OUR RESTAURANTS
At Sophia Steak, we relish the pleasure of a great steak. It's our thing, but it's far from the only thing. Our kitchen also serves the freshest seafood, big crunchy salads, delicious sides, daily specials, and a terrific burger. We set the bar high for everything we do but stop short of fancy. Paired with personalized service, a comfortable setting, and the care of our founders, Glenn Keefer and Ryan O'Donnell—lifelong friends who know a thing or two about steak and hospitality—Sophia Steak is the premier steakhouse for the North Shore communities.
WHO IS SOPHIA?
Wilmette is named for Antoine and Archange Ouilmette, its earliest settlers. The couple raised eight children, including daughter Sophia, on their lakefront homestead in the 1830s. In honor of this pioneering family and our attachment to the town—Ryan’s living a few blocks away and Glenn a couple miles—we thought “Sophia” a fitting name when we opened our first location in Wilmette.
ABOUT BALLYHOO HOSPITALITY
Founded in 2018 by husband-and-wife partners Ryan and Anna O'Donnell, Ballyhoo Hospitality champions the qualities that make a neighborhood restaurant great. Ballyhoo restaurants offer thoughtful, authentic food and drinks and a feeling of satisfaction after each experience. With a genuine, heartfelt greeting upon arrival and an honest appreciation for each visit, Ballyhoo restaurants have quickly become pillars of their community by creating long-lasting memories for our guests time and time again.
OUR PARTNER GLENN KEEFER
In 1980 Glenn Keefer was new to Chicago and a new face behind the bar at The Palm steakhouse. Glenn was the sort of bartender who made friends and regulars out of first-time guests, and in the 12 years he was there, mixing drinks and, eventually, managing the joint, you can imagine how many friends he made. Bill O’Donnell was one of them.
Fast forward 20 years. Glenn was running his own steakhouse, Keefer’s, in River North. Got a call from Bill, whose son, Ryan, had just graduated from Kendall College and was serious about a culinary career. Ryan started in the kitchen at Keefer’s before Glenn took him under his wing to learn the front of house. A quick study, he rose to become manager, falling in love with Anna, then a server, along the way.
Ryan and Anna went on to start Ballyhoo Hospitality, while Glenn took a hiatus from the industry a few years back. Now, the three have reunited to open Sophia (Wilmette and Lake Forest) and Pomeroy (Winnetka), combining their restaurant smarts into the essential neighborhood steakhouse.
