The photograph above, showing Manager Al Cooney in front of the recently opened Ponderosa Steak House appeared in the Lorain Journal back on August 7, 1971.
Ponderosa has an interesting history.
Dan Blocker, who played Hoss Cartwright on TV’s Bonanza, started the Bonanza Steakhouse chain in 1963. The Ponderosa Steak House restaurants were launched around 1968 as a competitor. The two separate companies, both with their roots in the popular TV Western, battled it out until they were finally united under one corporate brand in 1997. (Here’s the link to the corporate website.)
Anyway, it's pleasant to remember all of the good meals and good times at the Ponderosa.
Remember watching your steak being grilled to order? The smoke and flames, not to mention the aroma, added an element of excitement. The casual cafeteria style dining was no-nonsense and efficient. The Western theme made it fun for kids, and the ice cream sundae bar waiting for you at dessert brought the dinner to a great finish.
Today you have to drive all the way to Elyria to go to a steak house. But it’s nice to remember when one was less than five minutes from our house.
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| The building today, home to Rag’s Wine and Beverage |
Whenever I went to Ponderosa I always got their Sirloin Tips.Very good with a baked potato and roll covered in butter.But if I recall,Ponderosa started getting high in their prices for what you recieved in return.It's sad to say but I compare everybody's quality of food to Texas Roadhouse Steakhouse.They are pretty much the golden standard of restaurants in terms of price and quality of food in my eyes.Example:Bob's Big Boy in Cleveland has a very good spaghetti dinner,but keeps on raising the price.It's now up to $15.99 a dinner.Now spaghetti is about the cheapest food you can make.(A can of Midds spaghetti sauce for $3.00 and a $1.00 box of noodles and you can feed 3 people easy.)Bob's Big Boy is outrageous when you can get an 8 ounce Texas Roadhouse steak with baked potato and unlimited rolls for $13.99.This is one of the reasons Ponderosa went out of business around Ohio.Keep on raising the prices no matter what.But I do remember the good times at Ponderosa in Lorain.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the Texas Roadhouse steakhouse in Elyria. I had probably the best steak I ever ate in my life there last month (a Dallas filet). Great food, great service and very reasonable prices!
ReplyDeleteI also have fond memories of eating there occasionally as a kid. The sundae bar was a profound experience for sure. The reason it closed had nothing to do with the prices or service though. The GM of the Lorain restaurant was charged and convicted of the largest "check kiting" bank fraud case in the history of Ohio. It was over $800 million dollars. It is the reason 15 different Pondersosa's in this area all closed at the same time, including Vermilion and Wellington. He managed all of them. The owners of the building in Lorain tried to apply for a franchise license to save the store, but was denied due to the scandal that plagued it. There is plenty of info about the scandal online, but here is a link to an article I found with a quick search. https://www.mytownneo.com/article/20080928/NEWS/309289524
ReplyDeleteWow, was I off base! I was eating some butterscotch pudding the other day and it reminded me of getting that in the fancy glass dessert cups at Ponderosa in the 70s. I asked my parents if they remembered that and the shiny lacquered red wall with the giant set of horns mounted on it. I was thinking it had been where Rosie’s Family Restaurant on North Ridge Road is now. They said they didn’t think that’s where it had been, but didn’t know where it had. Well, now I know. I guess when you’re a little kid, you don’t pay much attention to road names and directions, lol…
ReplyDeleteI have vague memories from the early 70's when the dining area was just a big room with tables and chairs, with the steaks being grilled at the rear of the building.
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