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Steiner Ranch Steakhouse opens this fall

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Construction for the multi-million dollar, high end Steiner Ranch Steakhouse is under way and the restaurant is scheduled to open in the early fall.

“We're shooting for September but it more likely will be October when we open,” said Cosmo Palmieri, project overseer and minor investor in the steakhouse.

The Steiners are one of the original rodeo families in Texas. The restaurant will sit on part of the original Steiner Ranch, where the family kept its rodeo stock and practice arenas. It will feature Steiner family memorabilia from rodeo days and ranching including national championship title pictures, belt buckles and possibly a saddle.

“Having some ownership in something out there that I know will be first class is something I'm really proud of,” said Bobby Steiner, one of the major investors of the steakhouse.

The steakhouse will be 12,000 square feet with a third story observation level, including a deck and dining area. The panoramic scenery will include views of Lake Travis, the surrounding hill country and the Steiner Ranch community.

“It's one of the highest points around,” Palmieri said.

The main dining area will feature a huge fireplace and more than 20-foot ceilings. There will also be a large covered dining area off of the main level, bars at all three levels and the waiting room will be dubbed the “tack room.” The interior will be done in rich woods.

Nacogdoches-based Great Texas Foods Inc. has been hired to operate the restaurant and the menu is being planned. Everything is going to be prime beef, Palmieri said.

Another major investor in the deal is Steiner's lifelong friend Kelly Gray, who owns an insurance company and is involved in real estate. The two went to school together and did a lot of “rodeoing” together, Steiner said. “We'd ride and practice on bucking stock at the Steiner Ranch where [Laura Bush Elementary] is now,” he said.

The two talked about the idea of opening a steakhouse for a while before they decided the time was right. “Kelly punched the start button,” Steiner said.

The idea for a steakhouse developed further on a plane ride to Las Vegas where Steiner, Palmieri and others were going for a rodeo a couple years ago.

“Bobby said, ‘Find some land,'” Palmieri remembered. Just over a year ago land was purchased for the development off of Steiner Ranch Boulevard from Taylor Morrison Inc.

“We started moving forward with it,” Palmieri said. Palmieri is handling the overall development of the project. He has a background in development. In 1994 he started Sendero Development Inc., which specializes in land developing and residential and multi-family homes in Austin.

Construction began several weeks ago and so far 110 foundation supporting piers have been poured. They had to drill down to the original ground rock to put the piers in. “That's a lot of piers. Piers make sure the slab doesn't move,” Palmieri said.

Paving and pouring the foundation will happen in the next couple of weeks and goals are to start framing by the mid to end of February.

Another family friend Kenny Dryden, who is involved in real estate investments, is a minor investor in the development. “His father was a doctor in Austin that took care of all the ranch hands,” Steiner said.

Palmieri said the steakhouse will have an “upscale eclectic western” motif.

“The theme will certainly have a lot to do with my family,” Steiner said. “My family and myself produced rodeos and this [Steiner Ranch] was our home base.”

Steiner Ranch rodeo history started four generations back. Buck Steiner was born in 1899 and later traveled the country in wild west shows. Buck's son Tommy ran a growing real estate business and an emerging rodeo company that produced rodeos all over the world. Both Buck and Tommy are members of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame. Tommy's son, Bobby, was a 1973 World Champion Bull Rider. Bobby's son Sid was a World Champion steer wrestler in 2002.

Some 25 years ago the Steiner family sold the Travis County land. The land, approximately 4,600 acres, is now the home of today's Steiner Ranch community. The Steiners still own a couple of small parcels of land in the community development.

“[The steakhouse] has brought me back to an area that I've known and loved all my life,” Steiner said.

E-mail lynette_haaland@yahoo.com

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