Mr. Steak Restaurants...

I worked at Mr. Steak at 44th and Sheridan as well.  It indeed was #157.  What a great place and what great friends I made!  My best friend to this day is Steve Nelson whom I met there.  I started in 1976 when Gary Crumbaker was the manager.  He left and eventually Bill Andersen took over as manager.  I continued to work there during weekends and breaks during college at CSU until 1981.

 I am trying to organize a reunion of #157 members (all years) for the summer of 2009.  I am working with Roberta (Barr) Andersen to organize it and try and track down names of people who worked there during those years.  Please contact me (or have anyone contact me directly) if you would like to participate or to help with any peoples' names you might have or remember.  I have about 60 names so far.

BTW, I would love to get the ceasar dressing recipe!

Doug Roesener
Doug@roesener.us

To all inquiring about Continental Burgers - I was a Senior Grill Chef at Mr Steak in Southeast Grand Rapids, MI on Outer Beltline near 28th St in the early 70's.  It was a franchise owned by a very driven man - Howard Schelde(sp?) and a partner - that location was always in the top 5 or 10 nationally in sales.  I make Continentals to this day - I don't recall the name of the meat packer they used there - I moved out of "GR" 36 years ago.  The Continentals came pre-made.  They were two thin oval patties of what we now call 80-85% lean ground (need that much fat to stay together) - I think each patty was about a fifth of a pound.  The filling was two things only - pasteurized process swiss cheese ONLY and fresh (when patty was frozen) mushrooms. The 'shrooms and process swiss were diced to about 1/2" dice.  Put about 1 to 2 tablespoons on one patty, cover with second patty and crimp edges gently but completely so there are no holes.  Grill till medium, turning as little as possible and use some kind of cover on top last 2 minutes or so to help cheese melt.  That restaurant served them always on buttered, then grilled on one side, light rye bread.  The burger was served open face with the second bread slice cut in half and set on each end.  Everyone ate them with a knife and fork!  They were hugely popular!!  I love them, make them once a year or so.  I also have the recipes we used for steak kabobs and the marinade, plus the beef and mushroom based rice they were served on, and the Black Russian burgers.  For me to share those recipes? Ask. Maybe I will. 

When I was the Chef at Baby Does in Denver my district Chef gave me some busy work.  We had the only large copy machine with a coalator.  He had me make up a copy of the companies entire reciepe formulary.  It covered all specialty rests.  Fom Blind Monk and Crawdaddy's to the 94th Aero squadron.  It was 1200 pages of 1 page recipes!  Of course I kept a copy.  With a decent glossay in front it was great as I had a basic rec. for almost anything at my fingertips

 
I worked one summer during college at the Mr. Steak in Lawrence, Kansas.  I have always wanted to be able to make the marinade for the kabobs.  Can any of you knowlegable ex-Mr. Steakers provide this recipe?  I have searched online several times before, and there is an entire thread elsewhere of people looking for this recipe!
 
thanks so much. 
 
 

I was a "sous chef" at Mr. Steak in 1981 during high school. I remember that their chicken fingers were sooo good and they had this marinated steak (or ground beef--can't remember) which was kind of a rectangular shape which was good.

http://frkandspn.blogspot.com/

Sometime between the end of September and the end of October 2009 the Mr. Steak in St. Charles, MO has closed. The door has a piece of paper stating they were closing due to "an emergency". Both their voice and fax phone numbers have been disconnected. The home page is still up. I have not yet tried any other means to contact them or the owner(s) or find out what is going on. A family member had seen coupons in a recent mailed circular from them, and I know they had increased thieir birthday offer from $7 to $9.

Very unfortunate...

I worked at the St. Charles location back in the late 80's and early 90's. It is true- they did close recently. Heard it was a combination of slow business and some debt a previous owner left on the restaurant. Anyone looking for recipies? I still remember them- let me know :)

I found a handful in Michigan. As someone pointed out, most of the ones in western Michigan became Finley's with mostly the same menu (one Finley's in Lansing has since closed). Traverse City, Petoskey, and the five in Grand Rapids (one of which was already mentioned) all became Schelde's. Only the Traverse City Schelde's still operates under that name; Petoskey became Rio Grand Steakhouse and was torn down along with a KFC to make way for a Walgreens.

The Finley's locations were Battle Creek, Holland, Jackson, Kalamazoo (2), Lansing (2), Muskegon and Okemos. Holland didn't last long as a Finley's and later became Pietro's before being torn down, and Okemos is now a mattress store. Lansing's Cedar St. location seems to have relocated shortly before the Finley's conversion from 5919 S. Cedar (later a Schlotzsky's, now closed) to 6300 (the current Finley's). Or maybe Finley's relocated.

To bronco Bill
I worked at mr. steak back inthe 1980s and loved the black russian.  I was a cook and did all the preping in the morning.  Did lunches, dinners and had a blast not only learning how to cook all their great food but enjoyed the people as well.  My husband use to always come in for lunch/dinner at mr. steak in the west seneca, ny area and hey never knew he would be my husband.  We often talk about the black russian as we both loved it.  Can you please tell me the secret in the middle of the hamburgers?????  I know grilled rye, topped with sour cream.  Would love to try it.  Thanks so much.  Maslow

Dear Maslow,

Am still looking for the Kebob marinade recipe, if you did that kind of prep. thanks.

tastebuddy

They went out of business like 20 years ago.

to tastebuddy,ould love to help with the receipe for the kabob receipe which i thought was great also but unfortunately the restaurant purchased it pre-made and it came in a container and all we did was soak the kabob's.  A lot of that prep work was also done at closing for soak for the next day.  I am sorry i cannot help.  Any idea though about the black russian???  No reply for the receipe.  I know on grilled bread, mushrooms/with gravy in the middle, onions on top/dollop of sour cream still waiting for a reply.  Help i would love to try them.  Also so you know a lot of the food that we received at Mr. Steak was portioned out, ready to grill, etc.  Found out i was alergic to lobster tails when i cut them in the am for lunch/dinner.  Oh well, love them but can't cut them.  It was a great experience.  My manager showed me how to grill steak with the touch of the thumb, weather rare/med/well
and i still use that when grilling, my husband loves it.
maslow

No, I recall the Black Russian in name only.  Bronco Bill above says he has the recipe, but has never  divulged the kebob marinade either.   Is it a completely different prep than the Continental, which is detailed above?

I worked at the Mr. Steak restaurant in Sacramento in 1974 and would like the recipe to the teriyaki sauce.  My friend was a cook there (no longer in contact with him) and I remember seeing him make the sauce - an ingredient that I recall is pineapple juice.  If anyone out there knows the recipe please post it.  It will bring back great memories of when I was seventeen!!!!!  

bronco bill
i am guessing you do not have the receipe for the black russian.  a lot of the food made at mr. steak was pre made, especially all the marinade.  If they ran their franchise as where i worked everything was the same such as Mc Donalds's.  The flavor has to be the same for all restaurants.  If you make the marinade, black russians it has to taste the same.  I make my own marinade for pork, kabobs, etc.  I make my own barbecue sauce and if i ran a franchise it would have to be the same at all locations for be successful such as kentucky fried chicken.  Does not anyone agree.  I am going to try the black russian myself from scratch and see what happens.  thanks

I used to love Mr.Steak. My favorite thing was there Beef Noodle Soup that they'd only serve on Fridays. Anyone happen to know how to fix that?

My husband is always speaking of the blue cheese dressing recipe.  I am wanting to make it for him as a surprise. Can you help? Thanks Teresa

Do you have the blue cheese dressing recipe? My husband is missing his old favorite. I wanted to make it and surprise him. Thanks, Teresa HIll   teresacitgo@yahoo.com   He use to have the whole recipe book. He lost it long ago. Does anyone have a copy of it? I'd love to give him back an old present : )

At the St. Charles restaurant, here is what I recall of the Black Russian: We grilled a burger, melted swiss on it, placed it on toasted rye bread and topped w/ sauteed onions (was the burger version of the M & O steak minus the mushrooms). The Continental (Connie) was a pre-made patty as mentioned in previous posts. The Fingerlength was a pre-made patty.
 
We made all of the marinades in house except Diane (it was a powder that we added water to). The soups came in frozen. Dressings were pre- made except Tarragon and Bleu Cheese.
 
 

Do anyone have the blue cheese dressing recipe? My husband is missing his old favorite. I wanted to make it and surprise him. Thanks, Teresa HIll   teresacitgo@yahoo.com   He use to have the whole recipe book. He lost it long ago. Would like to give him another copy as a surprise if anyone knows where I could get a copy. Let me know. Thanks again.

Hi - I worked at Mr. Steak's in Chico, CA in the 70's and made the marinade by the gallons, but could not for the life of me remember the recipe. I found it on another site, but there are no measurements, so you'll have to wing it!
 
Someone else said it came packaged (not at our restaurant) and someone else said it was French dressing (close, but no).
 
These are the ingredients I remember:
 
- Regular ketchup
- Vegetable oil
- Pepper
- Onion powder
- Worcestershire sauce
 
And the order was beef, green pepper, onion, mushroom, beef and so on. Oh, and they MUST marinate , refrigerated. for at least 24 hours!
 
Can anyone inprove on this? Thanks!
 
janelle
 

The Mr. Steak near me closed down a few years ago and I've been trying to find the recipe for their steak kabobs with no luck so far.  Could you PLEASE give me the recipe.  I loved their steak kabobs and teriyaki steak.  I would greatly appreciate it.

Bronco Bill


To all inquiring about Continental Burgers - I was a Senior Grill Chef at Mr Steak in Southeast Grand Rapids, MI on Outer Beltline near 28th St in the early 70's.  It was a franchise owned by a very driven man - Howard Schelde(sp?) and a partner - that location was always in the top 5 or 10 nationally in sales.  I make Continentals to this day - I don't recall the name of the meat packer they used there - I moved out of "GR" 36 years ago.  The Continentals came pre-made.  They were two thin oval patties of what we now call 80-85% lean ground (need that much fat to stay together) - I think each patty was about a fifth of a pound.  The filling was two things only - pasteurized process swiss cheese ONLY and fresh (when patty was frozen) mushrooms. The 'shrooms and process swiss were diced to about 1/2" dice.  Put about 1 to 2 tablespoons on one patty, cover with second patty and crimp edges gently but completely so there are no holes.  Grill till medium, turning as little as possible and use some kind of cover on top last 2 minutes or so to help cheese melt.  That restaurant served them always on buttered, then grilled on one side, light rye bread.  The burger was served open face with the second bread slice cut in half and set on each end.  Everyone ate them with a knife and fork!  They were hugely popular!!  I love them, make them once a year or so.  I also have the recipes we used for steak kabobs and the marinade, plus the beef and mushroom based rice they were served on, and the Black Russian burgers.  For me to share those recipes? Ask. Maybe I will. 

Do you remember the Blue Cheese Dressing Recipe? 

DO you remember the Blue Cheese Dressing Recipe?

DO you remember the Blue Cheese Dressing Recipe?

DO you remember the Blue Cheese Dressing Recipe?

DO you remember the Blue Cheese Dressing Recipe?

I worked for many years at all of the Mr. Steak locations in Winnipeg, Canada. They have all been closed since the late 80's and only one building stillexists, it is now a radio station. We never had much franchise support from the US, all our menu's were similar to the US menu's but had to show Canada Grade A beef.
Anyway, one of my favorites was the Olde English, not sure if anyone remembers those.
As for the Kebob recipe above, you also need to add vinegar and garlic powder to it. I still make kebobs for my own grill using that marinade and its just as good as it was back then
 

Howdy Gang! 
I came across this forum when I posted a search for the Fingerlength sandwich.  It was my favorite! This whole forum sure brings back memories!  My parents took my sister and I to eat at Mr Steak when we were kids in the late 60's - early 70's.  My Dad used to say that we would stop going out to eat as a family when the bill went over $10 bucks!
 
I used to work at the Mr Steak at Hwy 7 and 101 in Minnetonka, MN when I was in high school from 80-82.  I was a cook, bartender, and occasionally one of the hosts.   We had a great owner/manager named Doug Lees.  He closed the restaurant in the mid-late 80's and became a successful realtor in the area.
 
As others have stated, a lot of the food was pre-made by the supplier.   I do seem to recall that the kebob marinade was french dressing, very much like Catalina.  I don't recall if we doctored up the recipe or used it as is.  However, not everything was pre-made.  We used to make our own soups from scratch.  At least some of them anyway.  I used to make spit pea with ham and a real hearty barley. 
 
I agree with all the previous posts that rave about the quality of the food.  It was a great place to work and eat.  We used to have a waiting room full of people every Friday and Saturday night.  It was a great place to take a date because the quality was excellent, the lighting was soft, and it was affordable for a high school kid.  :)   Ahhh, the memories!
 
So, about that Fingerlength sandwich?  Does anybody have any info on that?  Who might still be producing something like that? 
 
Happy Holidays to all!
 
Ted

I worked at the north kansas city mr. steak as assistant manager.  although i cannot remember the proportions some of the ingriediants to the marinade were oil, kikomans soy sauce.  There were other ingriediants but my memory is vague.  As for the continental i use ground chuck two patties, put chopped mushrooms and swiss in it and a little mushroom soup.  seal it tight and grill, serve open face on rye.

maslow


bronco bill
i am guessing you do not have the receipe for the black russian.  a lot of the food made at mr. steak was pre made, especially all the marinade.  If they ran their franchise as where i worked everything was the same such as Mc Donalds's.  The flavor has to be the same for all restaurants.  If you make the marinade, black russians it has to taste the same.  I make my own marinade for pork, kabobs, etc.  I make my own barbecue sauce and if i ran a franchise it would have to be the same at all locations for be successful such as kentucky fried chicken.  Does not anyone agree.  I am going to try the black russian myself from scratch and see what happens.  thanks

 
He hasn't posted here in 5 years, you might try emailing him instead.

Stumbled across your forums while searching for something else and thought I'd chime in about Mr. Steak. I find the memories interesting. I was 16 when started for Mr. Steak, in the Boulder, CO store, which was also well up the ranks in the chain. I started as a dishwasher, eventually became the head cook, and then at 19 ended up working for Corporate in the Operations Department. I was in every store Mr Steak had in Oklahoma and Texas with the exception of one of the two in Houston, I only visited that one every once in a while I managed the other. Had a bit of experience under my belt when I finally left the company in 1972.
I was also a big fan of the Finger sandwich and the Continental. I still make the Continental, my version anyway, and it's pretty darn close, as far as my memory goes. I still make the Black Russian, Reubens of course, I still do the Teriyaki marinade, and I keep threatening that I will again resurrect the Blue Cheese dressing from memory, it was excellent.
When I was there, we made the kebob & Teriyaki marinade, cocktail sauce, tartar sauce, and the blue cheese dressing from scratch. The other salad dressings and the gravy for the mashed potatoes were 'canned'.
Some memory items:
Around 285 stores nationwide in about 1970
Meat was cut/portioned/frozen at Monfort in Greeley, CO (over 250,000 lbs/week) any stores that cut there own were working outside of franchise guidelines
Mr. Steak Corp had the world largest freezer at the time.
Black Russian was the hamburger patty served open faced on Black Rye (hence black russian) with melted swiss then sauteed onions.
Continental was supposed to always be served on light rye. To make your own, two patties, some shredded swiss, fresh mushrooms, but add a tiny dab of butter before assembling, that helps create that juice.
Teriyaki  - Soy sauce, garlic powder, brown sugar, water, simple
Kebob marinade - as in an earlier post, but no catsup, red wine vinegar is what was in it.
Blue cheese dressing: Sour cream, blue cheese crumbles, buttermilk, and it had a touch of MSG. The secret was letting it age a bit after it was put together.
Some of the dinner menu: Frontier steak 7oz, Mr Steak Sirloin 8oz, Filet Mignon 8 & 6oz, New York, 8 & 10 oz, T-Bone 12 & 16oz, Sirloin, 8 & 10oz, Chuckwagon (8oz ground sirloin) and let's not forget the Steak and Lobster which was the Frontier with two rock lobster tails and the Honey Dip't fried chicken.
Was I programmed or what? Heck, I still eat my Cheerios out of a Mr Steak chef salad bowl I still have. Anyway, enough prattling, feel free to ask me anything, unless you're a still angry former employee of mine. I'm sure there are still some out there looking for me.
Strider

I was a waitress at the Mr. Steak in Toledo, OH in the 70's.  My sister worked there too.  Still have a picture in my mini chefs hat.  Hated those uniforms, but the ugly brown ones that followed were worse.  I dated one of the cooks, at the time, who gave me the Kebob marinade recipe, but the receipe needs conversion as the amounts are huge.

Could you share the kabob marinade recipe that you have? Please email to me at Ross@Gilbertson.org

Thanks!!!!

go to facebook and join us      ................  type in  
I Worked at a Mr.Steak Restaurant 

come join I worked at a Mr.Steak Restaurant on facebook
there are a few recipes there

I worked at the Mr.Steak in Henrietta NY in the late 70's and cant remember the teriyaki recipe but I know it had soy sauce,pineapple juice,worshestershire sauce ect... Do you know the recipe?

In 1980 I was a junior in high school and babysitting money was not enough to pay for car insurance and all the "stuff" girls need at that age.  My folks said why not apply at Mr. Steak in town, you won't be turned down as your uncle is the CEO and Founder..lol!!  Indeed it was an easy job to "get"...but I worked my buns off keeping it   I can't tell you how many of my friends from school and church got part time jobs there!!   I actually loved that job...I met my hubby there and I kept it all through college and went back (after two babies) when my husband was finishing grad school to help supplement the family income.  All in all, I worked a decade of my life there and by the time I left (we moved to a different part of the state) I had experience in every part of Restauranteur-ing.  I still miss the "Continental"...my husband attempts the re-creation of them every so often as well as the best teriyaki sauce ever.  I remember the prep cooks using tons and tons of pineapple juice with the soy sauce.  The secret was the "soaking".  Those 8oz strips soaked for days...delish!  I remember a crucial ingredient in the kabob marinade was the homemade french dressing! To this day, when we do kebabs in the summer I use a mixture of soy sauce and good french dressing.  Wonderful memories of my great family legacy that ended too soon!