Was there a Gregory's Steakhouse Downtown? (Cincinnati, Hamilton: university, price, store)

[djdonnav]

Just a quick correction...
jwood45154 was the one who actually described Gregory's as I remember it and Sarah Perry totally agreed.
Yea jwood!

[Sarah Perry]

Originally Posted by djdonnav

Just a quick correction...
jwood45154 was the one who actually described Gregory's as I remember it and Sarah Perry totally agreed.
Yea jwood!

It's nice in a way to know I didn't embellish the fabulousness of my memories of Gregory's--or at least that some other people did the same thing. I'd give my EYE TEETH if I could walk back into that place (and chow down on one of those grilled steaks) just one more time. Shoot, I'd give ONE MOLAR just to be able to walk in and breathe the air. I remember how great it smelled like it was yesterday.

Now if I could also just recreate a Kenny Rogers Roasters...but that was later, and in Lexington.

[Airchaplain]

Just posted a status on FB about this same subject. The steak house I recall was N. Side of 6th Street East of Walnut. it was along side the ally and next to La Normandie. You could look through the window to see them grilling. The grill ran N/S along the east wall and you moved your tray along the counter while your steat grilled. Now this is where I am unsure, was the owner first name Gregory or was his last nem Gregory like Ted Gregory. I do recall he was not too tall and always wore a white apron.

[joyeaux]

Oh, Sarah! I thought I had imagined Kenny Rogers Roasters! Now I know there was one in Florence & never was there better chicken ... how did that chain disappear?!

[kjbrill]

I don't believe Ted Gregory of Montgomery Inn fame ever operated a streakhouse. There may have been a Gregory steakhouse but it would have been a different Gregory. What I do remember but cannot recall exactly where it was or what is was called was a BBQ pork sandwich place run by the Montgomery Inn Gregories. They operated it out of their downtown commissary which supplied all of their restaurants. Anyone remember that and where it was?

[kjbrill]

Finally found something with a more definitive statement. In 1962, Ben Bernstein of BB riverboat fame opened Gregory's Steakhouse in downtown Cincinnati where you could buy a steak dinner for $.99. Among Ben's other restaurant endeavors was El Greco and the well regarded Mike Fink. The BB crew is now in their third generation.

Not a lot of detail on the Gregory's operation other than it was on 6th street. I have to believe like so many restaurants it has been sold and resold over the years. The description also sounds strangely familiar to the Ted Kluszewski Steakhouse which existed for about 15 years downtown. Maybe once succeeded the other.

Years ago the Mike Fink was one of our favorite destinations when we had customers and could blow the expense account. They had a raw seafood bar which was fabulous. Our new owners from Japan would ask where does this come from? We would respond right there out of that river. After they looked at us like we were crazy, we would say no it is flown up here from the Gulf of Mexico.

[Señor Slick]

There was a Tad's Steakhouse on E. 4th Steet back in the 60's -70's. I remember being there once to eat when I was a kid....and remember seeing the open-flame grill.....seems like it was on the west side of the door as you walked in.

[$honey]

I remember a steak house being on sixth (off Walnut). My sex and the city gals and I ate there when we would be downtown nightclubing. (All that dancing made us hungery.) I don't remember the name of the place, but you would go through a line, order your steak (being cooked on a grill over an open flame) and then head for the salad bar. The salad bar was laid out on a table with a head and tale that looked like a dragon I think. I am guessing this is the same place being discussed. This was in the mid 60's and the place could have changed names many times. Sound familiar?

[MiddleCincinnati]

Originally Posted by $honey

I remember a steak house being on sixth (off Walnut). My sex and the city gals and I ate there when we would be downtown nightclubing. (All that dancing made us hungery.) I don't remember the name of the place, but you would go through a line, order your steak (being cooked on a grill over an open flame) and then head for the salad bar. The salad bar was laid out on a table with a head and tale that looked like a dragon I think. I am guessing this is the same place being discussed. This was in the mid 60's and the place could have changed names many times. Sound familiar?

Yes, this description fits my own memory of a trip to one Gregory's Steakhouse in February of 1972. It was for a friend's birthday dinner and, being in high school, the trip downtown on a Saturday night was a big deal for us. I had never been there before, but can recall the name both because of the "Greg Burger" on the menu and because of the esteem in which a few of our friends seemed to hold the place. At the time, though, it seemed like a somewhat more upscale version of the Mr. Jim's steakhouses then in Cincinnati. I can no longer recall the precise location, but do seem to remember that it was near Marlborough Books and Bob Jones restaurant.

Of course, the really curious can get a precise fix on Gregory's location and duration by checking out copies of the City Directory from that era. The main library has copies going way back, and will even answer well-posed questions by e-mail.

[kjbrill]

I understand we are talking quite a few years later. But the reference I found that Ben Bernstein opened a Gregory's Steakhouse in 1962 on 6th St. just made a lot of sense to me. For one, Ben Bernstein had a number of successful restaurant operations in Cincinnati. The other successful families I remember are the Shilling Family, remember the Islands? and the Comisar family, who can forget the Maisonette? plus all the others they owned/managed. The Shillings caught the flak over the Beverly Hills NIghtclub fire, but they did not own it, they were contacted operating managers. Yes, I understand maybe they should have known more. Recognize the Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire we reference happened in 1977, a full 15 years after Ben Bernstein started his Gregory's restaurant in Cincinnati.