Rudy’s Steakhouse is back under new ownership and in a new setting after its downtown collapse ended in an eviction and a City of Salem lawsuit over unpaid rent. The revived concept, now called Rudy’s Greenside Steakhouse, has reopened at Creekside Golf Club in South Salem and is ramping up service as it builds toward a broader relaunch in early 2026.
For Salem diners, the comeback tests whether a legacy restaurant name can regain trust after a very public failure, while filling a gap for a classic special-occasion steakhouse that many residents say they miss.
Local investors Daniel Hill and Justin Cabrera acquired Rudy’s brand assets in 2025 and are operating independently from the former downtown company. Hill said the return to a golf course setting was intentional. “It would be wonderful to bring Rudy’s back to a golf course and bring it back to its roots and back to its original ethos,” he said.
Rudy’s began in 1998 when founder John Rudishauser opened the original steakhouse at the Salem Golf Club. For nearly two decades, it became a go-to for business dinners and celebrations, leaning on a familiar steakhouse formula: premium cuts, consistent execution and a dining room built for milestones.
That changed in 2016, when Rudishauser sold the business to Robert “Robbie” Kunke. Within about a year, the operation relocated downtown to a city-owned building at 350 Chemeketa St. N.E., putting the restaurant in a public-facing landlord-tenant relationship where financial trouble could spill into city records and court filings. By 2024, unpaid obligations tied to rent, fees and taxes were escalating, and the city attempted repayment structures and relief measures. The breaking point came in April 2025, when the city terminated the leases and took back the property. The City of Salem later filed suit seeking $88,969 in unpaid rent, fees and late charges tied to the downtown leases. Later in 2025, Rudy’s Steakhouse LLC was administratively dissolved.
Beyond the balance-sheet dispute, the final downtown months left employees and regulars dealing with uncertainty. Callie Jackson, who worked at the former Rudy’s for about five years and moved into management during the final stretch, said the warning signs were hard to ignore from inside the building. “There were things… food not coming in,” she said, adding that delayed paychecks became part of the routine. Even so, she said staff did not expect the sudden end. “We did not think that was going to happen at all,” she said.
After the closure, Jackson said former employees tried to pull together a stopgap effort to generate income for coworkers who were suddenly out of work. “We kind of grouped together,” she said, describing a short-term attempt to sell products and keep a connection with regulars, even if it didn’t last long. “We were at least able to get some people that were pretty desperate paid.”
Hill said the idea to bring Rudy’s back to a golf course gained traction after Danny Moore, Creekside’s general manager, reached out. Hill initially hesitated, describing the reality of launching a restaurant as a heavy lift. But he said he didn’t want the brand’s earlier reputation to end with what happened downtown. “I didn’t want to see his legacy die with what happened downtown,” he said, referring to Rudishauser.
The new operation’s early launch at Creekside moved quickly. Hill said they took over the lease in early January and had little time to get the dining room, staff and systems ready before opening first for club members, then expanding to a public soft opening. That rapid start became an early stress test, and Hill said demand immediately outpaced expectations. “We blew out our projections on that first weekend by almost 300%,” Hill said, describing the surge that forced rapid hiring and adjustments. The team has kept hours tighter while it trains staff, refines service flow and builds consistency, Hill said.
Cabrera said he expected to return to restaurants at some point — and described the role the dining room plays for customers. “It really doesn’t matter how bad a day somebody has… If they can come into Rudy’s and they can have a good meal and good service and good cocktails, they can forget about all of that just for at least that 90 minutes,” he said.
Operationally, the team said it’s focusing on a tighter menu than the late downtown era, aiming for fewer items executed well. Hill said the goal was to return closer to the original Rudy’s while keeping select favorites that customers came to expect later. “That menu was too large. It was way too large,” he said of the prior approach, adding the new version is built around what sells and what the kitchen can deliver consistently.
The kitchen is leaning into scratch cooking and unfrozen beef, Hill said, with most freezer space used for items like ice cream and berries. He said the team brought back experienced staff, including a butcher who worked with the original Rudy’s, to support ordering and quality control.
Creekside Golf Club, at 6250 Club House Dr. SE, also adds features the downtown site didn’t: parking, a patio, and an events setup that includes a banquet room with a dance floor and capacity for about 120 people. Jackson said the patio is a natural place for seasonal events, and the team said it expects to use it for occasional music programming, though they noted limitations tied to the golf club’s neighborhood setting.
For diners wondering how to get in the door, the restaurant said walk-ins are welcome, but reservations are strongly recommended on Fridays and Saturdays. The team said reservations can be made through Google, OpenTable, or by phone.
