The Chop House in Ann Arbor, Michigan is an upscale downtown steakhouse trying to shake the image the words “upscale downtown steakhouse” might conjure.

“We really try to stay on top of what is new and fresh,” says Kevin Gudejko, Director of Operations for Mainstreet Ventures — the 13 unit restaurant group that owns The Chop House. “With a steak house, the challenge is not to come off as old and stodgy.”

So The Chop House, which opened its doors in downtown Ann Arbor nine years ago, makes top-tier wine accessible to non-wine experts, offers a glutenfree menu to show they are aware of current health concerns, and puts poblano chiles in their baked macaroni and cheese.

“Gluten allergies are enough of an issue that we felt the special menu was something we wanted to do, and we have people who come in specifically because
they’ve see on our web site that we offer it,” Gudejko says.

“As for the macaroni and cheese; everybody’s mother used to make baked macaroni and cheese; we just added a kick because people have become much more sophisticated in what they expect and are more open to trying new things,” he explains. “Flavor profiles have changed. Twenty years ago all a steakhouse had to serve was a one-pound steak, a one-pound baked potato and a wedge salad.”

The wedge salad, still made with iceberg lettuce and Roquefort bleu cheese dressing, does appear on The Chop House menu, but the one-pound New York Strip for $43.95 shares space with the Pepper and Coriander Crusted Tuna with ginger soy and wasabi sauce for $28.95 and a Rosemary Scented Organic Chicken for $25.95. The most popular choice, however, is the Filet Mignon priced at $34.95 for the 8 ounce size or $39.95 for the 12 ounce.

Yes, beef does dominate at The Chop House, and the wait staff is extensively educated on the various cuts. Simple preparation is the rule: “Salt, pepper, brush with a little olive oil and broil under a natural gas broiler at a high heat of 1,000ºF to sear it quickly,” Gudejko says.

He says, while it may be possible to achieve such high heat with other fuels, natural gas is the best choice, because it burns clean. “In today’s environment, when you have to scrub the smoke before you exhaust it, natural gas makes sense because it burns much cleaner than wood or charcoal,” Gudejko says.

What Gudejko is referring to are regulations on the books in many communities specifying that exhaust from a restaurant ventilation system can consist of nothing but warm, moist air making electromagnetic air scrubbers an essential part of the kitchen exhaust system. With natural gas, this becomes less of an issue.

In addition to cooking method, Gudejko says buying top-quality meat is “incredibly important” if you want to serve a great steak. The Chop House uses only USDA Prime beef, and only the top two percent of all beef produced earns that label.

“Aging makes a difference too,” he says. “We do wet aging on our beef. Some steak houses swear by dry aging, but we believe wet is more the traditional
way Americans like steak.” Plus, Gudejko says, there are economic advantages to wet aging: “With dry aging you hang the beef in a meat locker. There is a great deal of shrinkage, and you have to trim away a lot. Wet aging is done in an air-tight, vacuum sealed container so there is less waste; it’s more economical.”

After a fine dinner in The Chop House dining room, which seats just under 100, customers are asked if they would like dessert at their table or if they would like to be escorted next door to enjoy pastry or a nightcap at La Dolce Vita, Mainstreet’s dessert and cigar lounge. About 60 percent of diners choose to change venues.

La Dolce Vita, while connected to The Chop House, is a separate entity. It is open to customers who walk in off the street for dessert or drinks and it provides an array of after-dinner treats to The Chop House customers, including gourmet creations prepared by Pastry Chef Cheryl Hanewichas as well as Madeira, ports, cognacs, single malt scotches and hand-rolled cigars. It seats about 75 patrons upstairs and has two private rooms downstairs; one accommodates 60, the other 45.

“The Chop House is very formal and La Dolce Vita has a more clubby feel with over-stuffed chairs and couches,” Gudejko says.

Wine by the Glass

While chocolate melt-cake, tiramisu, crème brulée, bananas foster bread pudding and other sweet offerings make La Dolce Vita the place to go for desserts, it is also gaining a reputation as the place to go for wine, thanks in part to something called the WineStation® by Napa Technology, which was purchased in October and has already more than paid for itself, according to Eric Arsenault, Certified Sommelier and Director of Wine Programs for Mainstreet Ventures.

WineStation is an automated measured dispensing and preservation system. Customers purchase a card from a server and choose a dollar amount to load on to it. They then select one of eight wines offered at the WineStation by the one-, three- or six-ounce glass. The cost of the drink is deducted from the card. It allows a wider selection of wines to be served by the glass in an economical fashion.

Kelly Lew, general manager of The Chop House explains: “WineStation allows us to assure our guests the taste and freshness they have come to expect from
a ‘just opened’ bottle of wine, now for service by the glass, while at the same time helping us eliminate overpouring or discarding wine due to oxidation and spoilage.”

Kelly Law (l) General Manager, The Chop House, Ann Arbor, MI and Eric Arsenault (r) Certified Sommelier/Director of Wine & Spirits, Main Sreet Ventures enjoy a glass of wine poured from the innovative WineStation® by Napa Technology, a pouring system which enables guests to purchase only as much wine as they wish without necessarily having to buy an entire bottle. Because of this, The Chop House is able to offer wines by the glass that typically have only been available by the bottle, thus making many more wines available to their customers. WineStation also preserves wines for up to 90 days after opening. The unit was purchased in October and has already paid for itself, according to Arsenault.

An opened bottle of wine will stay fresh when preserved by WineStation for 90 days, even if it is not stored in the unit after it has been opened because the system reseals wine with food grade Argon or Nitrogen gas. This allows the restaurant to have many more bottles open and available for purchase by the glass than the unit holds.

To illustrate how WineStation has increased revenues, Arsenault uses the example of Chateau d’ Yquem, which is considered one of the world’s best Sauternes and can cost $300 to $500 a bottle or higher. Prior to the addition of the WineStation, The Chop House did not offer Chateau d’Yquem by the glass.

“It’s a very exclusive dessert wine,” Arsenault says. “And it’s very rare that an entire table wants it, but now we can pour it by the glass at $18 an ounce.

We had been selling a couple bottles a year; now we’re selling a couple of bottles a week.”

Arsenault says often a table is divided on whether they want red wine or white wine with dinner. In the past someone at the table would have to compromise by either sharing the bottle ordered for the table or choosing from a limited number of wines served by the glass.

“Now every individual can get what they want by the glass, even if it’s a wine that ordinarily was only available by the bottle, he says.

Arsenault says the most popular price point for wines by the glass are in the $25 - $30 a pour price range.

“Our guests very much want the best of the best,” he says. “This just means they no longer have to worry about everyone in their party having the same thing.”

Gudejko says WineStation is a good tool for educating customers about wine. The serve-yourself factor eliminates some of the intimidation and it allows customers to try wines they wouldn’t ordinarily get to try…unless they bought a whole bottle. But The Chop House uses other techniques to educate their customers too, like hosting special dinners. Some popular events include an organic wine and food dinner and a wine component dinner.

“Food and wine pairing has been overdone,” Gudejko says. “A component dinner where different styles of wine are sampled –– like some with a higher tannin level and some that are more oaky — that gives people an education on what their preferences are.

Ultimately our goal is to sell more and turn a profit, but we do that by educating the customer and providing a memorable experience for them.”

They also do a lot of staff education at The Chop House, including a 40-hour online wine training course.

“It’s evident that wine adds to the total experience of what we are doing. Our goal is to exceed guests’ expectations and provide a memorable dining experience, and wine is an awfully big part of that,” Gudejko says. “People have become less intimidated about wine and the role of the sommelier has changed.

Eric does not necessarily bring out the top-priced wines. He has the ability to read people and determine what they are looking for and introduce them to new things.”

Arsenault adds that making the dining experience fresh and new — from the wine to the entrée to the dessert menu — brings in more customers because they tell their friends about it. “We don’t advertise a lot,” he says. “Our success is solely based on word of mouth.” And the word on the street in Ann Arbor is that The Chop House is not your father’s steakhouse.

The Chop House cooks with natural gas because it burns much cleaner than wood or charcoal, and thus saves money and energy required to "scrub" smoke before it is exhausted.

 

THE CHOP HOUSE
Location: 322 S. Main Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Phone: (734) 669-8826
www.thechophouserestaurant.com
Hours of Operation:
Monday through Thursday, 5 - 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5 - 11 p.m.; Sunday 4 - 9 p.m.
Cuisine: American fine dining
Concept: Upscale downtown steakhouse Menu sampling: Menu items include: Lobster bisque, cheddar au gratin potatoes, a variety of steaks including filet mignon, Porterhouse and New York strip; fresh seafood including Dover Sole, North Atlantic salmon and swordfish steak, plus chargrilled Berkshire pork chops, roasted rack of venison and grilled bone-in veal chop.
Owners: Mainstreet Ventures Restaurant Group, Ann Arbor
Average Check per Person: $70 - $90, plus afterdinner wine and dessert $20 - $25