Sporty’s Steakhouse ready to rock again
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 8 months, 2 weeks AGO
Hundreds of people came to Sporty’s Steakhouse Wednesday, despite no publicity in advance, to celebrate the iconic Moses Lake eatery’s reopening after a five-month hiatus.
COURTESY PHOTO/DEBBIE BLACK
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | August 21, 2025 3:35 PM
MOSES LAKE — Sporty’s Steakhouse is back again.
“We were closed five months,” said former owner Debbie Black on Thursday morning, the day after the iconic Moses Lake eatery reopened. “We did a lot of repairs on the building; the makeup air fans and a lot of the plumbing and we replaced a lot of stuff … and we’re ready to rock and roll.”
Sporty’s closed because the lease on the property wasn’t renewed, Black explained, and reopened when longtime Manager Chantel Smith took over the lease on the building and the land.
“We took that opportunity to do a lot of things that needed to be done inside and outside the building and wanted to make sure we had everything in order before we opened back up,” Black said.
The reopening Wednesday evening wasn’t advertised or publicized ahead of time, Black said, not even by word of mouth, but still hundreds of people came out to show their support for the restaurant and the staff.
This isn’t the first time Sporty’s has had to take a break, Black said. It burned to the ground and had to be rebuilt in 1996, and it closed a couple of times during the COVID-19 pandemic. With this reopening, it will be mostly the same as it was before, Black said.
“We are going to continue to do bands and karaoke, and we hope to add singo bingo and some more fun events,” she said. “We added a couple of things to the menu, but pretty much the menu is the same. We (thought) if it's not broke, don't fix it. We're just kind of getting going with the same theme: relaxed atmosphere, good food, good service.”
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
GCAO cat room open again after outbreak
MOSES LAKE — The cat room is reopened at Grant County Animal Outreach, and the shelter could use a little help.
Museum’s Rusty Mammoth sale tomorrow to be the biggest in years
MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Museum & Art Center’s annual Rusty Mammoth Sale is tomorrow, and it’s a doozy, according to Museum Superintendent Dollie Boyd.
Hot stuff
Pride meets taste buds at Greenpoint chili cookoff
MOSES LAKE — Greenpoint Technologies engineer Gary Neu walked away with $100 and some serious bragging rights at the company’s annual chili cookoff April 27. “My reliable meat pimps at Ernie’s (Quality Meats and Wine) came through for me again,” Neu said. His chili wasn’t very spicy, he said, just traditional. “Just a good, solid, basic chili,” he said. “I’ve learned through the competitions that you have to cater to a very neutral element … If it even looks hot (people) will run and hide. There’s bell peppers in there, so it’s got a good color, but it doesn’t really have much heat.” Greenpoint, a company that does custom interiors for private planes, has held chili cookoffs for its employees for years, but this is only the fourth year that the company has invited judges from outside the company. This year’s judges were all from the Port of Moses Lake: Executive Director Dan Roach, Facility Director Milt Miller, Airport Director Rich Mueller, Executive Assistant Bonnie Peterson and Commissioner Darrin Jackson.