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NEW YORK - Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon Inc. is set to debut its most ambitious luxury restaurant here, in the heart of Manhattan, even as the Wichita, Kan.-based company continues to repair its core concept and postpone its expansion.
The chain operator is putting the finishing touches on its fourth Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse, which is slated to open next month across the street from Radio City Music Hall. Costing $10 million, the elegant, 450-plus-seat showplace restaurant occupies 16,000 square feet on the ground floor of the McGrawHill Building.
Although the latest Del Frisco's will feature the same upscale menu items and signature elements as the brand's three existing outlets in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, and Denver, the Manhattan operation will break from the concept's dinner-only tradition by opening for lunch on weekdays.
And while Lone Star chairman Jamie Coulter acknowledges that Del Frisco's is entering a fiercely contested upscale steak-house environment, he maintains that the restaurant will be able to draw from an already existing fan base.
"When we bought the original Del Frisco's in Dallas, we did a survey of its customers," Coulter said.
(See DEL FRISCO'S, page 6)
"What we discovered was that 22 percent are business people who live in the New York-New Jersey area. So we felt that we already had an established brand."
At the same time, however, Coulter and Dee Lincoln, Del Frisco's co-founder and general manager, are confident that the new, Texas-sized operation will...