Archived Article By Tom Fitzmorris Originally published March 3, 2008 Will Open In Riche, Then Move Next Door Ruth's Chris To Open Downtown Ruth's Chris Steak House will return to New Orleans proper for the first time since the hurricane, in first one then another of Harrah's hotel properties near the foot of Poydras Street. The restaurant opened as Riche--which never really got off the ground among local diners--will shortly be converted into the steakhouse. It will be unusual among Ruth's Chris locations in serving not just dinner, but breakfast and lunch, too, as the hotel's main restaurant. A couple of the over one hundred restaurants in the chain have similar arrangements with hotels. But that's just temporary. The long-term location of Ruth's Chris will be in one of the buildings between Fulton Street and Convention Center Boulevard, which is now primarily a parking facility. I learned all this from various people connected with the construction; Ruth's itself hasn't released anything yet. And John Besh--who stands to be affected greatly by the advent of Ruth's Chris downtown--says that it's a done deal. The Besh Steakhouse is the only restaurant right on the casino floor in Harrah's Casino, across the street from where the new Ruth's will be. We've heard the rumors of this for a couple of months now, but it was hard to imagine that Harrah's would bring in the biggest name in premium steakhouses across the street from another premium steakhouse in its own facility. Besh told me that he wasn't concerned about this. "We're a step above what Ruth's Chris and Morton's does. We have a true prime filet mignon, with oxtail debris and roasted veal marrow on top. That's chef cooking, not steakhouse cooking. If I owned a Morton's, then I'd think I'd have a problem." The new Ruth's Chris is clearly targeted toward visitors. This is typical: a large number of Ruth's Chris's newer locations have opened in areas of high tourism, as have those of other top-end steakhouses. Before Smith & Wollensky closed in New Orleans, the CEO of that steakhouse told me that they made a mistake with the location here, and that if they did it again the restaurant would be in the French Quarter. All this said, it's good to have Ruth's Chris finally return to the city of its birth. We'd all like to see them reopen on the sacred ground that was the Broad Street location, but we'll take this one with pleasure. © 2008 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com