Cody Hirt and Brad Strittmatter opened The Golden Rule in June at 50% capacity. Despite the difficulties the owners found in opening a restaurant in the middle of a pandemic, it was a blessing in disguise, Hirt said.
“Had the pandemic not happened, we might have been inundated with customers,” Hirt said. “Instead, it let us kind of ease into it where we could get our feet under us; our employees could really figure out what they were doing, the ins and outs of our menu.”
Head chef Juan Ramirez used the experience to experiment with the menu particularly as there was low accessibility to many products. He also used the time to train his employees in preparation for a normal opening.
Opening a restaurant and cocktail bar had always been a goal for Hirt and Strittmatter. For them, the idea was to build a place where people treated each other the way they wanted to be treated, hence the name The Golden Rule.
For Hirt, he recommended the Elk Double Smash Burger. The double patty burger is served with all the fixings on a potato roll and comes with a side of fries.
“The idea is that dinner should be a social thing. When you grew up you sat around the family dinner table; that’s where you get caught up on what’s going on everybody’s life,” Strittmatter said. “We think that’s the same thing that should happen here. That’s why we have a lot of big tables and private tables so you can have 10 of your friends sitting around.”
