J.D. Hoyt’s Getting Set To Celebrate 40 Years In Business
Surviving 40 years in any business is a big achievement, but when you consider the challenges of the restaurant industry where about 80% fail in the first five years, J.D. Hoyt’s has a right to be especially proud.
The founders, Mike Andrews and John White, bought a cheap property at 3rd and Washington and opened up a small steakhouse in October of 1984, back when there was little night-time activity in this area.
“There were hardly any streetlights on, it was shady at night and it was quiet,” said Pat Montague, who was a prep cook at the time. “There was the Monte Carlo, us, there was a place called the Comic Strip which is now Cuzzy’s and then there was Bunkers. I mean now there’s 40 or 50 restaurants within a six block walk and breweries, a Whole Foods!”
Pat, who’s now part of the ownership group, is still here 40 years later working the room most nights, and he hasn’t felt pressured to change much over the decades.
“It’s not brain surgery,” he said. “It works and I try not to ‘fix’ it. I mean we don’t want to become a sushi house or a tapas house or something different from what’s been the draw of what we’ve done for years and years. We’re a supper club.”
It’s been a draw for generations of ordinary families as well as pro athletes and high-level political figures. In the past week, J.D. Hoyt’s catered meals for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, the Minnesota Twins and their opponents, the Marlins and Orioles.
“It’s a blessing to be part of the celebratory part of people’s lives,” Pat said. “When people say, for instance, ‘my dad passed away but this was his favorite restaurant,’ wow.”
Before becoming J.D. Hoyt’s, it was a corner tavern known as the 301 Bar. There was a small parking lot next door where the main dining room is now located.
People familiar with the North Loop now will appreciate the 1979 photo above of 3rd and Washington, where Hoyt’s was the 301 Bar, the building we now know as the Hewing Hotel was a warehouse for saws and ACME Electronics Liquidators was in the building where we now find Jaxen Grey and other retailers.
Going back even further, the building where J.D. Hoyt’s is now, used to be three stories, but Pat believes a fire gutted it in the early 1940s.
After four decades of being on his feet, working long hours at J.D. Hoyt’s, Pat says it’s been very rewarding–although it’s taken a toll.
“I’ve got both knees done, one hip done, I don’t know, man, I’m slowing down, I can tell you that,” he said with a laugh.
To mark the 40th anniversary, there will be weekly specials at J.D. Hoyt’s with a big celebration toward the end of October.
By Mike Binkley, North Loop volunteer