Restaurant review: Hy's Steakhouse still sizzles at 65
Credit to Author: Aleesha Harris| Date: Tue, 07 Jan 2020 18:00:31 +0000
Where: 637 Hornby St, Vancouver, 604-683-7671
When: Monday-Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.; Saturday, 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday 5 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Info:hyssteakhouse.com
Quality morsels of meat are the indisputable stars of the Hy’s Steakhouse & Cocktail Bar menu.
But, according to Chris Langridge, the other major influence that plays prominently into the popularity of the Canadian steakhouse is the people.
“Hy’s has wonderful restaurants; however, the most valuable asset is the staff. And that is probably the biggest reason I have stayed with Hy’s,” Langridge, the general manager of the Vancouver location, where he has worked for more than 20 years, says. “It’s the dynamic of all the staff, in all aspects, and the loyalty.
“We are fortunate to have staff who have stayed with us.”
That familial feeling, Langridge says, also resonates with the restaurant’s guests. On any given evening, it’s not uncommon to find Langridge engaged in animated conversations with diners at the side of their tables.
“The guests — regulars and new — never make any two days the same. They are the variable, and it’s truly great to meet and talk with guests, all of whom have their own story,” Langridge says. “Hoping that our guests arrive happy, but leave happier, has a great feeling of reward.”
Familiarity between patrons and staff, the company’s managements says, is a key component of the reasoning behind why people have kept coming back to dine over the past 65 years — even as the perspective on enjoying a regular steak dinner has changed.
Neil Aisenstat is the president and CEO of Hy’s Steakhouse.
“Our history is authentic. We have 65 years of experience, and serve generations of families,” Megan Buckley, the chief operating officer of Hy’s of Canada, remarks on what makes the dining experience unique. “Even our newest restaurant in Toronto is being visited by locals who dined at the original Hy’s Toronto as teenagers. We have staff that have been with us for 20, 30, 40 years … they, too, are part of the family.
“Hy and Barbara treated staff like family and we continue to hold that attitude as one of our core values.”
Originally opened in Calgary in 1955, the late Hy and Barbara Aisenstat opened the Hy’s location in Vancouver in 1960. (Interestingly, Aisenstat was also an investor in a steakhouse chain founded in 1971 by his friend George Tidball called The Keg and Cleaver, which is now known as The Keg). Today, the Hy’s Steakhouse chain also includes locations in Toronto, Winnipeg and Whistler. The Aisenstat’s sons David, Neil and John continued with the family business in the following years, with Neil Aisenstat acting as the president and CEO of Hy’s Steakhouse to date.
The continued family connection serves to tether the restaurants to their founder’s main mission of providing a classic, customer-service-oriented steakhouse experience in Canada, Buckley says.
“We have a person’s name on our building; we are proud of our heritage and stewardship of Hy Aisenstat’s original vision,” she says. “The restaurant business is famously fickle, so not only to be still standing, but to be evolving and growing is an accomplishment we take very seriously.”
But Buckley assures that the restaurants aren’t stuck in the past.
“We evolve and grow,” she says. “We are very interested in what’s happening in the modern restaurant scene, and we pay attention. We have always listened to feedback from our guests, once (upon a time) through a handwritten letter, or now through a social media message.”
Buckley says that the restaurant’s cocktails, spirits and wine lists have been updated over the years to reflect trends, and a few veg-friendly options have been added to the menu.
“The classics remain, but the menu develops along with changing and evolving tastes. Healthier options, smaller portions for some items, expanded fish, seafood and plant-based choices,” Buckley says.
But when it comes to the main dishes, it’s largely business as usual as Hy’s “iconic” selections, according to Buckley — such as Caesar Salad made with a precise, multistep process right at the table ($17.95), gooey cheese toast that was originally introduced in 1955 ($10.95 for “toast for two”) and, of course, a wide variety of beef offerings including Canadian Black Angus, Prime Grade and 60-day aged Canadian Prime — that continue to dominate diner’s plates.
Caesar salad is made table-side at Hy’s Steakhouse & Cocktail Bar.
During a recent visit to the dimly lit dining room at Hy’s in Vancouver, our dinner party stuck close to the classics: Cheese toast to share (a bit bland but still pleasantly cheesy), a Caesar salad (perfectly prepared and so good and garlicky I would fight over the last dressing-coated leaf if given the chance again); and an oh-so-indulgent Gorgonzola Filet ($59.95).
Topped with an ooey-gooey pool of melted Gorgonzola cheese and swimming in a port wine jus, the melt-in-your-mouth meat was utterly divine (and made a little less guilt-inducing by saving half of the rich dish for lunch the next day).
The decadent dining experience was capped off with a sweet treat, Bananas Foster ($17.95), which is served up table-side with a fiery display that, of course, ended up being shared on my Instagram stories. (OK, and maybe those of a few other diners around our table, too.) The classic dessert, which boasts roots dating back to 1950s New Orleans, sees ripe bananas sautéed with butter, brown sugar and fresh orange juice — all of which is flambéed with dark rum and then served with a generous dollop of vanilla ice cream. It’s dangerously good.
So what’s next for Hy’s Steakhouse after celebrating the milestone year in 2020? As it turns out, much more of the same — but quite a bit of new, too.
“Well, we’re not retiring, like many 65 year olds,” Buckley says with a laugh. “We’ve just opened out new flagship restaurant in Toronto and we are really thrilled about how that careful growth has been welcomed by the city. Ultimately, we hope to have a presence in every major centre in Canada in a way that makes sense for each market.”
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