Dining

Item Description

Ruth's Chris Steak House

www.ruthchris.com

$100 value.

Expires - 11/17/20

Our founder, Ruth Fertel, purchased a restaurant called Chris Steak House in May of 1965 in New Orleans. Ruth had never planned to expand, but after a fierce kitchen fire decimated the property she was forced to relocate in order to stay in business. Within ten days Ruth had the restaurant up and running. But the Chris Steak House name was not allowed to move with it. With little time and a mischievous smile, Ruth added her own name to the sign, making it “Ruth’s Chris Steak House.” Now with her own name in lights the tongue-twisting name was born. Later Ruth admitted the name was strange, but she managed to work around it.

Fifty years ago in New Orleans—one of America’s most culturally rich cities—Ruth Fertel, a single working mother looking to provide a better life for her two sons, browsed the “Classifieds” section of the Times-Picayune. She spotted an ad reading “Steak House for Sale.” Driven by an inherent entrepreneurial spirit, she mortgaged her home to purchase Chris’ Steak House on the corner of North Broad St. and Ursulines in New Orleans. Even though she had no restaurant experience, her intelligence and drive to succeed enabled her to become a successful business owner and eventually to lead the company to become the largest upscale steak house in the world.

Ruth worked and lived by the mantra, "Do what you love, love what you do." She had the reputation of being a driven, hard-working person who never met a challenge not worth overcoming. Ruth was successful because of her strong work ethic and keen ability to understand her guests.

Ruth had a certain way of doing things. How to run a restaurant. How to treat people. How to handcraft the perfect cocktail and how to maintain the best wine list in town. Of course, Ruth was a stickler for sourcing only the top 2% of the country’s beef and serving the best steak on a 500° sizzling plate (that’s so it would stay warm through the very last bite). She also insisted on making things fresh in-house daily, from fresh-squeezed juices for handcrafted cocktails to her own famous sides and desserts. Often, people would ask Ruth why her food was so good, and she’d simply say, “Just follow the recipe.” We invite you to experience how Ruth’s timeless recipe is alive and well to this day.