Paul Martin’s American Grill debuted Thursday its first restaurant in Texas, bringing the upscale California-based casual-dining concept to a new market with its ninth unit.
The Newport Beach, Calif.-based company, which opened its first restaurant in Roseville, Calif., in 2007, plans one more restaurant this year and further expansion to Austin, Texas, in 2016, executives said.
The concept was founded by Brian Bennett and industry pioneer Paul Fleming, who created and sold P.F. Chang’s China Bistro and Fleming’s Steakhouse.
“We have one more restaurant planned for this year,” Anthony Smith, Paul Martin’s president, told Nation’s Restaurant News Thursday. “We’re going back to California: Pasadena. And then we have one planned for Austin, Texas, about nine months later.”
Smith said the company “realistically” plans to open two to three restaurants a year.
The new Dallas restaurant is about 5,000 square feet, with about 200 seats and a covered patio.
Beth Stevens, Paul Martin’s marketing manager, said the ninth unit has a bit more color in the décor accents, artwork and seating than earlier versions.
“The teal tufted booths and red ones are some color we just don’t have in our other restaurants,” Stevens said.
Stevens said the bar area is also significantly larger in the Dallas location.
Smith said Happy Hour is a significant traffic driver for the Paul Martin’s concept, producing about 25 percent of sales. The Dallas restaurant will offer a Happy Hour Menu from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
“We’re disciplined without our Happy Hour menu,” Smith said. “There isn’t anything on it that’s on our dining room menu.”
Prices range from $5 to $9 for small plates to $13 for combos.
“Our approach is to make sure we are diverse enough for all types of consumers,” Smith said. “You can come in and have a burger, beer and fries for 13 bucks, or $4 street tacos and a $5 glass of wine. Or you can come in and have a prime New York strip for $37. You can do that too, and you’ll feel just as comfortable.”
Paul Martin’s offers 85 wines for sale by the glass.
“We have a commitment to that program,” Smith said.
The top three best sellers on the dining room menu include brick chicken, braised short ribs and grilled salmon.
“It’s a refined menu,” Smith said. “It’s 30 items for dinner, and that includes soups, salads and sides. It’s 27 items for lunch.”
The Texas menu has been localized with regional quail and red fish, he added.
The bar area, which is larger in the Dallas restaurant than in earlier versions, features a charcuterie station island with slicers, refrigerators and cheese displays.
“That helps bring more cues about freshness and more energy,” Smith said.
Chef Anthony Endy, Paul Martin’s director of culinary operations, said that as the brand expands beyond Arizona and California, the charcuterie station also helps the brand localize the menu, by adding Texas cheeses, for example.
The bar charcuterie area is staffed and orders are sliced individually, Endy said.
“It allows us to tell the story about the purveyors,” he added.
“We’re not here to break barriers,” Endy said. “We’re here to deliver solid food in a consistent manner.”
Paul Martin’s also sources seafood from sustainable fisheries, as well as using free-range meats and poultry.
The four newest Paul Martin’s restaurants have open kitchens, but in this Dallas unit, as well as in Scottsdale, Ariz., the kitchen has been displayed more openly to the dining room.
Despite the changes, Smith said the brand is identifiable across all nine restaurants.
“We haven’t lost our DNA. You can walk into any of our restaurants and see the same cues, but this is a little fresher,” he said.
The design also includes getting away from the traditional host stand that greets customers. Hosts, rather than standing behind a podium like a gatekeeper, move among the guests in a lounge area near the bar and entrance.
“This is much more inviting,” Smith said. “I get sick of walking into restaurants and being faced with that guard. You don’t have a host stand in your home. This is much more hospitable.”
Paul Martin’s also has restaurants in California, in El Segundo, Irvine, Mountain View, Rancho Cucamonga, Roseville, San Mateo, Westlake Village, and Scottsdale, Ariz.
Contact Ron Ruggless at [email protected].
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