A few steps into Rae and Jerry's Steak House you may feel that you have walked into an early James Bond movie.
The red leatherette chairs, the chocolate-brown ceiling sound baffles, and the copper-clad chandeliers with yellow-tinted glass all typify what the restaurant's interior designer Leslie Girling says is mid-20th-century contemporary design.
Steve Hrousalas in the Rae and Jerry's dining room. He has preserved its retro look since he bought the restaurant in 1975.
It's a masculine retro look specifically requested in 1957 by the original owners of the 220-seat steakhouse, John Rae and Gerald Hemsworth. Current owner Steve Hrousalas has preserved that look immaculately since he bought the restaurant in April 1975. The expression Hrousalas has always used is, "If it's not broken, why fix it?"
Rae and Hemsworth opened their first restaurant in 1939 at Brathwaites Drug Store downtown, and then owned two other restaurants in town. In 1957, Rae and Hemsworth commissioned the current building at 1405 Portage Ave., just east of Polo Park, from local architect Dennis Carter, with the interior design to be done by Girling.
"They (Rae and Hemsworth) were obviously very, very smart," Hrousalas said. "It was a well-thought-out restaurant, because it works, even by today's standards. It flows well."
Rae was first inspired by a table with hidden leaves he had seen on a trip to Las Vegas and asked Girling to have a similar table custom-built locally to be used at the restaurant. Girling also helped the owners choose brown, black and red as the "magic colours" suiting the feeling they wanted to convey to diners.
"Their ambition was to attract the upscale trade. They knew the people who spent the money were the credit card people," Girling said of the owners' vision for restaurant ambience. "They wanted everything to be very comfortable and they wanted it to be a little bit masculine-looking. And a little bit low key. They didn't want it to be so masculine that women would feel out of place.
"I think the word we used so often in designing it was, 'A timeless look.'" Girling worked on the look for about a year, until Rae and Jerry's opened.
It's a large building: 10,500 square feet on the main floor and 7,500 square feet in the basement. Little has changed in the layout in more than 50 years, other than the cocktail lounge, added in 1962 and licensed for 110 people, and Hrousalas's addition of a patio overlooking Omand's Creek a few years ago.
Downstairs is the laundry, storage for the traditional red uniforms, a room holding wines and racks of liquor bottles whose contents are pumped automatically up to the bar, and one room in which 20-litre buckets of freshly-cut potatoes sit waiting to be crisped into french fries.
The huge kitchen has air conditioning, long stainless countertops and a charcoal cooker. "Here's the Kingsford (charcoal)," Hrousalas said, for searing the signature prime rib ($30.25). The restaurant buys 60 prime ribs, 30 short loins, and 200 pounds of tenderloin a week and a meat cooler keeps it at 1 C while it ages anywhere from three to four weeks. All the meat is cut by hand on massive butcher's block tables.
A decidedly retro sign fixed to the inside of the kitchen door reads "Girls, have you suggested cocktails before dinner? Wine during dinner? Liqueurs after dinner? Thank you."
The wait staff are all women at the moment, Hrousalas said.
He credits long-term employees on the roster of 65 for his success — some have been with him a dozen years. "I've been fortunate to have great staff. Our turnover is very, very low. They like it, it's busy."
He also has a loyal group of regular customers.
"Believe it or not, we still have personal charge accounts," Hrousalas said.
Hrousalas has made a few minor changes. To the original menu he inherited 33 years ago, he has added about eight food items, including halibut, some salads and wine by the glass. He did away with pink tablecloths and red napkins a few years ago and went to white for both, but a lot of customers noticed and commented.
And in case you're wondering, "It's not for sale," Hrousalas said. "Nor am I thinking of it being for sale. I come to work seven days a week. I love it."
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