Hilltop playing a high-steaks game

SAUGUS – Fifty million and one for Sioux City please.After 47 years of calling diners to Sioux City, Kansas City, Carson City and the Dodge City Saloon, the legendary Hilltop Steak House has rounded up its 50 millionth customer.”And we’re going to celebrate that for the next 10 days,” said Chief Financial Officer Dennis January.Other restaurants can make the claim, said spokesman Koren Brodin, but they are mainly chain eateries.”This is one restaurant in one location that served 50 million people,” she said.January said they only discovered the quirky fact recently when he began to do a little research on the company.Brodin said the restaurant was invited to be a part of a Travel Channel show focusing on steakhouses nationwide.”We are the only steak house from Massachusetts to be included,” she said.To prepare for the show, January said he began to sift through the food diaries that have been kept at least since General Manager Leonard DeRosa came on board in the early 1970s.During his tenure, DeRosa has kept a diary with an entry for each day. He not only noted the number of lunches and dinners served, he also carefully noted the weather and things such as how many tomatoes were used, pans of chicken served or filets grilled. He also noted pounds of lobster meat, the number of clams by the gallon or boxes of scallops used everyday for more than 20 years.January pointed to his favorite entry, May 11, 1980, Mother’s Day. DeRosa wrote that it was sunny in the morning, overcast in the afternoon, 3,118 lunches were served along with 5,529 dinners totaling 8,647 meals in one day.”We have 1,200 seats,” January said. “That means they had to turn the dining room over seven or eight times.”After noting DeRosa’s weekly meal tallies in the diaries, January said he began to do the math, largely out of curiosity.”I realized we probably had more than 50 million,” he said.Opened as a steakhouse in 1961 by Frank Giuffrida the restaurant is still replete with its cowboys and Indians motif.The walls are adorned with prints of famous Indians and prints by famous western artists, boots and long guns, a holster or two and a lot of familiar cowboy faces. Head up the stairs to Carson City and you’ll pass Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Gary Cooper, Jimmy Stewart, the entire Ponderosa clan and The Duke himself, John Wayne.In 1964 the renowned cactus sign was added, which still towers over Route 1 and the familiar herd of fiberglass cows.”There’s quite a history here,” January said.One hostess said she remembers the day Frankie Valli came in. DeRosa remembers Jerry Vail and Johnny Unitas dropping by, and Brodin all but blushes when she said Kenny Rogers was her favorite celebrity guest. Vice President of Retail John Caccavaro said the restaurant has catered to dozens of politicians over the years as well.But it is the regulars that keep coming back, Brodin said, that put the restaurant on the map.History says Giuffrida’s success was largely due to his generous nature, which he reflected in his business with “great quality and quantity.” DeRosa said that holds true still today.”The Hilltop is still known for not just its quantity but its quality,” DeRosa said.”We are the last great value,” January added. “You can come as you are. You can bring the entire family and it doesn’t break the bank.””And we still focus on steak,” Brodin added. “We don’t season it up, its just simple, good steak.”To show their appreciation to their customers, Brodin said the restaurant would be running $10 dinner specials, 4 p.m. – 10 p.m. every day indefinitely.Over the next two weeks, March 9 – March 19, diners will also have the chance to win prizes such as hats, shirts, tenderloins or even a catered cookout for 50 people. Brodin said every table would have a chance to win by pulling a ticket out of a hat.The restaurant will also be featured on the Travel Channel Wednesday, March 12 at 8 p.m.