FEATURE| Match Maker
Thiessen puts his brand on WW with Walla Walla Steak Co. By Person Name
The Walla Walla Steak Company and Crossbuck Brewing is housed in the historic Walla Walla train depot. Private events are staged in the refurbished rail car.
By Eric Degerman
W
ALLA WALLA, Wash. — Mount Rushmore-type figures for the Washington wine industry have called Walla Walla home for decades and made some of the Northwest most famous steak-worthy reds. And yet, there wasn’t anything resembling Walla Walla Steak Co. in downtown Walla Walla until cattle rancher/chef/vineyard owner Dan Thiessen brought his lifelong vision to reality
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two blocks from the iconic Marcus Whitman Hotel in 2018. “Why there hadn’t been a dedicated steakhouse was baffling,” Thiessen says with a chuckle. “That was a home run concept for us — a hometown, blue jean-comfort steakhouse tradition.” At the other end of the circa 1914 train depot on Second Avenue is Crossbuck Brewing and its stylish sports bar atmosphere. “The magic of this place is getting here and
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then deciding if you want to go left to the taproom or right to the Steak Co,” Thiessen says. “It doesn’t depend upon the menu choices, only what vibe you are looking for.” Thiessen’s pursuit of fine cuisine took him straight from Asotin, (Wash.) High School — Class of ’90 — to Hyde Park, N.Y., where he graduated from the prestigious Culinary Institute of America two years later. His work ethic originates from the cattle and wheat ranches his forefathers ran in the Lewis-Clark Valley
