Shanahan's Steakhouse

Denver's new eatery scores big utilizing best-only products, surprising menu twists and sleek style

By Lisa Perry

Steak, fish, cocktails. The tagline for Shanahan's Steakhouse is simple, but the food is far from basic. NFL coach Mike Shanahan's eponymous rookie restaurant offers menu choices that are subtly and deliciously complex, with a dash of the unexpected. Every offering utilizes only the finest ingredients, as carefully selected as a first-round draft pick.

Managing partner Marc Steron says, "We wanted to create a modern steakhouse and still have classic steakhouse food. We give it a modern twist, and try to offer a more eclectic menu. We do as good a job with seafood as with steak."

Even in this uncertain economy, the restaurant doesn't cut corners. "We take the high road with our quality," Steron adds. "Denver hasn't seen a steakhouse like this before and hopefully that will allow us to prevail in this market."

Opened in December of 2009, Shanahan's serves dinner daily with a separate bar menu of lighter fare. "I spent a lot of time traveling and researching," says Steron, an 11-year veteran of rival restaurant Del Frisco's. "This is the culmination of experience from visiting and running steakhouses throughout my career. I knew what I wanted to do and where I felt holes in the market needed something different."

Steron says every menu category has at least one signature item, so what might a Shanahan's-stamped meal look like? Begin with fish tartare, yellow ahi tuna on sticky rice with avocados. Continue to the salad course with Amarosa tomato and burrata cheese, paired with 12-year aged balsamic and olive oil. For a fish entrée, order grilled Alaskan halibut with sun-dried tomatoes and lemon sauce. All seafood is responsibly sourced from sustainable fisheries and flown in daily. Other popular choices include Maine lobster tail and a hearty, one-pound serving of Alaska king crab legs. Keith Stich was lured from Newport Beach to preside over Shanahan's seafood creations.

Steaks receive the signature rub, a top-secret recipe stored in the restaurant's computer system "where no one will find it," says Steron. Shanahan's steaks are all slowly aged and center-cut, and aside from the "classic cuts" they're cooked on the bone to generate subtly sweet, unique flavor. Toppings include lobster scampi, truffle butter and mustard demi-glace. The 14-ounce filet is Shanahan's signature cut, but it's hard to go wrong when other hearty bone-in options include Colorado-prime lamb chops, a free-range veal chop and Berkshire pork chop. There's also organic, double-breast of chicken. Eric Pruitt, formerly of Morton's, oversees meat presentations.

Truffle-cheddar mac-and-cheese is the side dish of choice. "Our sides are not too exotic," says Steron. "Identifiable, but still having unique aspects." Add decadent chocolate cake for dessert, or perhaps indulge in a Shanahan's PB&J, the restaurant's signature martini: pineapple, banana liqueur, orange juice and Cointreau shaken with Finlandia vodka infused for 10 days with Dole Royal Hawaiian pineapple. An extensive wine list includes 4,000 bottles of reds and 1,200 varietals of whites and champagnes.

While Shanahan's sophisticated interior is stunning, it's only one component of the customer-focused mindset. "We're here for the guest, plain and simple," says Steron. "The ambiance we've created is for a casual elegance. What I really feel is that we offer a steakhouse that can be your everyday neighborhood bar, or a place for entertaining friends and business associates, or a celebratory restaurant experience. With our architecture, unique lighting and overall open feel of space it's not like anything else locally. It's like you left Denver and went to New York."

Shanahan's customers include Denver Broncos, and all guests enjoy the setting for date nights, watching games in the bar and family outings as well. The kids' menu includes a six-ounce filet, and children receive a football and crayons. For après golf, "Get off the course and head to the patio for the first martini," says Steron, where low, sectional seating surrounds a centerpiece outdoor fireplace. Many guests start at the inviting indoor bar with a drink, then decide to stay for dinner. A jazz duo entertains Wednesdays through Saturdays, and 70-inch flat-screen TVs are tuned nonstop to sports.

Although his name isn't on the restaurant, Steron created and collaborated on every single aspect of its formation. He's quick to say he couldn't have put his vision into concrete form without input from co-partner and local businessman Steve Mooney, along with Mike Shanahan.

"I had talked to Mike about doing a restaurant for years," says Steron. "He's extremely proud of what we were able to create together."

The restaurant is located at 5085 S Syracuse St. (I-25 at Belleview Avenue), with three private dining rooms available for business or social gatherings. For more information, call 303.770.7300 or visit ShanahansSteakhouse.com

Lisa Perry is a staff writer with Colorado Golf Magazine

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