Chris Klaic’s overseas upbringing prepared him for running Coral Gables’ oldest restaurant
In Coral Gables, the leafy, affluent suburb of Miami, nothing speaks to the city’s heritage like Christy’s Restaurant. A favorite haunt of politicians and business leaders over the years, Christy’s is the place where, when two-martini lunches were in vogue, they were served. Besides local bigwigs, it has seen the likes of Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr. dining there, along with Alonzo Mourning, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Rod Stewart, Robin Williams, Rick Ross, Timbaland, and Gloria Estefan.
It is somewhat surprising then that this icon of the entrenched elite in one of Florida’s oldest cities should be run by an immigrant entrepreneur named Chris Klaic – and that it is being run with the same conservative philosophy that shields it from change. Or is it?
Klaic was born in Croatia and raised in the hospitality industry. His grandfather owned a vineyard as well as a hotel and two restaurants, run by the extended family. He was destined to work in the family business, but one summer visited New York. “When I saw New York, I said, ‘This is it, I’m staying here, I’m not going back.” As for his family: “They did not support it, they cut me off.”
Klaic worked in “dead-end jobs” in New York for a few years before moving to Miami, where he got a job working for restaurateur Charles Hauser, first at Christy’s in 1995 and then at Red Fish Grill in 1997 when it opened, afterward becoming manager for both operations. By 2003, Klaic was Hauser’s managing partner. “When I became manager, I was given some shares of the business, and I bought more over the years. And then the founder, Charles Hauser, wanted to retire.” So, in 2020 Klaic bought him out.
Klaic says the secret to Christy’s survival – and success – in a competitive restaurant milieu like Coral Gables comes down to one word: “Consistency,” says Klaic. “Consistency of the product, consistency of the service.” That means a menu that literally never changes. “When you come to Christy’s you know what you are going to get. We never follow the trends, and there have been so many over the years,” he says. “What we serve is who we are.”
That translates into a menu overseen by Chef Francois Morales for the last 30 years, with dishes that could have come from Madison Avenue in the 1950s – oysters Rockefeller, wedge salad, French onion soup, shrimp cocktail, baked Alaska, and their secret-recipe Caesar salad that is so popular customers order it by the pint to take home. Then, of course, there are the steaks: a rib eye, a New York strip, filet mignon, and that rarity these days, prime rib, all washed down with a classic Manhattan or Old Fashioned.
Klaic says that over the years he’s been approached by investors who want him to start additional Christy’s elsewhere but contends that will only dilute the brand. “I’ve always believed that it’s not about any one person, not about me, not about a famous chef. It’s about the brand, and you have to protect it.” Klaic recalls Hauser telling him, “If I am not here, and you are not here, the brand is still here,’” as well as the location, its traditional red walls, its patterned tin ceiling, its dim table lamps, and its bar right out of the Shining. Klaic has even kept the original chairs, which he reupholstered. “We didn’t want those kinds of smaller chairs that you find in some trendy place,” he says. “We’ve had a hell of a run for 46 years, and hopefully we’ll make it to our 50th anniversary in 2028. Every day’s a challenge, you have to earn it again and again and again.
