Is there room in the R&I Top 400 for at least one more steakhouse? New York City-based BLT Restaurant Group's signature BLT Steak concept will be a serious contender for a place in next year's ranking.

R&I defines a chain as a concept with more than five locations. At the close of 2007, Chef Laurent Tourondel (r.) and partners Jimmy Haber and Keith Treyball had just five locations in operation, making it ineligible for consideration. A sixth unit—in Los Angeles—opened earlier this year, and three more BLT Steak restaurants are expected by year-end. One will be in Camelback Inn in Scottsdale, Ariz.; a second is scheduled to open in the W Atlanta Downtown Hotel & Residences; the third will open in The Betsy Hotel in Miami.

Last month, Chevy Chase, Md.-based The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company LLC announced that it will open a BLT Steak in the 147-room The Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte at Bank of America Center in Charlotte, N.C., scheduled to open in 2009. It will be the fourth partnership between BLT Restaurant Group and the hotel company: BLT Steak units operate in The Ritz-Carlton, San Juan Hotel in Puerto Rico and The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester Hotel in White Plains, N.Y. Additionally, BLT Market restaurant is housed in The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park.