Perry’s cuisine scene will see a big change Nov. 26 when Harvey’s at the Hotel Pattee replaces David’s Milwaukee Diner, the restaurant’s first name change in more than 20 years.
Katie Martinez of Redfield and her husband and business partner, Rick Martinez, will take over operation of the Pattee’s dining room as well as the hotel’s event planning and catering services.
The Martinezes built a successful restaurant business as Harvey’s Diner and Pub at 904 First St. in Redfield, which they opened in June 2016. The move to Perry will offer them a wider field for growth.
“This gives us an opportunity to grow the brand and an opportunity for a larger community and a wider audience,” Katie Martinez told ThePerryNews.com Wednesday. “The community in Redfield was extraordinarily supportive of me, and hopefully they still will be.”
Harvey’s at the Hotel Pattee will feature the same “American comfort food” that earned them a large following in Redfeld, she said.
Hotel Pattee owner Tom Maxwell said he is excited about the changes. He is very bullish on Martinez.
“She’s phenomenal,” Maxwell said. “Her energy, her personality — she’s great. I knew we needed to make a significant change, so instead of just tweaking the menu again and seeing if that works, I decided to completely change the entire thing. So David’s Milwaukee Diner will become Harvey’s at the Hotel Pattee.”
The Martinezes are bringing along their own chef and pastry chef, and they plan to grow the hotel’s catering business.
“It’s my menu. It’s my chef. It’s me,” Katie Martinez said. “Special events should be huge here. Inside and outside catering should be huge, and why not?”
Maxwell said he wants the Hotel Pattee to be able to handle any catering event that is done in the area.
“That’s going to become a major focus for us,” he said. “This is a big change, but I hope the community embraces this one and says, ‘Okay, that was the right move.'”
The name of the restaurant — Harvey’s — comes from Katie’s maiden name. She grew up in the Stuart and Redfield area, attended Stuart-Menlo and West Central Valley schools and now lives on the family’s six-generation Century Farm outside Redfield.
Martinez moved to New York City after high school in order to pursue a career in performance and acting. Like many another starving artist, she found a day job in the restaurant trade and eventually came to learn the workings of the business at an Italian steak house where she had “incredible teachers and wonderful chefs.”
Her 20 years in New York also brought Rick into her life. They met on or near Broadway, where she acted and he worked on the technical side of theater production. She married the native New Yorker 14 years ago, and regular trips to the Midwest soon made her urbanite husband fond of central Iowa.
High-quality food will be matched by high-quality customer service, Katie said of Harvey’s at the Hotel Pattee.
“It’s all about quality, about customer service, about making people feel welcome,” she said. “We hope that people, when they come in, will share their favorites with us and with the chef, and if there’s things we can incorporate into the menu, we’ll certainly try.”
Maxwell said Matthew Grimsley, the Hotel Pattee’s chef since its March opening, will be moving on.
“Matthew did a great job,” he said. “I’m very grateful to him to make the move in here and help us initially, but we need a change in leadership. We need a change in focus in the menus.”
The name will change, Maxwell said, but the essence of the Hotel Pattee will always be preserved and honored.
“It’s just going to be different than what it was,” he said. “We have this beautiful setting. We’re not changing the decor. We’re just changing the name. We’re going to utilize the spaces different. We’ll do an upgrade in our lounge to make it look nicer. It’ll be very similar, but we’re going to do some upgrades in there next week actually.”
The Matinezes will host a send-off dinner in Redfield Nov. 25 and then set right to work in Perry Nov. 26.
“Our passion is for food and for people and for community and for neighborhood,” Katie Martinez said. Perry’s passion for comfort food will soon be satisfied at Harvey’s at the Hotel Pattee.
A few thoughts from someone who worked in the restaurant off and on for eight years in my teens and 20s. Give customers more options. Menu has been too limited in recent years and also too expensive. Try to keep prices under $15. Improve food quality. We ordered onion rings a few months ago, expecting them to be homemade, and they were literally Oreida or something like that. And please, no more duck! ?
IMO, as much as anything, the local beer options determine if I’ll visit. Excited for the change.
I’m all for changing up the menu cuz let’s face it, it’s desperately needed, but changing the name upsets me. It seems unnecessary. That name is part of the hotel’s history along with the town’s. It honors the father of the sons who built the hotel, and it honors the railroad that helped start and build Perry to what it is today. I know things change and sometimes for the better, but I don’t feel like this is one of those times. I don’t think the community will take to the name change very well. I know I don’t. With that being said, I do wish them the best and look forward to trying the new menu. You may want to think on the name change a bit longer, though, and maybe get people’s opinions on it before making a decision. This is our town, our home.