development
|category1=Automobile Alley
|category2=
|category3=
|category4=
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|project= Buick Building (Red Prime)
|address=504 N. Broadway
|status=Complete
|owner=Rand Elliott
|cost=
|architect=Rand Elliott
|start=
|finish=3rd Quarter 2007
|contractor=
|height=30 feet
|sq. feet=
|acerage=
|other=
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|image=http://www.okctalk.com/images/wikiphotos/buick1.jpg
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Here is the link to the original thread on this topic:

http://www.okctalk.com/okc-metro-area-talk/7624-cheevers-owners-open-new-restaurant-auto-alley.html?highlight=restaurant+automobile+alley

As you can see they said a spring opening. Spring doesn't start until the end of March so I suspect it will be March or April at the earliest. Doubt it will happen in February.

Glad to hear some updates!!! Much appreciated Steve L. keep us up to date on downtown developments. They should let you do 3-4 updates each day.


Eatery to bask in red glow
Historic site to house upscale restaurant

By Steve Lackmeyer
Business Writer

The lights on Broadway soon will be red in a building that housed one of Oklahoma City's earliest automobile dealerships.
Renovation has begun and a June opening is scheduled for the Red Prime Steakhouse. It will be the first upscale eatery to open along downtown Oklahoma City's Automobile Alley.

The Buick Building, built in 1911 at 504 N Broadway, has been empty for more than a decade. Once complete, the renovated landmark, designed by building owner and architect Rand Elliott, will reflect the new eatery's name, with emphasis on "red.”

Designs unveiled by Elliott and restaurant operators Keith and Heather Paul show the restaurant will be bathed in a red neon glow, provided by 100 light fixtures hung from cables along the ceiling and walls.

"It's red, like the people of Oklahoma, red like the dirt of Oklahoma — red meat, red wine,” Keith Paul said. "The steaks will be the focus. But we're not just looking at doing prime beef, but also having a dry-aged product or two, and some Kobe items — not the ones people are used to. We may also have some grass-fed steaks. It will be a fun menu.”

Elliott said preparations for the restaurant started six months ago, and it is a team effort involving himself and his wife, Jeanette, who is a creative director with Ackerman McQueen; developer Chuck Ainsworth; and the Pauls, who also own Cheever's Cafe and Iron Star Urban BBQ.

For a hint of the red neon at the new eatery, Elliott recommends visiting Cheever's which also has similar lighting.

Elliott, whose portfolio includes the Chesapeake Boathouse, promises the Red Prime Steakhouse will be both a culinary and sensory treat for patrons.

"As a guest, you arrive through the historic doors, you're received and you come around the corner where there is a 38-foot-wide, 16-foot-high wine wall,” Elliott said. "We're very excited about this. Keith and Heather will be displaying about 300 varieties of wine.”

The wall will be transparent, with a rolling ladder attached for a steward to pull out bottles from the top row.

Customers will be greeted through what Elliott calls the "procession of the space” — a central avenue of the restaurant with a focus on the food.

"You will walk by, see Keith in the exhibition kitchen, and there will be excitement in the preparation of the food, the quality and the experience,” Elliott said.

A half dozen 8-foot-tall circular booths will serve as private dining areas throughout the restaurant.

The booths were requested by the Pauls to accommodate private parties, and were inspired by a large automotive turntable in the rear of the building.

"What we did was to make it a special dining room for eight,” Elliott said. "It will be above the ground, so you can see the turntable underneath it.”

With the 18-foot-high ceiling, the designers also had to pay special attention to acoustics, Jeanette Elliott said.

"You want the energy and totality of it, but you also want the ability to have some privacy,” she said.

Free parking will surround the restaurant, which also will provide valet service nightly. The Pauls anticipate the market for their restaurant will quickly evolve as residents buy condominiums being constructed one block east in the Flat Iron district and in Deep Deuce.

"It might bring in a younger crowd than we originally thought — maybe early 30s, late 20s,” Keith Paul said. "But I think all of this will result in nothing but positive things for us.”


http://static.newsok.biz/article/3029527/biz-m22redprime_03-21-2007_812PK12.jpg

can't wait till this place opens up! they've got a site online at RED Prime Steak (http://www.redprimesteak.com)

-M

Looks very classy, but with their description of superpremium beef

My wallet is already clenching up

Should be a good place to go when I'm in trouble with the Mrs :tiphat:

I'm very excited about this project.

I love Cheevers and this should be even better.

The setting should provide for a very unique atmosphere.

Im hoping this will be open in time for the Arts Festival.

I will be visiting the city and would LOVE to go to THE SPOT in OKC. Cattlemen's is a joke now - it was terrible!!! I was so embarrassed.

Hopefully Red Prime will be just that - even get listed in the top 10 steakhouse list posted in the Airline Travel books.

And hopefully it will be open for my visit, so I can patrononize it.

Thanks Metro. My wife may disagree on your expectations on story production.
-Steve

I dunno...if I keep making steaks like I did tonight, we may never leave here to go to a steakhouse!

2 ribeyes (cook according to your standards)
4 shallots, sauteed then simmered with 1 cup beef broth, stir in 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard in

Pour sauce over steaks.

Hubby said it was better than Paseo Grill's steak...and I don't even have a grill! Everything was done on a cast-iron skillet, my grill away from grill.

Sorry, just had to put the plug in for my own good home-cookin' ;)

^ Open a local restaurant in MidTown or near OCU. :)

^ Open a local restaurant in MidTown or near OCU. :)

I can see the sign now

MidNerd's Bar and Grill :Smiley051

This is the kind of place we could see in the Zagat.

Everything A.G.E touches is good! Iron Starr, Cheevers, Red Prime should be no different... can't wait. When can I make a reservation???

Drove by today. Looks like quite a bit of work has been done on the interior. It is going to be uber nice. I took some pics. I posted one in my gallery and will post the rest tomorrow. I also drove around downtown and took photos:

http://www.okctalk.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=204

Anyone seen how this place is coming along...Wondering if they are still on track for a June opening

Have $200 burning a hole in my pocket

I can see the sign now

MidNerd's Bar and Grill :Smiley051

Wow, I had never seen this. Awesome name for a place, Easy ;) Maybe I should drop this teaching gig and become a restauranteur (sp?)

I drove by today and peeked in as I was driving. There were at least a dozen workers all over this place inside and out. It looks to be coming along nicely.

Yeah I strongly think this place will open on time. They have no outside construction to do and have been working hard on the inside.

So far, so good...still looking at a June opening. I will pass on any new info in the future. Thanks for all of the great comments and discussion - very exciting!!

RED Prime Steak Downtown Oklahoma City Gourmet Restaurant Dining Near Bricktown Fine Wines Steakhouse (http://www.redprimesteak.com)

so, are we looking at first of june, middle of june last of june? i need to know when i can make reservations!

-M

right now...end of June. Well worth the wait, I promise.

by the look of things on the site, i'm sure it will be worth it. can't wait and good luck! -M

Oh boy, is this going to be good:

***********************************

Owners: Red Prime Steak to have management ‘Dream Team’

by Kelley Chambers
The Journal Record
6/4/2007


OKLAHOMA CITY – Keith and Heather Paul know how to run a restaurant – two in fact.

They also knew how to assemble the right partners for a new concept steakhouse they plan to open next month on Automobile Alley.

But the right location, partners and food can amount to nothing without the right staff and management.

Fortunately for the Pauls, they have assembled what they referred to as a “Dream Team” of seasoned restaurant hands to make their concept Red Prime Steak, at 504 N. Broadway Ave., a reality.

The Pauls have hired Gary Sander as general manager, Henri Bailey for daily restaurant management and private party bookings, Robert Black as executive chef, Marcus Johnson as sous chef and Ian Clarke as director of wine and spirits.

The team brings decades of restaurant experience to the project, but Keith Paul said it took more than a year of planning to assemble the team.

“The labor pool for the top-quality people in Oklahoma City is pretty slim,” he said. “A lot of the good people are already taken. We did a search for about a year and a half and went out and got the exact people we wanted.”

Sander, who has 20 years of restaurant experience at the Metro Wine Bar and most recently Soleil in the Colcord Hotel, said he is excited to be a part of the growing downtown restaurant community.

“When I heard Keith and Heather were doing something and then with Robert Black as the executive chef I just knew it was the right mix,” he said. “All of the elements were correct.”

Among working and training at other high-end restaurants around Oklahoma City, Bailey, Black and Johnson are currently working at one of the Pauls’ other restaurants, Cheever’s Cafe.

Clarke has many years of wine experience in Oklahoma and in New York City and will oversee a wine collection of more than 300 wines.

Paul said the team is just the latest edition to his hand-picked management staffs at Red, Cheever’s and the couple’s other restaurant, Iron Starr Urban BBQ. Red is scheduled to open in July.

“This just puts the final peg in the equation for us as far as where our managers are for every store,” he said. “Now we feel like we’re complete as far as leadership goes for all three restaurants.”

Doesn't sound like good news for Soleil.

Soliel will be just fine.

As more restaurants start to pop up in the Downtown area, the better the existing ones should do...As long as they are already consistent and doing a good job. I think some downtown restaurants face more of a traffic issue than a freindly competition problem.

We do think that Red Primesteak has an advantage with "Dream Team" that has been assembled. We plan on working out the "kinks" 2-3 days BEFORE opening date.

Check out the new Red PrimeSteak billboard on 6th Street, just east of Broadway!!

Soliel will be just fine.

As more restaurants start to pop up in the Downtown area, the better the existing ones should do...As long as they are already consistent and doing a good job. I think some downtown restaurants face more of a traffic issue than a freindly competition problem.

We do think that Red Primesteak has an advantage with "Dream Team" that has been assembled. We plan on working out the "kinks" 2-3 days BEFORE opening date.

Check out the new Red PrimeSteak billboard on 6th Street, just east of Broadway!!

Well, you just let me know if you need a beef-eater to help you "work out the kinks" :D

Well, I was referring to the fact that they have apparently stolen their chef.

the article says that sander was hired as general manager... i doubt he's a chef. -M

Whatever, they stole someone.

true that... coupled with the rumors of soliel's lackluster success, it really doesn't make things look good for them.

-M

Yeah, I have heard they haven't been too busy.

Soliel is probably not too busy because their layout is an uncomfortable environment to eat in and their food is sub par. I'll never go back and I'm a huge Colcord fan, love the XO, love the ambiance, the restaurant just doesn't pull it's weight in that setting.

Just glancing in, I thought it looked very plain relative to the rest of the hotel.

the article says that sander was hired as general manager... i doubt he's a chef. -M

Gary Sander is the General Manager, Robert Black will be the Executive Chef...he has been with us at Cheevers for almost a year.

Well, you just let me know if you need a beef-eater to help you "work out the kinks" :D

One thing is for sure - The line of beef-eaters to help work out the kinks is growing by the minute. The true steak-eaters really come out of the woodwork as we get closer to opening. Almost as bad as the BBQ and BBQ sauce experts when a new BBQ place opens. Its a great time.

It's a bit difficult for us Backyard Grilling Joes to find quality cuts...So we take out our frustrations by nit-picking restaurants in how they prepare Bossy.:numchucks

I only claim to be an expert at steak, BBQ, or BBQ sauce when it comes to knowing what I like. At least I'm a badass on my own grill. :D

Being the master of your own grill ranks as one of the most important qualitys of a man or woman. The best burger "you" ever had was from your own grill. Agree?

FYI - for the most consistent and marble-riddled cuts of beef, try to buy from a local guy. Bill Kamp at Kamps Market on N. Western and the guys at Crescent Market are a few of the best in town. They will tell you exactly how much "age" is on their product...very important.

Red PrimeSteak will use only cuts with at least 30 days wet age and up to 45 dry age. We will be the only restaurant in town with dry-aged beef on the menu.

Thanks for the tip on good places to buy my steak! I've been looking for other choices.

I usually just buy from Alex Rogers on 29th and Eastern, as I live out by Draper and he's the closest.

FYI - for the most consistent and marble-riddled cuts of beef, try to buy from a local guy. Bill Kamp at Kamps Market on N. Western and the guys at Crescent Market are a few of the best in town. They will tell you exactly how much "age" is on their product...very important.

The two places I buy my steaks at... (unless I'm ordering some Lobel's online)

bill kamps has yet to disappoint... they really know their product. if it's not a closely guarded secret, of course, who'll be your main supplier of beef, tuck?

-M

Have you ever tried Wheelers Meat Market of I-35 (southside)?.

I have never been disapointed in their meats, at times I have even seen buffalo.

I've tried Wheeler's, and was left wanting a better cut. Alex Rogers cuts them to my preferred thickness on the spot. :)

bill kamps has yet to disappoint... they really know their product. if it's not a closely guarded secret, of course, who'll be your main supplier of beef, tuck?

-M

Hey, not a big secret on beef packer/supplier...thanks for asking. We will be usiing 90% Prime Grade, which is less than 1% of all beef produced in the U.S. Most Prime Steakhouses buy Midwestern-raised beef that is usually processed in Chicago and then packed and cut to their own specs....we are doing the same. A local company is holding our product for us for better availability.

We toured 4-5 different packer and cuttters around the country and made our decision based on quality/consistency and more importantly - cleanliness of facilities. We like to deal with companies that are both state and federal inspected with the latest technology in sanitation.

Sorry for the boring answer; but the restaurant biz isn't all glamour.

Have you ever tried Wheelers Meat Market of I-35 (southside)?.

I have never been disapointed in their meats, at times I have even seen buffalo.

If you enjoy buffalo, we have buffalo short ribs on the menu at Cheevers. We will also offer buffalo "sloppy joes" at Red Primesteak as an app.

very good Tuck.

When do you anticipate opening? :) (slobber)

Things are moving along very nicely right now; we should open mid-July. Thanks for all of the comments...keep 'em coming!!

Very exciting stuff Tuck! You guys are smart to get ahold of that location early. I think Automobile Alley will be seeing a lot of growth over the next few years. Hopefully, you signed a nice long lease with a fixed rent :)

I'm planning on putting some money away this month so I can afford to go later this summer, tuck ;)

HAHAHAHAHA. I really do look forward to it opening. It truly sounds like a great place. I love steak, and it's hard to really impress me with it unless it's really, really good (family background is in cattle, raised the right way...man, it's just not right unless you can get it right off the farm, kwim?) and it sounds like your place is going to be very impressive!

Hey, Mid...my birthday's coming up in November. Haha.

Tuck, I hope that you plan to do some heavy advertising in the travel/tourism magazines and that you hope to have Zagat and others visit and rate the restaurant.

We desparately need to have some quality Oklahoma City upscale restaurants and we need to have them get some national/world attention. I would LOVE to open the Hemispheres magazine on my next United flight, and see Red Prime Steakhouse, Oklahoma City on several of the lists (best steakhouses, so forth).

I think/hope you take over where Cattlemen's could not and did not deliver, put OKC on the map as a place for an upscale restaurant experience.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. We are contacting many national magazines/organizations to see what kind of coverage we can get for the state of Oklahoma. If we had a fan base that would visit Zagat, Southern Living, etc and tout Red PrimeSteak as a restaurant that they need to visit...This would be very helpful.

There are a handful of restaurants around the city that should warrant a visit from Zagat. I'm not sure of their city requirements. To tell you the truth, we just try to do the best job possible by providing top level hospitality for each guests visit to our restaurants. Bad things happen when you get caught up in the press.

> Bad things happen when you get caught up in the press.

a universal truth is ever there was one. :)

Best wishes on your launch

Update on RED PrimeSteak - it should open mid-July but stay tuned. It will be the coolest restaurant in OKC!

oh boy, Ill be coming back into the city in late June early July,

I still will not be able to enjoy a Red Prime steak. :numchucks

The confirmed opening date for Red PrimeSteak is set for Tuesday, July 31st. We have had a few delays due to the city and utilities, but all is fine now. Red will be open 7 days a week for dinner only. Visit RED Prime Steak Downtown Oklahoma City Gourmet Restaurant Dining Near Bricktown Fine Wines Steakhouse (http://www.redprimesteak.com) for more info.

Thanks for all of the support and positive feedback.

Glad to hear you're almost open. Sad to see the restaurant and everyone else has to attach "near Bricktown" or the "Bricktown" word to everything. I really wish people would quit playing off Bricktown and embrace their own area. In this case, Automobile Alley.

what about the location on memorial rd - when is this one geared to open?

Glad to hear you're almost open. Sad to see the restaurant and everyone else has to attach "near Bricktown" or the "Bricktown" word to everything. I really wish people would quit playing off Bricktown and embrace their own area. In this case, Automobile Alley.

Sad to say, but people visiting the city really don't know much about Automoblile Alley. Its really about web prescence thing more than anything else. We really have no reference to Bricktown on our site.

what about the location on memorial rd - when is this one geared to open?

The location on Memorial is owned by the Nikz people, I think. I don't know much about that deal.

Sad to say, but people visiting the city really don't know much about Automoblile Alley. Its really about web prescence thing more than anything else. We really have no reference to Bricktown on our site.

Don't see anything wrong with mentioning your location is near Bricktown...It would be pretty stupid not to since it is the most well known area in OKC

Like you said...Probably 95% of all Okies have no clue where Automobile Alley is...Hopefully that will change in due time

Look forward to eating there tuck...Just need to call Amex real quick and have them increase my limit :Smiley077

when will red primesteak start taking reservations? (if not already!!)

-M