Prime Time

Myron's Prime Steakhouse offers big-city elegance in a small-town

By Jennifer Ritz
Texas Techsan
Photos by Earl Nottingham
November/December 2004

Mention of the south-central Texas town of New Braunfels teases things from the mind: shopping historic Gruene; kicking up your heels at Gruene Hall, Texas's oldest dancehall; water parks and floating the rivers. Fine dining wasn't usually in the forefront of most visitors’ minds, that is until early 2003 when Bill Been '76 and his wife, JoAnna Maniatis Been '76 opened Myron's Prime Steakhouse downtown.

Myron's Prime Steakhouse opens at 5 o'clock each evening, the bar opens at 4 o'clock. The Beens often hold wine events, including a reservation-only vintner dinner once a month.

Myron's, named after Bill, whose first name is Myron, offers big-city elegance in a small-town. This uncommon eatery—just a block off of the historic town square—not only boasts the best steaks in the area, but also offers a grand atmosphere. Partaking of the victuals at Myron’s is just short of heaven—this is not just any old steak at any old restaurant. People frequently travel from Houston, Austin and San Antonio to dine at Myron’s.

The reason? Quality.

The Beens serve only Chicago corn-fed prime beef. This Midwestern beef is consistently rated the top 2 percent of American beef. Add to that the fact that Myron’s beef is handpicked then wet-aged. This meticulous process assures the most flavorful, tender steak for patrons of Myron’s. While the beef takes center stage, it isn’t the only thing prime: the menu, the service and the wine list could each stand alone.

Bill Been, owner of Myron's Prime Steakhouse, has more than 26 years of restaurant experience.

But the food, it is truly unforgettable and is not for the faint of heart. Shrimp Myron, one of the appetizers, is a guilty pleasure: garlicky cream sauce drenches sweet jumbo shrimp. The French onion soup could be a meal in itself. All entrees are served with an iceberg wedge; bleu cheese dressing is a house specialty. You can take your pick of fresh vegetables to accompany your meal: spinach prepared several ways, the same goes for broccoli. Then there are the tangy-sweet beef steak tomatoes stuffed with Gorgonzola cheese and chives and baked.

Potato options are just as overwhelming with seven tempting varieties from mashed, baked, three types of fried potatoes or lyonnaise. And don’t forget the Southern classic, onion rings.

Myron's Chef Morgan Tausch is a long-time friend of Bill's. Each promised the other that whoever opened his own restaurant first, the other would work for the owner. Tausch is responsible for the continuity of quality in food preparation.

Then there are the entrees, top billing going to the beef, of course. There is a selection of six different cuts cooked to order, from rare to well. Not in a beefy mood? Myron’s serves top-of-the-line seafood as well as lamb and free range chicken. Follow up with dessert, there are six: fresh seasonal berries in sweet cream sauce, crème brulee, pecan pie, chocolate cake, cheese cake and bread pudding with whiskey sauce. Each dessert is made fresh daily.

Bring your appetite: Top-notch wines and spirits, tantalizing appetizers, hot soups and crisp salads, melt-in-your-mouth beef and made-fresh desserts, Myron's will leave you wanting for nothing.

What further adds to the Myron’s experience are the savory surroundings. Myron’s is housed in an old movie theatre, The Palace, that was constructed in the 1920s. Exquisitely designed, painstakingly detailed, the rehabilitated structure was wrought from the ashes, literally. Not only had there been a fire at one time but also a number of floods had taken a toll on the once-noble building. In an amazingly short period of time, the building was resurrected.

“When I first saw this building, there was nothing in here,” Bill comments. “The floors were dirt that dipped 16 feet down from street level, there was no front on the building at all, only three pillars held up the balcony, there was nothing. It had wooden floors when it was a theater, but they had been torn out after flooding. About 70 percent of the ceiling was here, but there had been a fire years ago and one area of the ceiling had been burnt out.”

The architect was able to locate tin ceiling tiles similar to the originals. The projection booth, which is now the Been’s office, and the slanted balcony on which the booth sits, were intact, but that was about it. The bar, which opens at 4 o’clock each day, is housed in the front of the restaurant and boasts the same feel as the rest of the facility. The architect managed to pull off an interior for Myron’s that looks and feels like a Manhattan restaurant deep in the heart of Texas.

“We finished this project, from signing the lease to opening the doors, in four months,” Bill says. “We started on the 15ht of October and opened on the 12th of February.”

The couple hasn’t looked back and have enjoyed increasing success.

Bill was baptized into the restaurant industry when he was just a kid. Born and raised in Clovis, N.M., his father worked for the Santa Fe Railroad when Clovis was still a major railhead of the Southwest. His aunt and uncle owned Ranchers and Farmers Steakhouse, a restaurant at Clovis’s bustling livestock sale barn. Young Bill was a frequent visitor at that eating establishment.

Then, while visiting JoAnna’s family in San Antonio during a Texas Tech semester break, Bill ate at Old San Francisco Steakhouse.

“Oh, I just thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread to see that girl on the swing hit the bell and have that big block of cheese on the table,” recalls Bill, describing two staples of Old San Francisco Steakhouse. “It’s not the same as it was way back when, but it was amazing.”

Bill says ever since that fateful visit to San Antonio, he was sold on working in restaurants. A pre-med major at Tech, Bill admits his folks thought he’d lost his mind when he went into the hospitality industry. In 1977 he began working at Old San Francisco Steakhouse in Dallas.

“At that time in Dallas, the Old San Francisco Steakhouse was really the only steakhouse in that town, and Dallas was just exploding,” Bill says. “We were doing $9 million a year in sales there. I worked one time for 10 months with no day off. We were so busy.”

Bill never slowed down. He stayed in Dallas with Old San Francisco Steakhouse until 1982, when the general manager of the San Antonio Old San Francisco Steakhouse died unexpectedly. Bill was hired as the replacement. Then came Ruth’s Chris Steak House in 1992.

“The San Antonio opening was the strongest opening other than Manhattan and Las Vegas,” Bill says of the Ruth’s Chris Steak House location he managed.

He then spearheaded the opening of Veladi Ranch Steakhouse, which saw expansion into five other cities in 13 months. Then it was the Swig Martini Bar in 1997 on the River Walk and finally, Myron’s Prime Steakhouse.

The couple decided to put all off their eggs in one basket, mortgaged their home and acquired a small business loan. Bill doesn’t regret taking more than 20 years to establish his own restaurant.

“I tell you what, the restaurant business is something you have to learn over time,” he says. “You have to learn something new every day or you’re fouling up. It took that long (since 1977) to figure it all out.

“It’s such a fun and rewarding business, though. It’s tough, but any business is when you’re an independent guy. The thing that’s most rewarding is not to have to be working for the big chains anymore.”

Bill’s dynamism is what has taken him so far, as his wife attests.

“He has the silver tongue, that’s for sure,” wife JoAnna says with a chuckle. “He’s the front-man, I’m the back-man.”

JoAnna’s part in the venture is financial, which she says made things a little daunting for her.

“It was extremely exciting and very scary,” she says of opening her own establishment. “It didn’t sink in right away, but it was more scary than exciting. We’ve done this so many times before, but always with someone else’s money, even though we treated the money as if it were ours.

“I know people say ‘You make your own luck,’ but we’ve been very fortunate in New Braunfels. The town has received us very well.”

It’s not just the town that has received them well, but also the region. Myron’s hosts many people who find their restaurant a convenient halfway point between Austin and San Antonio.

But wherever Myron’s customers come from, they come in droves. The restaurant does a brisk business seven nights a week. From one Red Raider to another, the Beens invite you to visit.