Taylor’s to triple

It’s getting bigger and better, but don’t expect to lose the friendly atmosphere or fine dining experience folks have come to expect at Taylor’s Steakhouse.

Taylor’s recently celebrated its 12th year in La Cañada and will soon have seating capacity for up to 225, more than three times the capacity of when the restaurant opened Mar. 22, 1996.

The restaurant has gone through extensive construction in recent months, including the addition of a structure on the back side to accommodate a food preparation kitchen and an additional restroom, and new dining area and wine room on the west portion of the facility, Taylor’s has been open throughout the rest of the project. However, the steakhouse will close Monday (April 7), and reopen for dinner April 11. The closure is necessary due to removal and replacement of the roof, said Bruce Taylor, owner of Taylor’s Steakhouse.

An official grand re-opening is planned later in conjunction with the opening of the Town Center. Although it’s happening in about the same time frame, is connected to the same parcel of land, and was part of an earlier plan for the Center, the restaurant is a totally separate project, Taylor said.

“We’d already started to refurbish the inside and outside of the restaurant [before the Town Center project began] but we’re on pace to re-open right along with them,” he said.

Taylor has been involved in the restaurant business much of his life. His parents, Marjorie and Tex Taylor, opened the first Taylor’s Steakhouse in Los Angeles 55 years ago. Taylor later took over his parents’ business and opened the La Cañada restaurant.

Taylor, 54, graduated from John Burroughs High School in Burbank and, in 1975, earned a degree in business administration from USC. He lives in La Cañada and has three children, Michael, a manager for Arnie Morton’s the Steakhouse, who also works with his dad; Robert, of Santa Barbara, and Sarah, 16, a student at La Cañada High School.

Taylor is a longtime friend of Sport Chalet owner and founder Norbert Olberz. The two became acquainted when they frequented a previous restaurant at that site, Taylor said. That’s when Taylor got the idea to open a Taylor’s Steakhouse here. “I wrote a letter to Norbert and told him what a good place Taylor’s was and how well it would fit in with La Cañada,” Taylor recalled, adding that the two later “did a handshake deal.”

The Foothill Boulevard Taylor’s was so successful it soon needed more space. An adjoining Sport Chalet space was acquired, and another space added along with a patio area.

When the idea was formed to build a La Cañada Town Center, a new Taylor’s Steakhouse was planned as well. However, that plan never came to fruition and as subsequent plans were submitted, Taylor began his own plans for a remodel and addition.

With only a few signage and outside structural details that still require final review, the “minor” changes to the structure went through design review last year and everything is on track for completion at about the same time as the Town Center, said Chris Gjolme, a planner with the city’s planning department.