Business First: Tressel tossed from Hyde Park menu as Steak Fickell era begins

Jim Tressel wasn’t merely a highly respected college football coach. He was also a damn tasty steak.

Soon he’ll be neither.

While there are much bigger ripples in the Tressel controversy pond, at the further reaches of that mess are the businesses that have slapped the man’s name on dishes and hung his visage on their walls.

At Beachwood-based Hyde Park Restaurant Systems Inc., for instance, it’s bye-bye to the Steak Tressel. The New York Strip with roasted cloves of garlic and mushrooms won’t disappear from the menu, but the name will at the chain’s four Columbus and four Cleveland steakhouses where it’s used.

The decision wasn’t a judgment on the man, but rather house rules. Co-owner Joe Saccone said that for the last 20 years in Columbus, the garlic steak has been named for the sitting Ohio State University football coach. It was the Steak Cooper before and likely will be named Steak Fickell before the start of football season in honor of new Buckeyes coach Luke Fickell.

Ironically, the same steak had been named for the Browns coach in Cleveland until within the last year, when the NFL team’s coaching carousel got too much and they put Tressel’s name on it for the perceived stability – and the legions of Buckeye fans in the city.

Hyde Park uses the same menu at most of its restaurants, but renames the steaks for the local markets, so what has been the Tressel here for the past decade is known as the Steak Lemieux in Pittsburgh and the Steak (Jimmie) Johnson in NASCAR hotbed Daytona Beach, Fla.

While there aren’t many restaurants that paid tribute to Tressel on their menus, many have pictures or paintings of the man on their walls. One of the more notable is the Buckeye Hall of Fame Grill, which opened at Grandview Yard last year. Much of its Ohio State sports decor comes through an arrangement with the university and includes some Tressel mementos, such as one of his famed sweater vests.

Charles Lagarce, president of Columbus Hospitality LLC, which manages the restaurant, said no decisions on the Tressel-abilia have been made.

“We haven’t even thought about it, nor have we had any time to sit down with the university and talk about it,” he said.

Until those discussions happen, the mementos will stay, but Lagarce said he knows where his vote will go.

“The Hall of Fame was designed to pay tribute to all the great things at OSU and he’s part of that,” he said. “His vest is there and I hope it remains.”

Read more: Tressel tossed from Hyde Park menu as Steak Fickell era begins | Business First