A gaping hole and thousands of dollars of ruined inventory left The Steak Factory closed for almost a year. Cleaves reconfigured the building, which reopened in 2019, but left a reminder of the event.
“I put the door where the hole was because I wanted to emphasis that the devil tried to take me out, but God had other plans,” he said. “Where the devil makes a hole, God makes a door.”
Today, he is back to doing what he loves: cutting steaks to order.
“I cut it exactly how you want it right in front of you,” he said. “The wife might want an inch, the son might want an inch and a quarter, and the dad might want two inches — I can cut for every family member.”
The prices, which Cleaves touts as the lowest in town, are emblazoned per pound on a banner behind the counter: $10.88 for his beloved ribeyes, as well as $11.88 for T-bones, $12.88 for New York strips and $13.88 per pound for filets. Special orders, including ground chuck, steak burgers, meatballs, country sausage and “steak dust” seasoning are written out on butcher paper.
Everything is graded “right in the middle,” Cleaves says, at USDA-choice. Friday brings the biggest selection, but The Steak Factory keeps its doors open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day but Sunday.
“In the grocery store, you take the meat out of the pack,” Cleaves said. “Here, we put it in the pack.”
