Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 26, 1995 TAG: 9502270087
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: JOANNE ANDERSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
South Fork fillets, Round Rock ribeyes, Yankee steak, Kansas City steak, Texas big bones, bull of the Brazos - there's plenty of beef here.
And the most popular cut - the Texas Steakhouse & Saloon Special, an aged center-cut choice sirloin - is served just as Elmer Wheeler advised back in the 1930s. His "Principle No.1 of Salesmanship": Don't sell the steak; sell the sizzle. It is the sizzle that sells and not the cow, although the cow is, of course, mighty important.
This steak comes sizzling from the kitchen to the table every time. "We added it to the menu when we moved," said Reese McAlpin, general manager. She was referring to the Texas Steakhouse's October relocation to the building vacated by the Ponderosa on U.S. 460 at The Marketplace.
Besides the thick-cut sirloin's fast rise to No.1-selling steak, the restaurant has enjoyed a 40 percent increase in business that McAlpin attributes in large part to better road visibility.
But if you're not a steak eater, relax. You can always start with the "yellow rose of Texas" and move on to barbecued baby back ribs, chicken served three ways, shrimp, kabobs and hearty salads. The yellow rose is an impressive flower arrangement of fried onion.
Later, you might wish to indulge in a brownie the size of a plain Hershey chocolate bar. In fact, an entire chocolate bar is softly melted on top of the brownie - it's that big. And you can have ice cream with it.
A compact-disc juke box next to the bar has a hundred or so CDs with a thousand or so songs, so you can select your own favorite country dinner music. Although there are 195 seats in the Texas Steakhouse, the bar and dining areas are arranged with booths and tables and walls that create a real coziness wherever you're seated. Corrugated tin and burnt red partitions, a couple of western murals about 10 feet by 10 feet and old prints of Wild West characters lend an old-timey feeling.
A big, big buffalo trophy is mounted over the fireplace, and pheasants, jackalopes and deer heads and hides enhance the casual, Western theme.
There's a trend in the '90s for restaurant patrons to place higher emphasis on good service and quality than on price. Keeping this in mind, along with contemporary customers' desires for the use of fresh ingredients, Texas Steakhouse makes its mashed potatoes, salad dressings and breads daily.
Besides leaving here with a good piece of steak in your belly, you can start a boot collection. Several specialty bar drinks, with and without alcohol - come in a good-sized glass boot that sells for $2.50.
Texas Steakhouse & Saloon
Address: U.S. 460 just west of The Marketplace, Christiansburg
Phone: 381-1625
Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sun.-Thurs.; 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Bar remains open an hour later than restaurant
Specialties: Steak, baby back ribs, fried-onion rose
Beverages: Full bar
Price range: Lunch, $3.25-$7.45; dinner, $6.95-$16.95
Credit cards: American Express, MasterCard, VISA, Discover, no personal checks
Reservations: Not required
No-smoking section
Handicapped accessible
by CNB