PEORIA MAGAZINE June 2022

D I S H A N D D R I N K

FEEDING PEOPLE, BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS Steve Shaw of Alexander’s, VOP’s, et al., steps back after 48 years

BY MIKE BAILEY PHOTOS BY RON JOHNSON

S teve Shaw, one of the deans of the central Illinois restaurant scene with nearly five decades behind him in local kitchens and dining rooms, is easing into “retirement.” Of course, you have to know Steve Shaw, because he may not share your definition of “retirement.” At 74, what “retirement” means to this Peoria native is that he’ll be cutting back to about 40 hours a week, or “half time.” At a recent reception celebrating his life’s work, speaker after speaker got up at the company’s flagship restaurant, Alexander’s Steakhouse in Peoria, to laud Shaw’s tireless work ethic – someone did the math and came up with nearly 175,000 hours he’d logged over the years — with customers and well-wishers covering two levels of a wing of the enormous building, which can seat 750. “It’s just inmy DNA, probably frommy dad,” Shaw said of his father, Hugh, who ran an insurance business in town. He was of a generation where it was “’Hey, get up on the roof. Fix the gutters. Cut

the grass. Paint the house’ … and the answer was yes. You didn’t say no,” Shaw recalled with a chuckle. A 1972 graduate of Bradley University withadegree inbusiness administration, Shaw initially was open to his father’s entreaties to join him in the insurance industry. But he was still searching for the right fit. He flirted with a desk job in Caterpillar’s part department, then tended bar at the Hitching Post on Farmington Road. Finally, he landed at the legendary Sea Merchant in East Peoria (now Jonah’s). “That got me hooked,” he said. And despite the ups and downs of the restaurant business and its demands, he’s not regretted it, not for a second. As president of Mercedes Restaurants, Inc., Shaw has overseen some of central Illinois’ most iconic eateries, from Vonachen’s Old Place at Junction City to the Grille on Fulton in Downtown Peoria to Alexander’s Steakhouse on Peoria’s industrial waterfront, still going strong today. Next year marks its 40th in business. Along the way, he and his partners became Famous Dave’s

franchisees; today Mercedes is among that popular BBQ joint’s longest-lasting affiliations. Mercedes was born in the early 1980s when several guys with roots in the old Boar’s Head restaurant got together, including Laurel Rainwater, who eventually matriculated to the West Coast, where he made a name for himself primarily in the San Diego area. Ultimately, the company would open some 17 restaurants, running up to 10 at any given time, mostly in Illinois, though there were ventures into Indiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and California. Not bad for a Shaw who grew up on Parkside Drive near Bradley Park, Peoria High Class of 1966, whose family didn’t go out to eat unless it was to Jumer’s for a special occasion or to Hunt’s Drive-In for a “Mr. Big” burger. “VOP’s was a fun place,” recalled Shaw. The restaurant introduced the area’s first wood-fired pizza oven. The train dining car drew families and nostalgists, and its incomparable happy hours, including its famous Button and

24 JUNE 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE