On Thursday nights, you can find a $20 steak with all the fixings and dessert at the Squire Lounge and Patio in midtown Billings.
The Squire Lounge began its legendary life downtown in the 1960s on 1st Avenue North, owned by Frank Lambrecht. Years later, with the help of his sons Jack and Al, the business relocated to 1525 Broadwater, where it is found today, still a popular gathering spot. During this time, the infamous Paul “Pauly” Deverniero of DeVerniero's Ristorante headed up the bar. In the 1990s, the Lambrechts sold the business to Larry McGrill, who in 2011 transferred ownership to Jeff Flatness and Paul Deverniero. In 2023, Reid and Shawna Pyburn purchased the long-standing gathering spot.
The Pyburns renewed and refreshed the building to bring back Thursday night Steak Night, which Deverniero started. The patio has become a focus for the Squire, providing a lovely space to sit and relax when the weather is warmer.
Pyburn describes his establishment as a “blue-collar divey bar”. Here, affordable food and drink can be found. The owner of the High Horse Saloon and Eatery jokingly shares of making the decision to acquire The Squire, “It was a strange, strange time coming out of COVID in the finance and the restaurant world, and the casino world. The banks were really interested in your abilities to bus tables.” Because Reid had bused tables during his nine years as the owner of the High Horse and 21 years at The Rex, working with Gene Burgad and David Maplethorpe.
“I worked there in the summers as often as I could,” he says of washing dishes, cooking, and serving at the restaurant. “After college, I really wanted to get into bartending.” He realized that he had to make a purchase if he needed to move on in his career.
“And fortunately for me, there were some local businessmen who had some ideas and some interest. The High Horse opportunity came along. I worked really hard and eventually bought my partners out.”
With the High Horse Saloon being a success, the Pyburns decided to expand their portfolio by buying The Squire. Already, they own the old Mamacita’s Cafe site to use as a facility for their catering jobs.
While the High Horse Saloon and Eatery holds the reputation of serving good food, the Squire is a dive bar. The traditional domestic beers are still available, while limited craft beers on tap are now offered. “Having microbrews on tap was something that the regulars had never been able to have access to,” Pyburn shares.
The bar offerings live up to The Squire’s logo, the martini glass. “So we do inexpensive, well, martinis and people like that. They like to stick their finger out and have a little fancy glass. We are a full-service bar. We have it all. The seltzers. Those are super popular this time of the year, and we got all the flavors.”
Chef Dave Young cooks in the Smoke Shack on Thursday nights with Tyler Ellis. Ellis’s day job is the General Manager at the High Horse Saloon. He makes a guest appearance to work the grill for Steak Night.
Chef Young heads up the kitchen The Squire and was hired when the Pyburns bought the bar. “They hadn’t had food here previously, so he contacted me and said, ‘I need someone to manage the kitchen.’ We started with just tacos and nachos, and we’ve kind of been adding to the menu over the last couple of years.”
The diner gets a basic taco of chicken, pork or beef with nothing on top. Pyburn gave the tacos the name Topless Tacos, where the diner goes to the condiments bar and chooses the salsas, sour cream, cheese, olives, and other adornments she wants to put on top. On the wall, there are 50 different bottles of hot sauces to choose from to top the tacos.
This Thursday night, for $20, a New York strip steak cooked to the desired temperature, a baked potato, asparagus, and a chocolate cake are served on a plastic yellow oval plate. The dense fudge-like cake comes drizzled with chocolate sauce that leaks underneath the potato, creating a new taste sensation.
“So we do a rotation of four different cuts of steaks. Our most popular is the filet, obviously a great cut of meat, tender, lean, still got some flavor to it. And we do it very traditionally with burgundy, demi glaze, gorgonzola crumbles, mashed potatoes, cheesecake, and a Caesar salad.”
While The Squire Lounge and Patio continue to be a local Cheers bar where “everyone knows your name,” good food is available throughout the day, beginning with breakfast and ending with tacos later into the night.
The condiment bar at The Squire has a generous selection of toppings for this Thursday Night’s baked potato and for adding flavor to the Topless Tacos.
The condiment bar at The Squire has a generous selection of toppings for this Thursday Night’s baked potato and for adding flavor to the Topless Tacos.
The condiment bar at The Squire has a generous selection of toppings for this Thursday Night’s baked potato and for adding flavor to the Topless Tacos.
