Jennifer M. Phelps
News-Leader
With live shows, outlet shopping and Silver Dollar City, there are plenty of reasons to load up the minivan and head to Branson.
By the end of the year, Paul Rasmussen hopes people add a visit to Montana Mike's Steakhouse to their to-do list.
Rasmussen, president of ITEC Attractions, will introduce the casual dining restaurant to the tourist destination in November. ITEC owns Branson's IMAX Entertainment Complex.
He discovered Montana Mike's during a road trip through Kansas in January.
"I was really impressed by the quality of food and menu prices," he said.
That led him to stop at another Montana Mike's on the way home later that week. There he decided the restaurant's rustic, hunting lodge theme — mounted deer heads adorn the walls — would fit Branson's "down-home country atmosphere."
He learned about franchise opportunities and found a location. Renovations began last week on a vacant Country Kitchen at the intersection of Missouri 76 and Gretna Road, next to the new Titanic museum and the Best Western Centre Pointe Inn.
"It's soon to be Branson's hottest corner," Rasmussen said.
When Montana Mike's is complete, Country Kitchen's old gray-and-pink exterior will be dark green, trimmed with logs and topped with corrugated sheet metal.
The 8,000-square-foot restaurant will seat 235. The menu will feature steaks, grilled chicken, seafood, pastas, salads, soups and appetizers, like onion rings breaded fresh to order. There's a children's menu, too.
Rasmussen says his beef will be aged 28 days prior to being served, creating a more tender piece, and will be cut by an in-house butcher.
A date for the grand opening has not been set.
Mark Scholler, director of operations for Montana Mike's, said there's a lot riding on this venture.
Based on the success of the Branson location, another eight to 10 restaurants could open in the Midwest by the end of 2006.
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