Steakhouse scoop: Okeechobee Steakhouse family expands to Jupiter
Kicking off this holiday weekend with some freshly breaking news from the local restaurant world: Suburban Jupiter will be home to a new Okeechobee Steakhouse sister restaurant, says owner Ralph Lewis.
He just signed the lease for the former Giuseppe’s Italian Restaurant on the corner of Indiantown Road and Central Boulevard, where he plans to open Lewis Steakhouse sometime around November 1. For this project, Lewis has partnered with three longtime Okeechobee Steakhouse managers.
“My goal has been to open a restaurant to which I could give some ownership to my longtime employees. I want them to have a retirement and vested interest for their future,” Lewis told me Friday.
Lewis says the new place will be very similar to Okeechobee Steakhouse, and that includes the menu. “Let’s just say that 85 to 90% of the menu will be the same as Okeechobee Steakhouse,” says Lewis, who plans to open three additional restaurants — a Lewis Steakhouse among them — in the next two years.
The Lewis family has owned Okeechobee Steakhouse since 1947. The iconic West Palm Beach steakhouse is now the flagship establishment in a growing family business that has come to include a roadside barbecue operation, a classic fish and seafood restaurant and a gourmet meat market. We’ll have a full story on the upcoming steakhouse next week.
Quality meat seems to be a trending local topic these days. Just this week, I wrote about the new dry-aged steaks at Evo Italian restaurant in Tequesta. Last week, we published the story of the new fancy wagyu shop and pop-up eatery in West Palm Beach. You’ll see those stories linked below.
And remember that groovy new smoothie shop brought to Delray by Lady Gaga’s former talent manager? You’ll see that story below as well.
Wishing you a safe, restful (and, fingers crossed, hurricane-free) holiday weekend!
Liz Balmaseda
