Kevin Hansen, Ryan Kropp, and Texas Roadhouse

UPDATE, August 13, 2008: Ryan Kropp Sentenced to Six Months, Probation
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Kevin Hansen: No steak for you.

This story is hard to forget.

Back in February, Kevin Hansen ate at the Texas Roadhouse in West Bend. It didn't go well.

When Kevin Hansen visited the local Texas Roadhouse restaurant for dinner with family and friends last Saturday, he was served more than the nationwide chain's promise of "legendary food."

Hansen showed up at the police station Sunday complaining of hair in his steak.

"I started eating it," he said in an interview. "I noticed the hair after three bites."

A West Bend police officer observed "several strands of what appeared to be hair coming out of the middle of the steak," a criminal complaint says.

Ryan Kropp, 24, of West Bend, one of the two cooks responsible for steaks at the restaurant Saturday night, admitted to police that he placed a few of his own facial hairs on the steak, the criminal complaint says.

Kropp said he was angry with the customer for sending a different steak back to the kitchen earlier in the evening after telling a manager it was overcooked.

Hansen was so traumatized by the event that he couldn't eat or sleep.

Yesterday, TMJ 4 aired an exclusive interview. Melissa McCrady talked with Hansen.

The West Bend man who found hair in his steak at the Texas Roadhouse restaurant in West Bend says he's been living a nightmare.

Kevin Hansen got more than he bargained for after his overcooked steak was sent back.

For the first time, he's talking with TODAY'S TMJ4 about the horrific experience.

Hansen ate the unthinkable: a steak stuffed with a man's body hair.

"I'm pretty disgusted. It's gross. I had about three bites of it and I noticed hair on my fork then I started looking at my steak and I'd seen a lot more and there was a slice in it and there was all kinds of hair in it," said Kevin Hansen.

It all started because the steak Hansen ordered from the West Bend Texas Roadhouse was overcooked. Hansen didn't want to return it but the manager insisted he get Hansen a new steak to go.
But, according to police, the cook, Ryan Kropp didn't like that idea and stuffed his hairs inside.

"I started gagging when I'd seen it," said Hansen. "I came real close to getting sick."

Kevin Hansen was sick for the first week. He insists he couldn't sleep and could hardly eat.

McCRADY: Kevin says the worst part is that he loves steak, but he hasn't been able to eat one since.

HANSEN: Right now, I don't even want to look at one or think about eating a steak.

This was a horrible incident and Kropp should be held accountable for his felonious behavior. It's criminal to tamper with a customer's food.

Hansen's plan to file a civil suit is reasonable.

That said, I think Hansen's claims are a bit dramatic. He has some serious issues. It sounds like he's suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or something.

At the time, I thought it was weird that Hansen's lawyer claimed Hansen couldn't eat. I understood why he'd have trouble stomaching any restaurant food, anything prepared outside his own home. However, I was surprised he couldn't eat food prepared at home by his wife or another family member. Wouldn't you think he could have made himself something to eat so he'd be confident that it wasn't tainted in any way?

And the worst part of his ordeal supposedly is that his love of steak has been stolen from him?

I don't know. That seems a bit much.

I don't get why Hansen would go on TV and talk about this nearly two months after it happened? Why do an interview now?

He seems to really want to stick it to Texas Roadhouse. The thing is Hansen is not hurting Kropp as much as he's potentially hurting business for the restaurant and thereby hurting the good employees working at the establishment. Hansen doesn't seem to care about the innocent victims that he's hurting because of Kropp's despicable and illegal actions.

Once this thing with Texas Roadhouse is settled, I predict Hansen's appetite will return and he'll use his settlement award to buy lots of expensive steaks.