At Morton's steak houses, red meat always in style

Thomas J. Baldwin, chief executive of Morton's Restaurant Group was in Boston on Thursday night to open Morton's' 77th restaurant. The restaurant, at Two Seaport Lane on the South Boston Waterfront, is Morton's second location in Boston. The first location, along Boylston Street in Back Bay, opened in 1987. He spoke with Globe reporter Thomas C. Palmer Jr. about subjects ranging from how diners can recognize a good steak and what Morton's offers customers at its restaurants to the decline in red meat consumption and the chain's expansion plans.

Q: You say you have the best steak anywhere. Better than what I'll get if I go to Kansas City?

A: Affirmative. We feature USDA Prime, the finest 2 to 3 percent of beef in the United States.

Q: How can the average person tell yours is better?

A: It all comes down to our people and our product and the decor of our restaurant. The product is literally the best product available, any product, seafood or steak. And we've got what we consider warm, friendly Midwestern service.

Q: What's special about the menu besides the mouth-watering cuts of beef?

A: Eighty percent of our entrees are beef, but nevertheless we serve great seafood, great live Maine lobsters.

Q: Morton's is a chain.

A: It is. But it's really a great local steakhouse. We're very active in every community we're in. Last year we worked with Read Boston.

Q: Are you constantly fighting the notion that red meat is bad for you?

A: Per capita , red meat consumption has declined for decades in the US, leveling off for the last few years. I think people are eating less beef at home, but when people want a great steak they choose a great steak house.

Q: Is your beef "natural" or do you claim it is?

A: We've been using the same two suppliers for almost 30 years. All of our beef comes from the USDA Midwest grain-fed beef.

Q: What do you think of the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals?

A: Everybody is entitled to their own opinion and position.

Q: Boston is an expensive town. Are your prices higher here than in Chicago?

A: Generally the prices on the East Coast and West Coast are a touch higher than in the Midwest, because of the differential in operating costs and rents.

Q: Will the one in the Back Bay remain, and will there be more in little old Boston?

A: Yes, we are actively looking for other locations, including some of the suburbs.

Q: That Back Bay restaurant is kind of invisible - in a below-ground location in an office building on Boylston.

A: That used to be our strategy, but that is changing. The Back Bay is very strong. Our newer restaurants are in much more prominent locations, and that's a change in strategy, trying to identify higher-profile locations.

Q: How much are you expanding?

A: We are scheduled to open six in '07, five to seven restaurants in '08. The other five in '07 are in San Jose and Woodland Hills, Calif., Macau, Cincinnati, and Annapolis [Md.]

Q: The space you're in on the South Boston Waterfront has been empty for years, as that area is only beginning to click. Are you worried about some slow first years?

A: We have good growth anticipated for that market, and we are actually going to serve lunch in that restaurant. We serve lunch in only 11 of our restaurants.

Q: Does an All-American restaurant chain like Morton's find it rough sailing in a world where America isn't always appreciated?

A: We operate five outside the US: two in Canada, Macau, Singapore, and Hong Kong. We do quite well in those markets. We would like to continue to expand in the Asian market.

Q: And Europe?

A: Not at this time.