Remember the old Holly Blue space? Jay’s Steakhouse gives new life to former church in Flagler Village

It probably isn’t the first place you’d think of opening a steakhouse.

But restaurateur Jay Shirodkar has enshrined his latest eats enterprise — Jay’s Steakhouse — in what used to be First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Fort Lauderdale’s busy-buzzy Flagler Village neighborhood.

The tagline is: Where Frank Sinatra and Biggie Smalls would break bread.

“So when we look at this church, I think it’s also a perfect metaphor for what we’re doing at Jay’s, which is honoring tradition while still reifying the experience,” says Shirodkar, president of Shirodkar Industries (formerly Yes Hospitality). “It’s all about that personality that shines through. We selected this location because you’re right there off of Las Olas, [but] you’re not in all the copy-and-paste that exists on that street. We’re right off of it.

“Flagler Village is a very fast-developing area. And we think we’re set right in the heart of downtown and it’s rapidly evolving.”

Jay’s Steakhouse had a splashy VIP grand opening party on Friday, May 2, before opening to the public on Thursday, May 8, in the space that once housed Holly Blue and The Angeles, both of which abruptly closed last summer.

Shirodkar feels he has the right concept in the right location at the right time

“Fort Lauderdale, first of all, seems like the perfect market, because we have so many chains here,” says the Fort Lauderdale resident. “My whole pitch with Jay’s — which I have been concepting and has been in the works for a few years now — has been to let that personality shine through, right?

“For a lot of Fort Lauderdale, you get an educated crowd who knows good food, who knows good energy … maybe even a little bit more educated than Miami, because I always say Miami runs on gold flake and, you know, light something on fire and charge $1,000 for it. And yet, all you have in Fort Lauderdale is chain restaurants.”

The Fort Lauderdale-based Shirodkar Industries developed and manages Riviera Restaurant at Hotel Maren Fort Lauderdale Beach and the Naked Taco eateries in Coconut Creek, Miami and Miami Beach. Shirodkar took over the former Yes Hospitality’s operations from celebrity chef Ralph Pagano last year. Next up will be chic Chinese restaurant and sushi bar, Madame Tangs, at Town Center at Boca Raton.

WHAT GOES WELL WITH STEAK?

The menu includes dishes such as Truffle Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Wagyu Steak Tartare, Saffron-Poached Lobster Mac, Robuchon Potatoes (“Pommes Purée”) and Paccheri Pasta, as well as tableside prime rib trolleys, a seafood/raw bar and a Bespoke Tasting Menu for $300 per person.

In addition to their “great steak,” he says the restaurant has “a really superb focus on the sides and the salads, some sections that are often really overlooked. I don’t know how to recommend one over the other. So the sides and the salads, most steakhouses treat them like afterthoughts. We treat them like stars.”

There’s also a curated list of wines and bubbly, a Glenfiddich Distillery tasting flight and a host of craft cocktails (with names such as Flying Private, All Grown Up Orange Julius and Comme Ci, Comme Ça).

One of his fave raves is the Jay Tequila Espresso Martini, which he likes to pair with homemade Duck Fat Waffle Fries (finished with black truffle that’s shaved tableside). “That is probably the showiest thing we do in the restaurant, apart from the caviar service,” he says.

As for desserts, well … Jay’s Steakhouse makes it personal.

“I have a big sweet tooth. … I had 20 items on [the menu], and then we erased 15, and then we put 10 back, and then I erased 12, and somebody’s got to stop me, otherwise this restaurant will never open,” he says. “One of the items that I take great pride in is my mother’s recipe for Bread Pudding. She’s [mentioned] on the bottom of my menu, which says the restaurant was dedicated to her.

“She passed two years ago, and she was the best cook. She was just a homemaker, right? But not just a homemaker, quite a homemaker. She used to make bread pudding and my friends, my girlfriends … you would get up at 1 a.m. and if you heard the door to the garage opening, it was because somebody was going out, peeling back the aluminum foil and eating it, either with their hands, or if they were polite enough to bring a spoon, that’s what would happen to it, and it would be gone in a couple of days.”

THE VIBE AND VISUALS

“A lot of concepts, they want to go 1920s or 1930s. The best time to live is right now,” Shirodkar says. “Let’s be in that moment. We’re not looking to go back in time. So everything in the restaurant — design, food, all of it, it’s modern, it’s timeless.”

And yet, time is part of the feel, according to Shirodkar.

“We still have a little sense of, I don’t like to use the word ‘clubby,’ because we’re not a nightclub, but kind of modern club ethos, where you come in and you’re still tapping your foot at 8:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m. You still feel alive, right?

“One of the problems with steakhouses is — I’m a Chicago guy, so I’m a big fan of the old-school steakhouses — but a lot of times you’re in there at 9:30 and you start to check your watch and say, ‘It sounds like and it feels like time for me to leave.’ So our goal is to make sure that that’s not the case, that you’re able to … finish the night with us.”

The restaurant also reflects his extensive globe-trotting.

“One of the beauties of travels, it’s the greatest form of on the ground research possible. I eat out every single day, and this is what I like, this is what I don’t like, this is what my friends like, this is what we don’t like, this is what people I talk to like, this is what people I talk to don’t like.”

And what he likes is to create a space for the energy at each table.

“We want to maintain a sense of intimacy with every single table. We want to embrace the grand scale [but] still make sure that if you are there doing business, I’m not treating you the same as the other you who’s there with 10 guys just banging back shots looking to have a boisterous time. Every single table has their own mission and their own reason for why they’re there, right? …

“So creating that sense of intimacy is extremely important for us, individualizing, to make sure that every guest has exactly the experience that they’re there to have.”

The building’s church exterior received a historic designation from Fort Lauderdale commissioners in 2017, due to its lineage stretching back to the original structure on Las Olas Boulevard in 1922, when it was St. Anthony’s, Broward County’s first Catholic church. (The interior is subject to redesign by the tenant.) St. Anthony’s moved to Northeast Second Street in nearby Victoria Park. But that building on Las Olas was moved brick by brick to its current location in Flagler Village where, in 1949, it was dedicated.

Shirodkar says they’re getting a lot of compliments on the stained-glass windows, and “those were a very expensive piece of the building … to renovate and bring back to life.”

But at the entrance, “when you first walk in, the space is framed with two beautiful red curtains. The sun could be blaring … and it shuts in front of you, and you don’t know what time it is inside, right? We wanted to capture that sense of coziness,” he says. “Everything has been made with the goal to be relevant 100 years from now, right? That’s really the nature of the design. Nothing is too in-your-face, but it’s perfectly elevated.”

Jay’s Steakhouse is located at 441 NE Third Ave., Fort Lauderdale. Visit jaysfortlauderdale.com or call 954-999-0855.