DINING TASTE
Seasoned to Perfection
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By Tom Worgo Photography by Stephen Buchanan
teve de Castro fled Cuba in 1968 with his mother and sister and ended up in New Orleans. There, he got his start in the restaurant business as a 14-year-old dishwasher. Flash forward more than five decades. De Castro owns nine Ruth’s Chris Steak Houses in three states, including four in Maryland.
At 23, he became general manager of La Riviera restaurant in Metairie, Louisiana, where he met Ruth Fertel, the brand’s founder. He went to work for Fertel, taking on the worst-performing restaurant in the chain in Washington, D.C.
“When I went to work for Ruth, I was 30,” de Castro says. “Within 12 months it became the best restaurant. I came in and cleaned house. I trained everybody to turn it up a few notches.” De Castro also made the restaurants he owns very successful. The Ruth’s Chris in the Eastport section of Annapolis is particularly meaningful to de Castro since he was a long-time Crownsville resident. And the newer Odenton location is also receiving high marks. De Castro recognizes the importance of his 35-year-old Executive Chef Ivan Garcia. Garcia became the youngest employee at any of de Castro’s restaurants to hold that position. Garcia loves to prepare customer favorites: filet mignon, New York Strip steak, a pork chop, and double-breasted stuffed chicken.
The restaurants also offer top-notch catering and a wine list that’s tough to beat. We recently sat down to talk with the 66-year-old de Castro and Garcia. Steve, can you talk about why you left Cuba? I left because the whole country wanted to leave. Fidel (Castro) took everything away from us. Things just kept getting worse and my father said, “It is time to leave.” My father and brother left in 1966. Then in 1968, my mother, sister, and I left for Mexico and after six months, we came to New Orleans. What was your first experience with Ruth’s Chris? Did it involve your first job?
RUTH’S CHRIS STEAK HOUSE 301 Severn Avenue, Annapolis | 410-990-0033 1110 Town Center Boulevard, Odenton | 240-556-0033 ruthschris.com
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What’s Up? Annapolis | February 2021 | whatsupmag.com
I knew Ruth from New Orleans. She was a regular customer at this restaurant I managed for eight years. I started at La Riviera at 14. I worked there for 10 years and started in the kitchen
by washing dishes. Then I cooked for a few years and went to the front of the house to wait tables and bartend. I eventually became the general manager at 21 and it was then that I fell in love with the restaurant business. What distinguishes your restaurant’s menu offerings from other steak houses? It all starts with the product we purchase, which is the best two percent of the prime beef in the country. We are largest prime steak house in the world, so we have people in the slaughter houses and the dry-agent rooms hand-picking the best of the best. And we use fresh ingredients for everything else we do. How do you keep the customers coming back? I think it’s a combination of great service, good ambiance, and the consistency on everything that we do.
