B.R. Guest, the mammoth restaurant group behind Dos Caminos, Ruby Foo’s, and a lot of other big-money operations, is installing a steakhouse in the old Park Avenue Country Club space. The question is, will it be a sister to their hugely successful David Burke Primehouse in Chicago, or just another run-of-the-mill meatery? Burke tells us that negotiations are ongoing (the company is currently giving the name as “Prime’s”). But what’s holding up the negotiation?
We’re willing to bet that it has to do with the possible sale of 50 percent of B.R. Guest to hospitality mogul Barry Sternlicht, with CEO Steve Hanson taking the rest. (When we originally heard about the deal, our understanding was that B.R. Guest being sold off outright.) If that’s true — a B.R. Guest rep denied that it was — no major transactions, like hiring a big-time chef with a brand name, will be inked until the deal goes through. Let’s just hope that this one will be soon.
