Nation's Restaurant News: Morton scion, partners bring concepts to So. Calif. casino

CABAZON, CALIF. -- The owner-operators of the hipper-than-your-father's-steakhouse N9NE, with outlets in Chicago and Las Vegas, are bringing that concept and a slate of other restaurant and nightclub creations to Southern California.

The principals of the Las Vegas-based N9NE Group--Michael Morton, whose father, Arnie Morton, founded the Morton's of Chicago chain, and Scott DeGraff--are planning to open a N9NE Steak House here at the new Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa near Palm Springs, Calif. The $300 million, 44-acre entertainment complex, operated by the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, is scheduled to open Dec. 8.

The N9NE restaurant at Morongo will be the company's third, after Chicago and Las Vegas. However, the group plans to expand on its restaurant repertoire at the desert enclave by launching a new concept: a high-end Italian restaurant called Belly Italiano. The restaurant will be accompanied by a 9,000-square-foot lounge called Spacebar, and both would occupy the top floors of a 27-floor hotel tower, offering spectacular views of the surrounding desert.

Elsewhere in the casino complex, N9NE Group also is planning a 12,000-square-foot nightclub and concert venue called Desert Rain.

Located about 90 minutes east of Los Angeles, the Morongo casino is expected to breathe new life into the somewhat-sleepy Cabazon area, said DeGraff, who predicts the casino will draw patrons from throughout the Los Angeles area.

Morton said his group, with projected sales of $70 million for 2004, has had great success with its four complementary venues at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, where the N9NE restaurant is joined by a lounge called ghostbar, the dance club Rain Las Vegas and the pool-side Skin Pool Lounge.

More operations by the N9NE Group are planned for the Palms, where a new tower is being added to the casino and resort. Morton said the tower would include three new outlets for development by his company. Though details were not ready for release, he said one of the restaurants would be the second Belly Italiano.

The N9NE Group also is planning to open five more outlets--Belly, N9NE, ghostbar, Rain and a nightclub yet to be named--in Dallas at a 72-acre mixed-use project under development by Ross Perot Jr. and Tom Hicks. The project would include the W Dallas Victory Hotel and Residences next to the American Airlines Center sports arena.

Morton and DeGraff--who have been friends since they were nine, which inspired the company's name--first joined forces in 1992 to open the nightclub Drink Chicago, followed by Drink Las Vegas in 1995. The two debuted the first N9NE steakhouse in Chicago in 2000, along with a ghostbar lounge there, and brought both concepts to Las Vegas the following year.

In that city Morton's Palms resort operations compete with those of his brother Peter Morton, who co-founded and later sold his stake in the Hard Rock Care chain and now owns and operates the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Peter's sister Pam Morton runs the power-dining restaurant Morton's in West Hollywood, Calif.

The N9NE concept eschews the style of old-fashioned steakhouses that DeGraff described as being more like a "men's club." N9NE instead aims for a younger, trendier crowd--a group that isn't impressed by an enormous grilled steak alone. The menus at N9NE restaurants are chef-driven and include fresh seafood, a champagne and caviar bar, and a highly stylized design--unlike steakhouses such as Morton's, where most foods are prepared by "a broiler man and head cook," Michael Morton said.

Michael Shrader, who was the original executive chef at the N9NE in Chicago, will hold the title of executive chef over all N9NE Group venues at the Morongo casino-resort. However, he personally will oversee the kitchen of the resort's new, 200-seat N9NE, which was designed to be very similar to the branch in Las Vegas.

The 150-seat Belly Italiano at the Morongo will "do for Italian restaurants what N9NE did for steakhouses," DeGraff said.

The menu at Belly will be created by Michael Kornick, consulting chef and partner in the N9NE Group and chef-owner of the restaurant mk in Chicago.

Kornick said the restaurant's goal is to capture the rustic simplicity as well as the sophistication of authentic Italian food. "We're trying to create a menu that doesn't have the intimidation of some of the things that exist in the States with high-end Italian."

He said the menu would include, for example, a lot of fresh seafood prepared simply, such as grilled or steamed mussels, clams, squid and octopus, as well as crudo--Italy's answer to sashimi or ceviche, using fresh fish "cured" in sea salt and olive oil. Traditional pastas, baked dishes, such as chicken Parmesan, and steaks will round out the menu.

The group is aiming for an average ticket of $65 to $70 per person at both of the new Morongo-based restaurants, which would be slightly lower than the $80 per person average at the N9NE in Las Vegas.

Belly Italiano's decor is expected to veer toward avant-garde, with crystal chandeliers that change colors, a ceiling lined with silver-leaf and gilded frames accenting plasma televisions that display high-tech "art."

But with 20-foot floor-to-ceiling windows. Belly's view likely will be a dominant feature.

Some say there is an inverse relationship between the height of a restaurant and the quality of the food, DeGraff noted. But that will not be the case at Belly, he said. "For us, it's about the food, but it's also about the experience."

That's the trademark of the N9NE Group, Morton added. "More than food or beverage, what we've really sold is a great time."