The demise of the popular Bugaboo Creek steak house chain of restaurants didn't just deprive people of fine dining. It also unexpectedly led to the distribution of animatronic moose heads throughout the northeast. Here are some popular steakhouses you'll probably never eat at again.
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00:00What steakhouse's demise led to the distribution of animatronic
00:04moose heads throughout the Northeast? Keep watching to find out.
00:08Beefsteak Charlie's dates all the way back to 1914, when Charles W. Chesser leaned into his
00:13nickname, Beefsteak Charlie, and opened a sports bar that went just as heavy on the
00:17horse racing decor as it did on its steak sandwiches. The restaurant became a go-to
00:21spot for Manhattanites for years, even after it changed owners in the 1930s.
00:25Larry Ellman eventually bought the chain in the 1970s and began franchising Beefsteak
00:30Charlie's into the chain many of us remember today. In 1985, Beefsteak Charlie's 50-plus
00:35restaurant locations along the East Coast were acquired by Bombay Palace Restaurants, Inc.
00:40By 1987, however, the beloved restaurant chain's restaurant empire was no more than
00:44a distant memory. During the acquisition, Bombay Palace Restaurants lost its accounting firm due
00:49to a discrepancy over reported renovation costs, which helped hasten the chain's demise.
00:55Hilltop Steakhouse opened in Saugus, Massachusetts in 1961 and became a bit of a local icon,
01:01at its peak drawing in over 3 million customers per year. The restaurant had a road sign you
01:06simply could not miss, with its giant neon cactus looming in the distance.
01:10That theme of the Wild West continued after you went inside,
01:13with several of the dining rooms named after locations such as Sioux City,
01:17Dodge City, and Kansas City. Unfortunately, Hilltop gained some local attention in 2006
01:22when former employees sued, claiming that management had been taking portions of tips
01:27from servers. The location eventually closed, partly due to failing sales caused by the
01:31negative attention brought on by the lawsuits. Luckily, the cactus remains,
01:35though it's so beloved that even the restoration process wasn't without its own minor drama.
01:40People called the police on us, thinking that we were taking down the sign,
01:44and we had to reassure that, no, the cactus is here to stay."
01:48Lone Star Steakhouse was publicly owned and had over 250 locations nationwide at one point.
01:54In 2006, though, the chain began to show signs of financial struggle,
01:58and in order to remain in operation, it needed to go private. According to the Los Angeles Times,
02:02the chain was acquired in 2006 for more than $600 million by a private equity firm.
02:07Nation's Restaurant News reported that the equity firm was an affiliate of Lone Star Funds,
02:12which also ran the successful Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse.
02:15But there were some who were opposed to the merger,
02:18citing that the price tag did not accurately reflect the company's true value,
02:22and the changeover had negative implications for customers. As a result of the change in
02:26management, previously purchased gift cards would not be accepted, and the Dundee,
02:30Michigan location urged cardholders to file a claim with bankruptcy court.
02:34This was followed by the abrupt closure of many Lone Star Steakhouse locations,
02:38according to Restaurant Business Online. There is one fun footnote. Though Lone Star
02:43Steakhouse is mostly a faded memory in the United States, there's still a location open
02:47in Guam if you ever find yourself traveling through the island and craving a steak.
02:52If a tasty filet mignon is not enticing enough to drop by your local steakhouse,
02:56perhaps a talking animatronic moose head will convince you to take the family out for dinner.
03:01Rhode Island-founded steakhouse chain Bugaboo Creek first opened its doors in
03:05the 1990s and mainly stuck around the Northeast, offering a family-friendly atmosphere.
03:10The chain served up everyone's favorite cuts of steak while keeping customers entertained with a
03:15rainforest-cafe-meets-log-cabin vibe, including talking mounted moose and bison heads in the main
03:21dining rooms and a talking pine tree that greeted guests. The unique environment that the restaurant
03:26offered made it a fun place to go out to eat, but even a talking moose could not save Bugaboo
03:31Creek from its ultimate demise. After changing owners a few times, the company showed real
03:36signs of struggle in 2011 when bankruptcy threatened to close the 13 locations.
03:40After a brief revitalization following the Chapter 11 proceedings in 2012,
03:44the chain experienced a brief period of decent business. But locations started closing off
03:49around 2016, and the chain has since closed its doors for good, auctioning off most of
03:54their weird decorations.
03:56You need a new moose head for your den? How about a couple of hundred plates for your kitchen
03:59cabinet? Our local restaurant's stuffed stuff and other stuff is going on the auction block."
04:04Around the time of Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse facing bankruptcy,
04:07another steakhouse was facing a similar demise.
04:10Hi there. Welcome to Charlie Brown's. Good to see you.
04:13Charlie Brown's Steakhouse first opened in 1966 and grew to dozens of locations over
04:18several decades. But in 2010, CB Holding Corp. closed 20 Charlie Brown's Steakhouse restaurants,
04:23which accounted for approximately one-third of the chain's locations.
04:27The company said those locations were underperforming, and that decision seemed to
04:31help in keeping the remaining Charlie Brown's Steakhouses operating for several more years.
04:35In 2020, though, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the closure of most of the remaining steakhouses.
04:40The state of New Jersey began 2020 with 14 locations and ended that year with only a
04:45single remaining restaurant. In the midst of these closures,
04:48the remaining fragments of the company went through a bit of rebranding.
04:51There are currently two locations left operating under the new name Charlie Brown's Fresh Grill.
04:57Mr. Steak first opened in 1962 and quickly became a nationwide success.
05:01At one point, there were well over 200 locations across the United States,
05:05with television ads aplenty. The chain eventually suffered the same fate as so many other
05:10steakhouse chains, dwindling sales and unhappy customers that were not too fond of the menu
05:14switching over to more salads and fish. According to Nation's Restaurant News,
05:18the first signs of trouble came about in the 1990s, when Mr. Steak faced bankruptcy.
05:24The chain was ultimately saved and intent on coming back, but instead sold off its locations,
05:28including some to competitor chains. These days, one would have to turn to social media to reminisce
05:33about what it was like to dine at a Mr. Steak. There is even a Facebook group devoted solely
05:38to former employees of Mr. Steak restaurants, with members sharing their fond and not-so-fond
05:43memories of working at the chain. Rustler's Steakhouse was opened in
05:461964 by Joe Campanella, a recently retired football player looking to shift gears and
05:52enter the restaurant industry. He operated the chain for several years, selling the chain to
05:56Geno's Inc., which then ran Rustler until 1982 when it changed hands again and was sold to Marriott.
06:02The chain leaned heavily on a Western theme, with television advertisements featuring cowboys
06:07riding in on their mules to grab a bite to eat. In 1984, the chain decided to give its brand a bit
06:12of a facelift, swapping out the cowboy aesthetic for something a little more polished. The move
06:16was designed to reposition Rustler as an industry leader that could compete with the likes of their
06:21major competition at the time. The re-theming was also done in an effort to increase the
06:25restaurant's dwindling profits. According to The Washington Post, the downturn in cash flow was due
06:30in part to the recession in the 1970s and 1980s, which resulted in the rising cost of feed and
06:36therefore the rising cost of beef. While the efforts to breathe new life into Rustler paid
06:40off temporarily, the chain ultimately could not keep up with the rising costs and shut down
06:45permanently in the 1980s. Steak & Ale opened in 1966 and quickly became one of the first
06:51restaurant chains to embrace what would be known as casual dining, per Nation's Restaurant News.
06:56Opening around the same time as TGI Friday's, Steak & Ale marketed itself by offering quality
07:01ingredients in an approachable, family-friendly environment. The chain prospered, with around 158
07:07locations open in 1991 and around 280 corporate-owned restaurants at its peak. But the 2000s
07:13would be the decade when Steak & Ale faltered, and shortly before the chain closed, it was down to
07:18only 62 open locations. But a Chapter 7 bankruptcy abruptly brought the number down to zero,
07:25ultimately shutting the chain down for good in 2008. Still, the chain lives on in the hearts of
07:30diners. Ten years after the final Steak & Ale location closed, Bennigan's brought back three
07:35Steak & Ale dishes for a limited time, including its marinated sirloin Kensington Club along with
07:40two chicken dishes. The three Steak & Ale classics are still featured on Bennigan's menu to this day.
07:46So while you cannot dine at a Steak & Ale anymore, the next time you're at a Bennigan's
07:49and you want to relive the glory days, keep an eye out for those classic meals on your menu.
07:54But remember, nothing lasts forever, not even Steak & Ale,
07:57no matter what they said to try and get you to buy a cheap prime rib.
08:01"...things that will last for eternity. The Pyramids, the Grand Canyon,
08:06and Steak & Ale's 8.95 prime rib special."
08:10Another Northeast-based steakhouse chain that exists only in our collective memory
08:14is Valley's Steakhouse. Like Beefsteak Charlie's, Valley's had been around for decades before going
08:19out of business, clocking in at nearly 70 years in operation. According to the Portland, Maine
08:24History Facebook page, the restaurant first appeared back in 1933 as a single cafe with
08:29just a few seats. The restaurant's success allowed owner Donald Valley to purchase a larger second
08:34location in 1936. It remained a Maine stronghold until the 1960s when it expanded into Massachusetts.
08:40The company was even able to go public on the New York Stock Exchange starting in 1968.
08:45At its peak, Valley's Steakhouse had locations across New England as well as New York.
08:50But when Donald Valley passed away in 1977, the family struggled to keep the business afloat.
08:54By 1991, the chain's final locations closed, one of them being located in Hartford, Connecticut.
09:00An independently-run Valley's Steakhouse was able to continue serving customers for
09:04another nine years in Portland, Maine before closing permanently in 2000.
09:08Although you will find some open locations for this next steakhouse over in Asia,
09:12Victoria Station Steakhouse has completely vanished in North America.
09:16According to The New York Times, the first Victoria Station Steakhouse location opened
09:20in San Francisco, California in 1969 by a trio of Cornell's School of Hotel and
09:25Restaurant Administration graduates. The train-themed restaurant chain,
09:29which was known for utilizing old railroad boxcars as dining areas,
09:33went on to find great success in the 1970s, opening nearly a hundred locations by 1978.
09:38Success would not last much longer, however,
09:40as the company then began to experience a string of losses.
09:43Victoria Station filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1986,
09:47which resulted in the closure of most of its locations.
09:50However, one Victoria Station was able to remain open for nearly 30 more years.
09:55According to The Salem News, the remaining Victoria Station restaurant in Salem,
09:59Massachusetts was the final U.S. location in operation when it abruptly closed in 2017.
10:05The first York Steakhouse opened in Columbus, Ohio in 1966. Growth was steady for the first
10:1010 years thanks to its success in opening locations around shopping malls. But its
10:15acquisition by General Mills Restaurant Group in 1976 was when the chain truly took off.
10:20After the acquisition, it grew to nearly 180 locations nationwide.
10:24While York Steakhouse once thrived off mall foot traffic,
10:27it ultimately suffered its demise as the 1980s saw the rise of food courts
10:31with more budget-friendly dining options, leaving the Steakhouse in the dust.
10:35General Mills Restaurant Group sold off the locations in 1989 with only a few
10:39independently run locations left in operation. According to York Steakhouse's website,
10:43there is one independently run York Steakhouse location left in Columbus,
10:47Ohio where you can relive fond memories of its heyday.
10:50But the days of York Steakhouse as a chain establishment are long gone.