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Toss another steak on the stack: Ocean Prime's coming to Tampa

By Mark Albright, Times Staff Writer
In print: Tuesday, May 6, 2008

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ADVERTISEMENT Cameron Mitchell, 44, is expanding his Ocean Prime brand.

TAMPA — The high-priced steak house business is suffering under the same strain as the slumping casual dining industry. But that's not stopping Mitchell's Ocean Prime from signing up to become the seventh big-ticket steak house wedged into 2 square miles of upscale eateries in the West Shore area.

The brainchild of Columbus, Ohio, restaurant guru Cameron Mitchell, Ocean Prime comes from the same folks who created Mitchell's Fish Market in West-

Shore Plaza.

The steak house location on the northeast corner of Boy Scout and West Shore boulevards at the entrance to International Plaza is far more visible. The restaurant will be next door to the first Crate & Barrel home decor and housewares store in the market. Both stores will open in 2009.

The 44-year-old Mitchell, who has created nine restaurant concepts, sold his 17 Fish Markets and Cameron's Steakhouses to Orlando-based Ruth's Chris Restaurants Inc. last spring for $94-million. He is using some of the proceeds to ramp up expansion of his Ocean Prime restaurants including locations in Miami and Orlando this fall. The average Mitchell's Fish Market generates sales of $4.3-million, about a third less than Ocean Prime.

This time the dark paneling and granite bar look is more elegant and the food a bit pricier: prime steaks priced at $30 to $48 with no sides and seafoods at $18 to $30 a plate. About two-thirds of the menu is seafood.

The roughly 200-seat restaurant will offer private dining rooms and an outdoor patio cocktail lounge with a fireplace.

The prices are similar to rival Capital Grille, Fleming's and Boizao, the Brazilian steak house, all of which surround International Plaza. Other nearby high-end steak houses in the West Shore area include the Palm, Shula's and Ruth's Chris.

Mark Albright can be reached at albright@sptimes.com or

(727) 893-8252.