John Howie Steak

Last month, we brought you part 1 of this article focusing on how the concept came about and what you can expect food-wise at John Howie Steak (steak and more!). Part 2 includes the wine program, the team that's put this all together and what's next for John.

Since beef is the star here, the wine program is heavy on reds. As with food, there is an amazing range of bottle and glass prices. Bottles range from $19 to $2,200. There are over 600 bottle options and 60 by-the-glass choices. Sparkling wines come in three or six ounce portions, wine in four or eight and the Enomatic system that preserves opened wine allows highly-allocated wines to be served in two ounce tastes or the four ounce glass. "The depth and breadth of our wine list is incredible," says John. "We have many half bottles and we bought out a personal wine cellar that gave us a number of verticals of great wines like Leonetti, Bond, Harlan Estate, Dunn Vineyards. We have Heitz Cellar Martha's Vineyard back to 1982 and Quilceda Creek from 1993-2006. We have approximately 180 bottles under $60. The list is international, with many Washington wines. And we'll be adding more Bordeaux as we go along."

Private, temperature controlled wine lockers may be rented. These come with a number of benefits including no corkage fees (up to three bottles per night), discounted wine from the John Howie Steak wine list and preferential seating for wine events. With the rental of a large locker, you also enjoy the benefit of the Enomatic. Open a favorite bottle, enjoy a glass or two and come back the next week to finish it. They have two small lockers, 24 medium-size lockers and eight large lockers.

Steak houses are often very masculine—dark wood, low lights, deep colors. John Howie Steak has that sophisticated atmosphere without going "steak house." Huge windows allow natural light to bathe the tables during the day. The hallway into the main dining room is darker and lined with intimate booths. The lounge includes a piano bar, long counter bar and comfortable chairs and low tables.

"I don't think anyone in the area has put together a team like we have," beams John. "Mark Manca is the General Manager. We've known each other since we were 8. His family had Manca's Restaurant early on, then he and his sister brought it back to Madison Park. Mark opened Seastar Bellevue with me. He moved to Vegas where he was GM at Harrah's The Range Steakhouse and Food and Beverage Manager at the Stratosphere. When I heard he was thinking of leaving Vegas, I called and asked him to join John Howie Steak. Mark Hipkiss is our Executive Chef. I hired Chef in 1992 as a broiler cook at Palisade. After six years, he became a chef with Restaurants Unlimited at Cutter's Bayhouse. Shortly thereafter he left to become the Executive Chef at The Metropolitan Grill. He brought his chef and two sous chefs from The Met, so we opened with a top-notch kitchen crew.

Mark Hipkiss, courtesy of John Howie Steak

Lisa Rongren is our Wine Director. She studied under Erik Liedholm at Seastar Bellevue until she grew out of the jobs we had. We recommended her to Ray's Boathouse where she stayed until moving to The Herbfarm. She knew she would probably come back when we opened John Howie Steak. Tim Lodahl is our Operations Manager. We hired him at Seastar Bellevue as a busser. He moved up to manage the operations team of Seastar Seattle and then opened Steak.

Laura Parkening is our Bar Manager. She started as a Server at Seastar Bellevue in 2003 and was very interested in learning about the bar. She's passionate about beverages and loves to create new cocktails with her bartenders. We have added some fun new cocktails like Twilight, a white fig-infused bourbon drink; a flambé orange truffle drink; a honey-apple cider drink with Calvados and Barenjaeger, a honey liquor; and a S'more with Maker's Mark, Godiva liquor and our house-made marshmallow cream with a graham cracker rim. Drinks change seasonally. In October, she created the Pink Lady and $1 from each drink sold was given to the Young Survivors Coalition."

Steak has exceeded opening expectations and is now meeting their goals. It's been a long haul since The Bravern approached John four years ago. He loved the idea. "It was the right property for the concept I had," he says. "I knew their plans, the retailers involved and what they were trying to accomplish. We had already spent a lot of money on architects, designers and attorneys when the economic downturn hit, but still felt we would have an operational advantage, so we moved forward. Since Bellevue has three other steak houses, there's more competition. But we're pleased with how things have been so far."

Seastar Seattle (shown at right) above Whole Foods at South Lake Union hasn't fared as well, but they're working hard to get people in. "It's a tough location," says John. "We thought the Pan Pacific was a great draw, but with the downturn, they haven't pulled in the numbers expected. There's a million and a half square feet of office space around us that hasn't been filled. Microsoft canceled their build-out. And many condos are just now starting to sell. We don't have the street exposure that we desire, no front-of-the-building signage. We knew the first year would be slow, but not this slow." They offer a $14 lunch that includes a beverage (non-alcoholic) and free parking. You enjoy the atmosphere and comprehensive service of a high-end restaurant at a low cost. That same John Howie attention to detail is applied to every menu item.

John's involvement with Adriatic Grill in Tacoma also continues. It is run by Monique and Bill Trudnowski, long-time friends. Erik Liedholm consulted on the wine program. The result is a family-run Mediterranean restaurant serving hand-made, full-flavored dishes from pizza and pasta to fish and steak and perfectly-paired wines. In KING TV's "Best of Western Washington," they won third place in the Mediterranean category. They work with the Rewards Network and have a 4.8 out of 5 rating, higher than nearly every participating restaurant.

So what's next? "I'm going to breathe a little," laughs John. "I'm consulting with some people on existing properties and how to grow them. I still have other concepts, especially one I'd like to do, but I'm going to wait and see how things go." In the meantime, we consumers have great choices with the two Seastars, Sport, Adriatic Grill and John Howie Steak. Get going!

Click here to read part 1 of this story

Connie Adams/January 2010