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Food

Del Frisco's steakhouse is back open in a sparkly new neighborhood

Picture a typical steakhouse: Lights are low, tablecloths are white. There might be dark woods, as if you're drinking in some rich guy's library. The new Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House in Uptown Dallas, which opened Saturday, Sept. 10, isn't anything like that.

It's glitzy, as if someone opened the curtains on the old steakhouse stereotype.

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"Most steakhouses, they were built for guys," says Del Frisco's Restaurant Group CEO Mark Mednansky. This new 14,000-square-foot restaurant, located in a $225 million building called McKinney & Olive next-door to the Ritz-Carlton, is more focused on women and millennials. But you can bet men in suits will still swipe their company credit cards, too.

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Here are five things you might want to know about Dallas' new Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House.

First things first: The former Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House in Dallas closed.

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The Del Frisco's you might remember, on Spring Valley Road in Far North Dallas, closed in August. Its staff served steak dinners since 1994 in a handsome restaurant popular for business occasions and anniversaries. The restaurant had previous locations on Lemmon Avenue and Belt Line Road before '94, but its longest tenure was on Spring Valley Road, which made it big news that the steakhouse would close and move to Uptown. And why? Restaurants need to change to accommodate new tastes, the CEO says. The dark, windowless Del Frisco's needed an upgrade.

In 2017, the steakhouse company plans to open another Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House, this one in Plano, therefore serving two affluent areas in Dallas and its 'burbs.

The menu has changed.

Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House server John Baker has worked for the company for 26...
Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House server John Baker has worked for the company for 26 years and has stayed through two restaurant moves. Here, he holds a small wooden appetizer board, which he crafts himself at his home. He's hand-made about 1,200 wooden dishes for the restaurant.(Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)

With a modern decor that feels more Vegas than Dallas, Mednansky and his team decided Del Frisco's needed to have a more diverse menu to match. Of course there's steak and there always will be. And the potatoes au gratin are still on the menu; Mednansky says he might be ousted if he messed with them.

New menu items have the chefs excited. Regional Executive Chef David Holben points to the Akaushi Wagyu eye of ribeye served with foie gras mashed potatoes. It's a cheffy change for Del Frisco's potential audience, which includes "foodies," Mednansky points out. The new menu, created in collaboration between Holben and the Uptown Dallas Executive Chef Tony Schwappach, includes grilled octopus, wild boar chops and brisket tacos, among others.

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For the first time, Del Frisco's in Dallas will be open for lunch on weekdays.

The wine tower (as viewed from the top of the rotating stairwell with a fisheye lens) houses...
The wine tower (as viewed from the top of the rotating stairwell with a fisheye lens) houses more than 2,000 bottles at the new Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House in Dallas. The entire restaurant holds about 5,000 bottles.(Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)

In a neighborhood full of businesspeople, Del Frisco's management would have been crazy to turn away the lunch crowd. Beginning Monday, Sept. 12, Del Frisco's will open for lunch every weekday, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

No surprise, steaks are also on the lunch menu. But so are more typical lunch dishes, such as a cheeseburger (made with Prime beef) and a French dip. There's also a $25 business lunch: choice of soup or salad; and choice of filet medallions, salmon or chicken piccata.

Del Frisco's faces stiff steakhouse competition in Uptown.

Anecdotally, there are "a lot" of steakhouses in Uptown. Let's be more specific.

Look out the glass wall of windows at the new Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House and you'll stare right at Perry's Steakhouse & Grille. Two blocks up, there's Morton's The Steakhouse. A few blocks down, there's Ruth's Chris Steak House. Travel half a mile, and there's Nick and Sam's Steakhouse and Dakota's Steakhouse. STK, a steakhouse designed to appeal to women, is expected to open this year just a short walk away from Del Frisco's.

At other nearby hot spots -- Fearing's, Truluck's, The Capital Grille and Ocean Prime, to name some -- diners can order fine cuts of beef even if "steak" isn't explicitly in their names.

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Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House (Dallas)

Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House (Dallas)

2323 Olive St.

Dallas, TX 75201

"The good people of Texas love a good steak," Mednansky says. More specifically, the good people of Uptown love a good steak -- and have, literally, at least 10 options.

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"If we're coming here in the middle of Steak Capital, we have to differentiate ourselves," Mednansky says. He hopes the hospitality, the new menu and the modern look of his new restaurant will keep customers coming back. The two-story restaurant can hold more than 550 people.

The restaurant's patio is the place to be.

The patio is located on the upper floor of the new Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House in...
The patio is located on the upper floor of the new Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House in Uptown Dallas.(Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)

Customers might like to linger by the wine tower downstairs at Del Frisco's, or stop at the wraparound bar. But head upstairs; the second-floor covered patio is expansive and elegant. A raised block of booths bring typical indoor seating outside. The fire pit surrounded by lounge seating is bound to be popular, too.

Del Frisco's move from Far North Dallas to Uptown shows its interest in nabbing younger clientele in a bustling business district. An expansive, inviting patio? Necessary.

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Take a tour through the new restaurant:

For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on Twitter at @sblaskovich.