nice wine list. In the beginning, I didn't have the time to do something really good. Believe me, we heard about it from customers the first month and corrected it. We've gone from 40 reds to 120 and 15 whites to 100. People love the wine list now and we have some really good values." He looks for different wines to use for his happy hour glass pours, things people will be interested in trying. He's also added a focus on whiskies and has 120 different types. "One of my bartenders is starting his own distillery; he's very knowledgeable and we've sampled some of his work. Customers are having fun with that." They'll be doing wine dinners and tastings as well as whisky tastings. As weather warms, Sean is planning some fun things for the deck, a lovely outdoor setting away from street noise. In addition, he's added a private dining space, behind a sliding wall, that seats 30.

Sean's creative juices have him thinking about other restaurant concepts as well as putting another Flat Iron Grill or two in other neighborhoods.

With Flat Iron's continually-changing menus at lunch and dinner, tasty Sunday brunch items, wines and whiskies that pair well with the menu or stand alone and upcoming events (check their website), there are many reasons to head to Issaquah.

Connie Adams/February 2011