Dining and drinking review: Steel Creek American Whiskey

Steel Creek American Whiskey is located at 1114 Broadway

Review and photos by Ted Broussard

"It's a Cowboy Thang," or "Lookin’ for Love (In All the Wrong Places)"
It's hard to believe that it's been 36 years since Urban Cowboy introduced the world to a slice of life where country and western dance clubs were the center of the social universe; a place where cowboys and cowgirls, either by costume or lifestyle, two-stepped till their boots wore out or joined a hundred or so of their new best friends for a line dance at the first notes of "Cotton Eyed Joe." Country music ruled and hearts were broken as fast as greenhorns were thrown off the mechanical bull.

Steel Creek American Whiskey isn't exactly Gilley's, as portrayed in the movie, but it's a clear testament to the enduring culture and love for country music and dancing here in downtown Tacoma. Steel Creek is closed on Sundays and Mondays but operates as a restaurant/country music nightclub other nights of the week. Dance lessons are offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays and open floor dancing for the big crowds starts after 9:00 on Fridays and Saturdays. The building itself was most recently home to the Varsity Grill but was Jillian's Billiard Parlor before that.  

While back in the day I could be seen out on the dance floor with my fellow two-steppers, these days I'd rather watch from the sidelines. Having a restaurant at Steel Creek is like dinner and a show --- eat your western style grub and then hang out for the bewitching hour when the music starts. Menu offerings keep with the cowboy theme and are heavy on steaks, burgers and prime rib but with some options for salads, chicken and seafood. Beer, whiskey and cocktail choices abound with clever cowboy names like The Wrangler, Moonshiners Pie and my personal favorite, Southern Bondage. 

On our most recent visit, our party of three chose the prime rib, black and bleu burger and a couple of starters --- steak quesadilla and baked potato soup. Bread was served for the table and the server proudly asked how we liked the whiskey butter. It was good but I might not have guessed whiskey as a flavoring; I thought it tasted more like a salty garlic butter spread. The prime rib ($17.99 for 8 oz./$21.99 for 12 oz.) is available only Thursday through Saturday and the server highly recommended it. Our party thought it was good but nothing wow about it. The burger ($9.99) boasted Cajun spices, melted bleu cheese crumbles, lettuce, onion and tomato. Again, it was decent but did not deliver on enough of the bleu cheese for my taste. I subbed out the fries for a side of vegetables and the dish came back with fries. The server quickly corrected the order and brought over a plate of over done broccolini. Nice effort to have a vegetable choice but it would have been better if a little more crisp and tender. The steak quesadilla ($10.99) was interesting and had good flavor with cheddar jack cheese and a roasted pepper sauce on top that knocked it up a notch to the "very good" level. The Loaded Baked Potato Soup ($5.99) turned out to be the table winner this time --- rich, creamy and flavorful. The side salad was unremarkable but adequate. 

We topped dinner off with a disappointing Brandied Apple Crisp ($6.99) for dessert. The menu description enticed us with promises of “WA apples simmered in cinnamon and apple brandy” but unless these WA apples came from a WA can, we didn’t taste the connection. The brown sugar crumble top was a little top heavy and overall too sweet to enjoy. It seems that we've had better meals there in the past but this most recent visit never got past the just OK place, not terrible, but not great. Service was very friendly and sincere but missed the mark a couple of times in terms of follow-through on minor requests.

Dancing started slowly about 9-ish the night we were there, and several practiced couples slid gracefully across the dance floor.  The staff visited each table of diners offering a wristband for those who wanted to stay the rest of the evening without a cover charge. We declined the wristband but did stay a while enjoying the floorshow. There were no rodeo champ wannabes on the mechanical bull while we were there but the closest we got to seeing the Wild Wild West was noticing one diner at table near us expose his open carry gun and holster when he was getting up to leave the table.  

Steel Creek is a fun place to live out your cowboy/cowgirl fantasies or just observe country and western music culture as a city slicker. You don't have to be a John Travolta or Debra Winger to have a good time in Tacoma. We were hoping to find love with the food there and that the restaurant portion would be another hidden gem downtown. While our hearts were not completely broken, we never got much past the “just OK” point. We'd probably go again from time to time for a little variety in downtown, but for now, we'll keep looking for love in other places.