Tag Archives: keyport

Whiskey Creek Steak House closes; pizzeria coming

whiskey.creekwhiskey.creek.signWhiskey Creek Steak House, a Keyport restaurant that experienced a brief and ill-fated brush with reality TV fame in 2012, has shut down for good.

A sign on the front door says the steakhouse closed Aug. 5, “to give the new owners time to make changes on the building to start their new adventure.”

That adventure, according the sign, will be a restaurant called Trendy’s Pizzeria, described as “an authentic East Coast eatery.”

Whiskey Creek had been in business since the 1990s and gained national exposure in 2012 when it received a makeover from Food Network program “Restaurant: Impossible:”

The TV show crew stripped Whiskey Creek of its kitschy Old West interior and nixed popular menu items.

The owners came to regret changes made by “Restaurant: Impossible.” They moved the restaurant to a larger space across the highway in 2013 and later turned the business over to employees.

Whiskey Creek closed without fanfare last week. It’s website and social media pages are already offline.

I’m hoping to get in touch with owners of Trendy’s to learn more about their plans.

New owners for Keyport steakhouse

339208_t607

Whiskey Creek Steakhouse is no stranger to change.

The Keyport restaurant underwent an “impossible” reality TV makeover in 2012, undid the damage from that makeover a few months later, and moved across the street.

Now Whiskey Creek is changing hands. Longtime owners Pat and Karan Ziarnik are retiring and turning the operation over to employees Jon and Brandi Trunnell.

The restaurant will reopen Nov. 18, according to an email from the Trunnells. They plan to revamp Whiskey Creek’s lunch and dinner menus, and add a new happy hour. The restaurant will also open seven days a week, instead of five.

Watch for updates on Whiskey Creek’s page on Facebook.