Before Nick & Sam's opened in April 1999, co-founder Phil Romano was full of ideas about who his steakhouse would serve. Then dinner reservations came in.
“There was an old man there,” Romano said.
The always expensive restaurant was named after Romano's two boys, Sam, then 4, and co-founder Patrick Colombo's toddler Nick. Sam Romano grew up in that multi-million dollar restaurant. It wasn't really a place for kids, but Sam Romano remembers spending many nights critiquing creamed corn at the restaurant with his mother when he was in kindergarten. Masu.
Phil Romano muses that it's amazing how this Uptown Dallas steakhouse, once a morgue, has lasted 25 years in the volatile restaurant industry. But is it? Nick & Sam's continues to attract celebrities as the restaurant celebrates his 25th birthday on April 21, 2024, with 2023 sales reported to exceed his $30 million .
Sam Romano, the boy who grew up there, is now 28 years old and in charge of the restaurant that bears his name.
Nick & Sam's is a departure from the string of restaurants that 84-year-old serial restaurateur Phil Romano started in Dallas over the decades. He fantasized about Romano's Macaroni Grill and its singing waiters. Eatzi and its operatic music. Make your own Fuddruckers and their burgers.
Romano's method is to create and then duplicate.
But he didn't do that with Nick & Sam's. It's just one restaurant and will never expand. Expanding to Las Vegas or Miami “would take away some of that luster,” Sam Romano said.
His father agrees. “There's only one Marilyn Monroe,” he said. That is, Nick and Sam are the only ones.
Let's take a look from between the chandeliers.
Steak for the Stars
Nick & Sam's has served countless celebrities on Maple Avenue for a quarter-century, but Dallas Mavericks basketball player Dirk Nowitzki was the first, the Romanos said.
Nowadays, it is a hotspot for all kinds of celebrities. The New York Yankees stop by for steak after a baseball game in Arlington. Comedian Adam Sandler is a regular, and Mark Wahlberg, will.i.am, Marshawn Lynch, Julia Child and George Clooney have dined here, as well as past guests, restaurant executives said. Local celebrities, including players from the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Cowboys, reportedly visited the store one after another. And a present.
Executive chef and partner Sameer Dhurandar's motto is “never say no” to his customers. So chefs sometimes race to the nearest 7-Eleven to buy cans of soda that Nick & Sam's kitchen doesn't stock.
“If we say no, they will find a place where they will say yes,” Durandal said before publishing the book in 2023. Growing a Steak: My Journey to Building the World's Best Steakhouse – Nick & Sam's.
Servers are attentive to the tastes of wealthy diners. Former Cowboys player Tony Romo likes to start his dinner with pizza, but Nick & Sam's doesn't serve pizza. So someone will rush the half-mile down the road to Cole Vines, the now-closed steakhouse's sibling restaurant, to bring back Lomo's favorite. If the QB wants pizza, he gets pizza.
General Manager Enoch Soltani and Beverage Director Sunny Hunter often open their restaurants early and stay up late.
Russell Wilson and Ciara once booked a 3pm dinner reservation to have the place to themselves. Patrick Mahomes and his wife Brittany took the opposite approach, choosing seats in the middle of the room during the dinner rush.
Company executives say requests come in at all hours of the day. Shaquille O'Neal likes to FaceTime Sam Romano and ask him about the table. He always sits in the same spot at the bar, table 85. He and others are often served by Benny Bajrami, “Dallas' most in-demand server.” An LA agent would blush if he saw Benny's rolodex.
For customers, part of the fun at Nick & Sam's in Dallas is knowing that a celebrity might be booking the same night you're booking. And part of the game is that you can't talk to them.
“They don't care about celebrities here,” Sam Romano said. “There are no photos.”
growing up
Phil Romano said Nick & Sam's has had to evolve over the past 25 years.
When it opened in 1999, Phil Romano said there was a “huge conflict” over whether the restaurant would require men to wear coats and ties. After that, a collared shirt was enough. Now the rules are even more relaxed and sneakers are common. Hats are permitted inside the bar.
“If you don't want to dress up, you don't have to,” he said.
Still, Nick & Sam's has long been a place for “bragging rights,” Phil Romano said. The most talked-about cuts are the beef cuts, which can be huge, such as the 48-ounce Prime Porterhouse, which sells for $190. Adding things like foie gras, brandy peppercorn sauce, and blue cheese will make your steak even more decadent. The same goes for the sides.
“Side is very important,” Phil Romano said. “When you wear clothes, it's like jewelry.”
you are steakI said it in many words. On the side is a diamond bracelet or earrings. (And if you're going to Nick & Sam's house, wear it.)
The current side menu has grown to more than a dozen, from four-cheese mac and dumb good fries to duck fried rice and the newest addition, Brussels sprouts with bacon and chili crunch.
Over the years, the menu has become expensive. Today's most expensive dish is the Emperor's Platter, also known as the Stairway to Heaven. We sampled some of the restaurant's most special cuts of beef, with prices starting at $850. Customization increases the price.
The restaurant added sushi in 2015. Phil Romano thought it was a risk, but that idea has long since passed. Nick & Sam's is one of his many steakhouses serving sumptuous seafood dishes such as Truffle His Butter Salmon and lobster-stuffed California rolls.
Dinners often end with colorful cotton candy that glows from the inside with LED lights. Like the sparklers that come with birthday desserts, these are Nick and Sam's signatures.
One of the restaurant's biggest challenges came during the COVID-19 pandemic. Business travelers paying with their company credit cards were not able to fill the seats as usual from Monday through Wednesday. Dhurandar said that in 2023, people who visited the restaurant were treated like royalty.
The bigger challenge overall is “maintaining the quality, strength and innovation” of the living legend restaurant for 25 years, Sam Romano said.
Nick and Sam's future
Romanos have no idea how long Nick & Sam's will continue to serve steak to Dallas' 1%.
Since Nick & Sam's opened, they've owned the land at 3008 Maple Ave., and Sam Romano gets calls “all the time” from developers who want to build towers there.
Sam Romano's strength lies in real estate and investments rather than restaurants, he admits. His family just bought part of Vista Bank. They remain investors in Trinity Groves. They own real estate on Dragon Street in the Dallas Design District, including Phil and Samuel Lynn's Gallery, where Romano and other Dallas artists exhibit their work.
What happens next is up to Sam, his father said. We'll likely see a lot more FaceTime in Shaq's future.
“I put a lot of time and effort into Sam,” said Phil Romano, now retired.
“My time in the sun is over.”
Nick & Sam's Steakhouse will celebrate 25 years of history with an invite-only party on April 22, 2024. The restaurant is located at 3008 Maple Ave., Dallas.
