Gallaghers Steakhouse Expands into Boca Raton
The legendary Manhattan restaurant’s best-in-class steaks, rich history, and distinctive charm can be anticipated at its new South Florida location
Restauranteur Dean Poll has announced that he will be bringing his legendary New York City dining experience, Gallaghers Steakhouse, to Boca Raton, Florida in May 2023, marking the first expansion under the direction of Mr. Poll outside of his historic Manhattan location, which began as a speakeasy in 1927.
“I’m very much looking forward to bringing Gallaghers Steakhouse to Boca Raton- a community my family and I have enjoyed for many years,” said Mr. Poll. “I know some of our Boca Raton guests will have visited our New York location already, but I’m just as excited to welcome first-timers who will realize that Gallaghers is so much more than just a steakhouse. Gallaghers is truly an experience, and with the new Boca location, we get to bring that experience to so many new people.”
True to its legacy, the dining experience at Gallaghers Boca Raton will be a balance of casual formality, welcoming guests to relax and enjoy a well-rounded menu of offerings, and world-class hospitality. Upon being seated, guests will be received by silver place settings, custom linens, and a uniformed professional service team, as well as the same lively, lighthearted energy that brought Gallaghers to life nearly a century ago.
Gallaghers’ menu is centered on its famous steaks, aged within its in-house meat locker for 21+ days before being cooked to temperature on its signature hickory coal grills. A rarity in the steakhouse industry, Gallaghers’ iconic glass-enclosed meat lockers are not only a unique and aesthetically intriguing addition to their restaurants, but more importantly, they serve as a highly-superior way to dry age beef. While few steakhouses dry age or even portion their own meat in-house anymore, Gallaghers does both- and on display. While in New York, the meat locker is famously positioned at the restaurant’s entrance, facing 52nd Street, the glass-enclosed locker in Gallaghers Boca Raton will be located right inside the restaurant, as a special feature for guests and bar patrons alike. As for the rest of the menu, Gallaghers Boca Raton will combine both traditional favorites as well as dishes seldom found on your typical steakhouse menu. Gallaghers’ long-established family-style starters such as seafood towers, shrimp and lobster dumplings, and beef carpaccio, and side dishes such as creamed spinach and mashed potatoes, will be upheld on the Boca Raton menu as well.
To ensure high quality from day one, Gallaghers will be opening its Boca Raton location with a seasoned management team, currently employed at its New York location. The team, who have collectively been with Gallaghers for more than three decades, have relocated full-time to support the new restaurant’s success. At the helm in the kitchen, Executive Chef Alan Ashkinaze, who has been with Mr. Poll since he purchased Gallaghers New York in 2013 and has worked in some of the most prestigious kitchens throughout New York and beyond, will oversee Boca Raton’s culinary team. General Manager, Michael Amore, a 15-year veteran of Mr. Poll’s New York restaurants, will be moving with his son and wife, a Boca Raton native, back to her hometown to support the new restaurant. Bar Manager and Mixologist Chris Dziuba oversaw New York’s always bustling bar scene for more than eight years and is prepared to do the same as he brings his skill set to South Florida. The leadership team is already in the market and currently hiring for positions in both the front and back of the house.
Aesthetically, Gallaghers Boca will emulate the style indicative of 1920s South Florida that the New York Gallaghers does of its founding days as a speakeasy during Prohibition. Green leather banquets, saddle leather accents, beige and green terrazzo flooring, stucco wall detailing, and lofty, pecky-cypress ceilings will bring to life the classic style of early century days of “Palm Beach” society. The 200+ seat dining room shares a glass wall with the kitchen, providing guests a nightly visual into their dinner’s fervent preparations. The expansive horseshoe bar stands in the center of the restaurant as an energy source, as well as an inviting alternative to guests who choose to dine there. Just off the bar, the aforementioned glass-enclosed meat locker, on any given day, will hold 2,800- 3,800 pounds of beef, dry-aging while unwittingly standing for a myriad of pictures and instagrammable moments with restaurant guests and partygoers alike. Both the front and back of the restaurant is open to outdoor dining, where another 100+ diners can be seated. Covering every wall of the restaurant, guests will find authentic pictures and portraits of everyone from Broadway stars to politicians, sports legends to prize-winning racehorses, silver screens actors to modern-day socialites- most of which were taken within the historic Gallaghers dining room. The interior and exterior design is being overseen by Niemitz Design Group of Boston.
For group dining and events, two private dining rooms off the north end of the main dining room can seat 20 each, or come together via a sliding door to seat 40+ (90+ for private reception-style events). For corporate events, these rooms are equipped with technology for both in-person and virtual multimedia meetings and presentations.
Originally established as a speakeasy during Prohibition, the Gallaghers story began when it was opened on 52nd Street in Manhattan in 1927 by former Broadway showgirl Helen Gallagher – wife of Ed Gallagher of the vaudeville comedy team Gallagher and Shean- with her partner, the colorful gambler, Jack Solomon. Gallaghers quickly became a hotspot among everyone from Broadway stars to gamblers and bootleggers. Following the Great Depression and the end of Prohibition, a then-widowed Helen married her partner Jack, and together they turned their speakeasy into a steakhouse, which it remains to this day. Although the restaurant stayed in the original family for 37 years, it was sold in 1964 to Jerome Brody, with whose family the restaurant remained until it was purchased from current owner Dean Poll in 2013. With a vision to resurrect the restaurant’s genuine mid-century allure, Dean embarked on a full restoration to bring Gallaghers to its better-than-original glory while also adding the essential upgrades and capital improvements necessary to ensure its continued success. Generations of New York families continue to come to enjoy the restaurant’s unrelenting superiority and 90+ year history.
In 2022, Gallaghers Steakhouse New York was ranked by OpenTable as one of “America’s Top 100 Restaurants,” based on the platform’s diner reviews. It was also named by The Infatuation as one of “The Best Steakhouses in NYC,” receiving the highest ranking among all restaurants on the list. In recent years, Gallaghers and its culinary experience have received positive rankings, highlights, and reviews by Forbes, Eater, Gotham Magazine, Eat This!, and other top national and culinary media.
Gallaghers Steakhouse is located at 2006 NW Executive Center Circle, just off Glades Road in Boca Raton.
Photo courtesy of Palm Beach Influence