Hillside Cookhouse in Bridgeport has only been around for a few months but the owner has been cooking at the restaurant’s location for some time. 

The owner, Paul Helmick, was working at Gourmet Cafe, when its owner decided to close the restaurant. 

That’s where Helmick comes in. 

“In three days time, I had a turn over from when it closed to when I actually opened so it was a lot of time with a lot of help from the community to get it opened,” said Paul Helmick. 

Helmick hit the ground running with Hillside Cookhouse in October in the same place he had worked at for many years when it was Gourmet Cafe. 

Hillside Cookhouse cuts fresh steaks every day and offers lunch staples like hoagies and steak salads.

Much of the menu remains fan favorites of Gourmet Cafe but Helmick has already put his twist on the menu.

“The main difference I have made so far is on the dinner fare by bringing in local meat and steaks> I hand-cut the delmonico and ribeye in the back,” explained Helmick. 

All the meat comes from Young and Stout in Harrison County and Helmick said he is hoping to bring in a bigger customer base by offering quality meals at a low price, something he calls the good faith system. 

“Come in and I will make you a great steak for half the price of anywhere else in that faith of in a month’s time I’m going to have the equipment to make you the best steak that you are going to have for still have the price of wherever else you are going to get it from,” said Helmick.

Helmick named the restaurant to represent his desire to provide a comfortable place for locals to enjoy…and describes how the new name came about.

“Well the hillside party was easy because we are stuck on a hillside here and I am trying to go back to the old country restaurant kind of feel, a mom and pop kind of place where you come in and eat, you sit around and catch up with people so I was going through names and nothing was really jumping out at me so I pulled out a Thesaurus and started looking at it and cookhouse was one of the names that popped up and that was it,” explained Helmick.

The NY strip comes locally from a farm in Harrison County. This whole steak meal is only $12.15.