A promising restaurant opens in Keller this week: Called Horizon 76, it's a casual but upscale American grill with steaks, burgers, sandwiches, cocktails, and craft beer.

It'll open at 1821 S. Main St., in a space that was once a TGIFridays, and will debut on June 18.

Horizon is run by Jeff Lowery, who has 24 years of experience in the restaurant industry, working at an upscale Tex-Mex chain. Chef is Dwight Dowell, who's had a catering business for a number of years. The restaurant represents a chance for them to roll out a concept that's all their own.

The menu features steaks, burgers, chicken, fish, and several signature dishes prepared over a mesquite wood grill.

There are some creative shared appetizers including Dwight's signature cilantro soup and a jalapeno cheese beer bread served with queso. Other dishes include avocado toast, smoked salmon, bacon-wrapped shrimp, fried avocado slices, and charcuterie boards featuring meats and cheeses.

Specialties include quail & sausage, chorizo pork tenderloin, fried chicken & waffle, fried chicken pot pie, hot bacon spinach salad, and a unique chili made with filet mignon, beans, and 32 spices.

A separate menu of steaks comes with choice of two sides and includes a bone-in filet, a rib eye, a NY strip, and a chicken-fried rib eye.

Sandwiches include burgers, a club, a grilled cheese BLT, and a chicken-fried rib eye sandwich. Sides include fries, wild rice, and mac & cheese.

Their trademark dessert is tabletop S'mores. They bring all the ingredients and you toast it yourself right at the table.

Horizon76 is a full-service restaurant, with a full bar serving cocktails and craft beer. Lowery describes the dining room as comfortable "with patriotic vibes."

"The '76' references 1776, it's that American feeling of good times, and 'horizon' represents something positive on the way," he says.

There's a covered patio with a more laid back atmosphere, plus games including Cornhole, Jumbo Jenga, or Giant Connect Four.

The location was originally TGIFridays but had seen a trio of concepts come and go including Drunken Donkey Craft Bar & Scratch Kitchen in 2016, replaced by Dallas Craft Co. in 2017, and most recently the Double Barrel Saloon.

Getting the restaurant open has been a long journey but with a fortuitous ending, Lowery says.

"We started this in March 2019," he says. "We had what I guess would be normal construction delays. That put us into the fall. We didn't want to open during the holidays, so we held off until spring 2020. And then the virus happened. If we had opened, we would have had to lay people off, and it would have been a lot worse. Now we look at it all as a godsend."

----------------------

Stephanie Allmon Merry contributed to this story.