Montanan Steakhouse set to reopen under new ownership

Almost four years after it closed, the Montanan Steakhouse is on the cusp of re-opening with new owners, who plan to focus first and foremost on the quality of the food they serve.

"We're just gonna start with food and knock it out of the park with that," said Greg Smith, who owns the restaurant with his partner Julia Johnson.

Smith said the plan is to have an unadvertised soft opening Memorial Day Weekend, with a focus during the first couple weeks on ensuring the staff is fully trained and the menu is up to speed. Smith said the plan is to open without a liquor license in place, but he said the bar should be in full operation within two to three weeks, in time for the grand opening later in June.

Fans of the menu and ambience at the Montanan before it closed should be happy to hear that Smith and Johnson plan to re-open the steakhouse as it was, with only a few minor changes.

"We're gonna be great steakhouse again," Smith said "If you remember the Montanan steakhouse, it will be what you remember.

Although Smith admits he and Johnson never had the opportunity to eat at the original Montanan, he said they've gotten great support in their efforts to breathe new life into it from locals, vendors and returning staff members alike.

"I've got people ...who are in here helping who worked here toward the end of it being open," he said. "It seems they missed working here as much as the town has missed having it here."

They've also gotten pointers and support from Barb and Audie Solvie, who converted the Garlands' Town and County store to a restaurant and opened the steakhouse in 2009. They recently returned to Lincoln from Arizona and finalized the sale, at which point Barb gave them the "secret recipe book" that included some of the unique recipes for dishes that had been on the menu when they ran it, Smith said.

"We'll have the same huckleberry wings, the same smoked gouda au gratin potatoes and there are two or three other's that are coming back right off the bat," he said. "It's gonna be a small menu, but a good selection of different things. All done the best we can, with the best products that we can find, while trying to be consistent."

Smith said they are also taking advantage of support from within the restaurant industry.

"This week they will be training with outside chefs who will be training the cooking staffs, and a team of people are coming in to help train hostesses and servers," he said.

The Montanan has already received a lot of job applications, but Smith said thye can use more people. "We could use anybody who would like to work in what I'm quickly finding out is one of the best kitchens in all of Montana."

Although Smith and Johnson are new to Lincoln, they're from Montana and Smith said they've paid attention to what works in the good steakhouses, bars and casinos in the state. On top of that, they're not entirely new to the restaurant business. Smith said they recently sold the sandwich and coffee shop they owned in Malta.

"We've been doing that for the last eight years, but with the food aspect, about the last four years," he said. "We got real good at what we were doing. We liked that sort of a business."

Smith, who also worked in entertainment and concert promotion, including time as a concert organizer for the Rockin' the Rivers, said they decided to move on and try something new when they became "empty nesters."

"Our youngest is going to school in Missoula and we had decided, even a couple years ago, that after we became empty nesters we wanted to go out and do something with the rest of our lives, different than what we were doing in Malta," he said. "We weren't married to being there, so we had picked a few different places out and kind of stumbled upon this opportunity, so we went ahead and we're gonna give it a swing."