The Bamboo Club's opening at Newport on the Levee this week marked the beginning of the regional expansion of the fledgling restaurant chain, known for exotic Asian dishes and Pacific Rim atmosphere.

        That's according to Bart Brown Jr., a longtime Northern Kentucky resident and CEO of Main Street and Main Inc. - the Phoenix-based company that owns The Bamboo Club and Redfish restaurants and is a major T.G.I. Friday's franchisee.

        The restaurant operator plans to open eight to 10 Bamboo Clubs annually in the next few years, using a cluster development strategy that calls for stores in a particular region to be built within a 200-mile radius.

        Mr. Brown - whose wife, Mary, is mayor of Fort Thomas, where the couple live - said Columbus will get the next Bamboo Club in this region, sometime in March.

        After that, “The marketplace is going to tell us where to go,” he said.

        The seven-unit Bamboo Club has joined a smorgasbord of themed restaurants trying to gain market share in an industry dominated by giant chains with billions of dollars in sales.

        But Mr. Brown is confident that The Bamboo Club concept can be expanded successfully because the restaurants offer what he says matters most to American diners with increasingly sophisticated palates and trendy dispositions.

        “Distinctive cuisine, combined with the dramatic setting in which it's served, makes for a truly unique dining experience,” said Mr. Brown, whose company bought The Bamboo Club concept from original owner Debbie Bloy in 2000.

        Diners entering the Bamboo Club are greeted with hand-painted murals, bamboo sculptures and jet-black ceilings.

        The menu features such dishes as crackling calamari salad, flambied steak and orange shrimp, and scallops from display kitchens that allow diners to watch as their food is prepared. Prices range from $3 for appetizers to $19 for the most expensive dinner entrie.

        The newest Bamboo Club, which opened Thursday on the Riverwalk level of the Newport shopping and entertainment complex, often draws comparisons to P.F. Chang's China Bistro, which also started in Phoenix, and has a restaurant at Rookwood Commons in Norwood.

        Mr. Brown acknowledged that the concepts are similar, although, he says, the The Bamboo Club offers a wider menu selection.

        But Mr. Brown doesn't mind the comparison.

        In fact, he said, he'd be more than happy to achieve the same name recognition - and, no doubt, revenues - that P.F. Chang's has received while growing as a national brand.

        P.F. Chang's is expected to see revenues increase this year by 26 percent to $400 million.

        By comparison, all of the restaurants under the Main Street and Main Inc. banner, including The Bamboo Club, generated combined revenues of a little more than $200 million last year.

        “Nothing would suit me more than to be the Avis to P.F. Chang's Hertz,” Mr. Brown said, referring to the top-ranked car rental agencies.

        Mr. Brown might get his wish.

        But only time will tell, experts say, mainly because there is no way to predict finicky consumer tastes that have launched some restaurant chains that started small, such as The Cheesecake Factory, into the stratosphere, only to bring them crashing back to earth when the novelty of the restaurants wore off.

        But most restaurants, regardless of size, typically have the same chance at success, said Lloy Gordon, a restaurant industry consultant with GEC Consultants Inc. in Skokie, Ill.

        “Excellent product and service, and a nice ambience and hospitality; those are the four indicators of success in our business, and it goes for everybody, whether it's an independent or big chain,” Mr. Gordon said.

        Mr. Brown said service is The Bamboo Club's hallmark.

Fresh funds to fight foreclosures
Local stocks mimic national drop
Play the Stock Market Game
HIGGINS: Don't let bear get you down
Savvy Strategies: Buy by basketful to keep tax break
Newport Levee gets taste of Asia
Drop in unemployment a surprise
Toyota makes more for less
Plant closures inevitable as ports sit idle
Toyota cuts back
Costume tariff spooks sellers
Tristate summary
What's the Buzz? Cheeseless pizza tested
Rate report