J. W. Heist Steakhouse was named for the great-grandfather of co-founder Brett Evje, who was a cattle rancher.  The other co-founder, Michael Ochsner is a sommelier, who maintains the wine list.  Opening Jan. 3, 2023, the place is all about wood fire cooking under Chef John Thayer.  It was a fairly large classic steakhouse interior with very low lighting, jazz music in the background, white tableclothes and candles, lots of dark wood, red leather upholstery, brick walls decorated with paintings and animal head mounts.  A large U-shaped bar took up much of one room where you could eat and/or drink.  Interestingly the 2 animal mounts near us were not native Montana breeds.  Service was first rate and the food was pretty good, especially if you’re in a beefy mood.

Set-Up

 

Food

They started the service with rolls and butter but they were pretty forgetable.  There was little substance to the roll but it was fine if you needed filler.

 

Oyster Rockefeller were Pacific oysters topped with spinach, pork belly and lemon beurre blanc.  They were quite good, yet different than the usual Rockefeller in that the sauce was a bit emulsified.  The pork belly bits were pretty small cubes hidden underneath the sauce but did add to the wonderful flavor of the dish.  The oysters were cooked perfectly and went down very easily.

 

We split a Wedge Salad that had fried pork belly, cherry tomatoes, egg mimosa, chive, and house made Penta Blue cheese dressing on Bibb lettuce.   The 2 pieces of lettuce were skewered on a large knife that also held the pork belly.  Dusting it on top were the cut yellow cherry tomatoes and blue cheese crumbles.  The egg mimosa was a fancy name for crumbled deviled egg which looked too much like the blue cheese bits.  The dressing was on the side.  I really prefer a salad to come tossed or do it tableside rather than having to mix it on your plate which is often too small.  Either way though this one had good flavor and a nice blend.  I would put more blue cheese and less egg if it were mine.

 

We chose the 18 oz. prime ribeye rare and it came with an excellent char on one side.  They cooked it nicely and the meat had a fun smokiness to it.  Some parts of it were on the dry side but overall it was tender with good flavor.

 

The steaks are served alone so we ordered a side of mashed potatoes which were topped with chopped chives.  They weren’t dripping with butter but the flavor was fine and the texture very nice.

 

Butterscotch Budino was topped with creme fraiche chantilly and smoked flake salt with bourbon caramel in between the two.  The pudding was wonderful as was the bourbon caramel.  They were too generous with the cream but it was easily moved off.  It was sweet, creamy goodness.

 

Baked Alaska Flambe was made with huckleberry ice cream, pistachio cake and flaming kirsch.  It was came out already browned but then properly flamed tableside. You  blew out the flames when it was browned to your desire, rather like toasting a marshmallow.   The inside was a mix of tart and sweet.  I liked the cake but was not a fan of the ice cream.