KOA Headlines
10 09 24 Steve's Snappin' Dogs' Steve Ballas talks about closing his restaurant
If you put aside $0.25 every week for a year, what could you get at the end? A few cups of coffee, maybe? A candle? Or you could get a year of the best reporting from all over the world. Go to washingtonpost.com/bf24 right now. You'll get a Washington Post subscription for $0.25 a week for your first year. This is a Black Friday sale, so it won't last long. It's beginning to sound a lot like the holidays. The Roku Channel, your home for free and premium TV, is giving you access to holiday music and genre-based stations from iHeart all for free. Find the soundtrack of the season with channels like iHeartChristmas and North Pole Radio. The Roku Channel is available on all Roku devices, web, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, Samsung TVs, and the Roku mobile app on iOS and Android devices. So stream what you love and turn up the cheer with iHeartRadio on the Roku Channel. Happy streaming! Deciding on what to listen to is hard. Using zoomo to stream music from iHeart90's radio is easy. Or play iHeart Country, or hip-hop beats. Your choice, all for free. Stream easy with zoomo play. Get live and on-demand entertainment with no log-ins, no sign-ups, no accounts, no hassle. This November, get cozy and stay in from movie night with Air Force One starting Harrison Ford and Glenn Close and The Art of War starring Wesley Snipes, all streaming free on zoomo play. Go to play.zumo.com now. Life is hard. Zumo is easy. It's the coming end of an era where after 20 years in business of selling hot dogs, Steve's, snap-and-dogs on East Colfax will be shutting down. But it's not all sad. We know that the location will be taken over by a new restaurant concept, which has promised you honor the legendary hot dog stand. And joining us now is we honor him in this transition in his final day, founder and proprietor of Steve's, snap-and-dogs. It's Steve Ballas. Steve, good morning. I just at least want to get your initial feelings today, knowing that today it concludes. Well, good morning to you both. And you saw my initial feelings about a month ago. National hot dog day when I started to gear up. And that's how I feel now. It's definitely missed emotions in these past week and a half. I have been on channel nine, channel two, channel 13, channel four. And you guys in Westward and the outpouring of people that have come. We've had lines out the door for people to come in and say goodbye. I've had hugs. I've had presents. I've had fist bumps. I've had handshakes. People telling me what I meant to them. I'm telling you it really. That's looking to do it again. It really touched me to see what I've done and to see how much my staff were loved by everyone. And it's definitely sad but happy that I'm going out on top and to see that I made a difference. You know, and it's just amazing. Steve, like you mentioned to us, you broke the news to us earlier when we talked a little bit on that National Hot Dog Day and shared some of your amazing hotdogs with us as well. But you also shared some more personal information too. So just opening this up by asking how are you and your wife Linda doing right now? Well, Linda's cancer had come back. She spent the past year in and out of rehab in the hospital, but she's doing well now. She's home. As a matter of fact, we're sitting in bed talking on the phone together and she's doing well. I need some back surgery at some point, but you know, I just turned 70. She's 77. 20 years is a long time in a restaurant. I've accomplished all my dreams in life from being a fireman and an EMT and a police officer and feeding people. So my life is complete. I want to spend the rest of that with my best friend and my wife. You know, there's a theme there, Steve. You've been serving the community, whether literally the food, but helping out as a first responder, the things you do to help the community. You have a, it seems you just have a greater mission than some and a greater calling. And that's what you seem to continue to do. You know, what's funny is I was a first responder in my restaurant on Saturday when this 17-year-old girl from East High came. Oops, Steve, you there? Hello. All right, we made a try to cook up with Steve again. I think we lost the connection. The story was just good, too. You're getting good. And I was envious, too. We're talking with Steve Ballas of Steve's Snapping Dogs their last day of the iconic hot dog stand will be coming up on October 19th. Steve, you with us again this morning? Yes. Okay, I'm sorry. You were just talking about how you were responding to a teen at your restaurant. And then I think you cut off when you were about to tell the rest of the story there. Yeah, as I walked around the counter, she started to fall and I grabbed her and I put her legs up. She was all hot. She had passed out and I brought her back and it was like somebody said to me, "Yeah, once a first responder, always a first responder." You know, it was crazy. You know, and there was hundreds of people there. It was just amazing to turn out. And I wish everyone would be able to come and say goodbye and have a dog. And I also think that there's so much fun and love in watching these people eat. I've done everything I wanted to do and making people happy with food is the best for me. And Steve, what we love to hear is that the legacy of Steve's Snapping Dogs will live on. Can you tell us a little bit about the new restaurant that's now going to be taking the conversation? What parts of the restaurant legacy are really going to still be left behind for your customers to still enjoy? Well, it's going to be run by another husband and wife, Tim, Michael, and I were. And it's going to be called Mama Joe's Chicken Biscuits and Barbecue. They're both chefs. They're both in the food business. They have a very famous food truck and they do Carolina Barbecue and these great chicken sandwiches and she's a pastry chef. And the legacy is going to go on by them realizing our customer base. And they're going to keep some of our dogs. They're going to keep some of my burgers. They're going to keep our snap and ale and our man beer. And they're going to keep some of my staff. So it's a win-win for everyone. That is wonderful. Steve, I'm wrapping up with you. And I know you got to get your back worked on. I'm glad your wife is getting healthy and recovering. But when I think of you retiring, it's not that what are you going to do next besides enjoy the free time. But because you are somebody who's always in service of others, I just can't see you not doing anything. What are you going to do? Well, I've thought about that. I think I might like to drive a wheelchair car for a couple days a week because that's what they did for my wife. And I ended up in a wheelchair car one time. And to me, that's kind of the in service or maybe driving blood around to a doctor's office. It's just something a day or two a week to keep me active. Steve, again, real quick, remind us that you still will be able to enjoy Steve's Papadox at the Denver airport, correct? Yeah, they're going to be open at least 18 months to two years. And everybody, come on down. We're open 11 to 5, Monday to Friday, 11 to 4 Saturday. Be prepared to stand in line, but it's worth it. I promise you, you'll be happy. And I'll be happy to see your faces and you guys make me smile. And I thank everyone who's listening now for the 20 years of the greatest guests coming to my food establishment. They're not customers. You're not customers. You're guests in our restaurant, our home for 20 years. And the staff feels the same way. So we look forward to seeing anybody else. And please come to see the new opening. It will be sometime in December. And my staff will still be there. And I'll still be walking around. And you'll see me from time to time. It might bite me short. Maybe even my hot dog cat. You never know. Steve, we wish you the best in everything. And many people, I love that you think that we're guests. But at the same time, a lot of people think of you as family. And you definitely are. Steve, thanks so much. Thank you so much, guys. I really appreciate you. And have a great day. Thank you, you too. Steve, snap in dogs. It's Steve's ballast. If you put aside 25 cents every week for a year, what could you get at the end? A few cups of coffee, maybe? A candle? Or you could get a year of the best reporting from all over the world. Go to washingtonpost.com/bf24 right now. You'll get a Washington Post subscription for 25 cents a week for your first year. This is a Black Friday sale, so it won't last long. WashingtonPost.com/bf24. It's beginning to sound a lot like the holidays. The Roku Channel, your home for free and premium TV, is giving you access to holiday music and genre base stations from iHeart all for free. Find the soundtrack of the season with channels like iHeartChristmas and North Pole Radio. The Roku Channel is available on all Roku devices, web, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, Samsung TVs, and the Roku mobile app on iOS and Android devices. So stream what you love and turn up the cheer with iHeartRadio on the Roku Channel. Happy streaming! Deciding on what to listen to is hard. Using zoomo to stream music from iHeart90's radio is easy. Or play iHeart Country, or hip-hop beats. Your choice, all for free. Stream easy with zoomo play. Get live and on-demand entertainment with no logins, no sign-ups, no accounts, no hassle. This November, get cozy and stay in from movie night with Air Force One starting Harrison Ford and Glenn Close and The Art of War starring Wesley Snipes. All streaming free on zoomo play. Go to play.zumo.com now. Life is hard. "Zoomo" is easy.