Only five months after shutting its doors, Salt Creek Grille is once again welcoming patrons to the iconic 27-year-old Dana Point restaurant. Though its closure was announced in January, some were not ready to let it go and came together to create a new vision of what it once was.
Jess Walker, a longtime resident of Dana Point and real estate developer with Master Builders of America, and business development executive Steve Vanderweide brought together local building and hospitality colleagues to renovate Salt Creek Grille and enter into a new age. The duo brought on new team members, including Jeff Roberts, known for Sgt. Pepperoni’s Pizza; Eric Hawkey, designer and artist of Hawkey Designs; Reggie Robinson; and former Salt Creek Grille manager Sri Divel.
“One of our new owners – his name is Jess Walker – he just watched the demise of the previous restaurant,” Divel said. “When he got the notification that we had closed, he actually reached out to me since I was with the previous company, and he just said, ‘Oh, my goodness, we can’t let this close. What is happening?’ ”
With determination not to let a piece of history go, Walker went through the extensive process of buying the property, getting the correct permitting for construction and renovation, and having it all done by his timeline of opening in June. There was a soft opening for family and friends last weekend, and this Friday, June 28, is the Grand Opening for the public.
“The last five months have been purely 110 percent full construction. They brought this building down to studs and rebuilt it,” Divel said. “Normally, a restaurant would take about 18 months to redo the way we did, but Jess was able to do it in about four. The City of Dana Point was wonderful and had worked with us every step of the way. The building is just so much lighter, brighter, and updated now.”
The team wanted to breathe fresh air into the ’90s aesthetic it had before closing its doors. They planned to bring in the natural elements with lots of lighting.
“Our designer has done some of the best hotels in the world, and we just wanted to take this place back to its roots,” Divel said. “It’s such a landmark and an icon within the community. Our main goals were the booths, the colors changing, and just a lot of those old orange colors or the ’90s kind of style is completely out. We now have amber mirrors and brass details, along with beautiful brick that goes along the walls. There was no detail that was overlooked within this building.”
Along with the inside of the restaurant, the outside has a new addition that the group hopes will be more family-friendly. The team created a sand patio for all to enjoy, whether kids want to play life-size games or for families just looking to relax.
“Jeff and Steve are family men, so they have always enjoyed dining out with their children,” Divel said. “They just really wanted a spot where the kids can come enjoy likewise with adults. While the kids play life-size Jenga or they want to play cornhole, if the moms wanted to have a glass of wine, they were able to do so in this space. It really is just something to have fun with, and we really want this to be like a neighborhood destination where people can just come and join us. We felt like that sort of activity would welcome friends and family, but also just give them something to do while they just kick back and enjoy a beer.”
With new designs everywhere else, the menu needed a little revamping as well, but not too much, since the flavors of the restaurant made it what it was and is now.
“We took what the menu was and basically just enhanced it. We have all new menu items with a chef consultant, Marc Johnson, who is assisting us, and he has an incredible background,” Divel said. “He really wanted to do a homage to the original American steakhouse, and we’re making the commitment that we are hand-cutting all of our steaks and bringing in quality steaks.
“Our style of service is now, instead of masking with all these intricate flavors, we’re bringing in quality flavor meats and we’re seasoning them simply and just kissing it on the mesquite grill. The mesquite grill is still our our favorite part of the kitchen, as it was before. We’re just really rededicating it to the simplicity of a really quality flavor profile for all our items.”
Now that the Grand Opening day has arrived, the team at Salt Creek Grille, especially Walker, wanted to dedicate this journey to the community, as he wants it to become a spot for locals and visitors alike.
“He went through the thousands, if not millions, of hurdles in order to get this done,” Divel said. “We couldn’t be more excited to bring this back for Dana Point, as his biggest thing was that he wanted to return this to the community. Jess lives here, and so he thought it was crazy the line that wrapped around the building for us when we notified the city that we were closing. He just really wanted to bring it back and to rededicate it to the community.”
The new owners and management team welcomed their family and friends for a private opening this past weekend to test the waters of what they hoped their dream had become.
“We had our friends and family on Friday and Saturday, and people are just blown away with the progress that we were able to make in the four months we had,” Divel said.
During the family-and-friends opening, they invited first responders and the Dana Point Youth Baseball League for a special surprise.
“We got the building turned back over from construction on Friday at 2 p.m., and we welcomed about 375 of our closest friends and family on Friday and then 200 people on Saturday,” Divel said. “On Saturday, that was our first responders night, with the dedication to the community. Our ownership donated $5,000 to the Dana Point Youth Baseball League, $5,000 to the Fallen Firefighters Association and $5,000 to the Sheriff’s Association, and we did a huge flag ceremony. It was very important that we give back to the community, as it’s really a passion project of the owners, is this restaurant.”
As the Grand Opening (or Reopening) approached on Friday, June 28, Divel said the new owners and management team were “as ready as we’re ever going to be,” and he was beyond excited to welcome back the community.
Salt Creek Grille is still in its original space at 32802 Pacific Coast Highway in Dana Point.
