Fourth Street Standard approaching 1 year in business

CO-OWNERS — Fourth Street Standard co-owners Trae and Kristen Icuss stood outside their downtown Steubenville restaurant, which is approaching one year in business. — Christopher Dacanay

STEUBENVILLE — A downtown small business is nearing its one-year anniversary of operation, providing a spot for fresh and healthy food, made with good-quality ingredients, in a friendly atmosphere.

First opened on May 15, Fourth Street Standard is a fast-casual Mexican restaurant located at 106 N. Fourth St. Customers can choose ingredients for their made-to-order burritos, tacos and bowls or pick from a few “standard selections” if they don’t want to build their own.

The restaurant is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Catering is also offered, in addition to accepting phone, online and DoorDash orders.

Co-owners Trae and Kristen Icuss are the husband-and-wife duo behind the establishment, which they said was founded with the desire to cook food that “we would want to eat” — house-made and good for you.

Trae Icuss helped found Steubenville’s plant-centric eatery Fresh-Twist with his sister, Angela Lombardo, in 2019. He’d started working at a pizza restaurant at 13 years old and later worked at other restaurants, but Fresh-Twist was his first experience doing more than just cooking.

“I always liked cooking, and I always liked talking to and greeting people, making new friends and making people happy with food,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kristen Icuss had gone to school for six years to become a dietician, having always been passionate about nutrition and the role food plays in health.

She first met Trae Icuss while he was working at Fresh-Twist. Shortly afterward, he began looking at buildings to open his own restaurant, and Kristen Icuss decided to join the effort after being stuck determining her next career steps.

A few things were clear from the start about what the two wanted from their own restaurant. First, they knew it had to be located downtown.

“I like it down here,” Trae Icuss said. “We believe in the city, what it can turn into and what it can be eventually. We see a lot of people trying to do the same thing, and we want to be involved in trying to bring bring a neglected area of our city.”

The two looked at different buildings, but nothing seemed quite right, so they held off for a time. They later heard that Hu Nan Chinese Restaurant on Fourth Street was closing and went on a tour. With the location already set up for a restaurant, the place was perfect, and the two jumped on it, later implementing some renovations.

Also an essential feature of a prospective restaurant was its food options. Trae and Kristen Icuss said they’ve always been fans of fast-casual Mexican food, so they modeled their menu after what they themselves would want to eat.

From that desire came Fourth Street Standard’s variety of options, with typical entrees like burritos and bowls, along with nachos and French fries. The co-owners made sure that among their toppings were broccoli and shrimp — ingredients not often found at similar restaurants.

Finally, as Kristen Icuss noted, the two wanted to offer customers “something that they feel good about eating.”

Fourth Street Standard emphasizes freshness and good-quality ingredients, making “everything” in house, from meats to salsas, Trae Icuss said. The goal was to provide a healthier options for Steubenville residents to eat out, compared to other fast food options.

Trae Icuss recommends the carnitas, as well as the shrimp. There are options for the healthy eaters, he said, but for those who want to “go off the deep end,” they can order French fries on their burrito, like in the restaurant’s El Presidente burrito, which is loaded with fries, mozzarella sticks, guacamole, steak, rice, sour cream, corn salsa and cheese.

The restaurant’s opening process went smoothly, with getting plans submitted and approved by the city, Trae Icuss recalled. In May, the restaurant had a soft opening for only family and friends, but it soon opened up to the public and sold out.

The restaurant continued to sell out each day as the workers grew accustomed to portioning. Trae Icuss said. Furthermore, he added, the public showed up to support en masse, with the line reaching out the door and out of sight on at least one occasion.

Challenges with the historic building have popped up on occasion, but overall, operations have gotten “a lot smoother” during Fourth Street Standard’s first year, Kristen Icuss said. During that time, the restaurant has grown a solid group of regulars, mainly people downtown who come on their lunch breaks.

“We get to build relationships with them,” Kristen Icuss said. “People have been really supportive down here.”

For those eating in, the restaurant’s front window provides for prime people watching. The atmosphere lends itself to casual conversation, Kritsen Icuss said, with no loud television sets to distract people — apart from one, which is attached to a video game system. Individuals can relax and have a drink, with the restaurant serving beer and margaritas.

The Icusses, who for a time were fiancé co-owners before getting married in October, said they hope to expand their business hours and hire a bigger staff — currently, the restaurant has about five employees, in addition to the Icusses. In terms of hours, the restaurant will stay open late until 10 p.m. during this year’s First Friday festivals, the first of which will be this Friday.

Chipotle Mexican Grill may be coming to the Fort Steuben Mall area, the city has announced previously, but the Icusses said they don’t see it as a threat to their business. The two businesses may have a similar setup, but their products are different in “taste and quality,” Trae Icuss said.

That “taste and quality” will continue to set Fourth Street Standard apart beyond its first year of business on the street that gave it its name.