Morton’s Grille closes on the Country Club Plaza

Last night was the final night of business for the nine-month-old Morton’s Grille restaurant on the Country Club Plaza.

Today the managers are in the process of closing down the lesser-priced spinoff of the national Morton’s: the Steakhouse chain (owned by Houston-based Landry’s Inc.). A manager confirmed today that the restaurant — which The Pitch reviewed last February — is closed for good. Morton’s Grille is considered a test concept for Landry’s. The Plaza location was one of three in the country. The other two are in New York City and Texas.

The closing wasn’t a huge surprise: Other Plaza restaurants had been hearing rumors of the impending shuttering of the location — the former M&S Grille space, another Landry’s restaurant concept — for months.

“I kept hearing the same thing from customers who came into our restaurant,” says the regional director of another chain restaurant on the Plaza. “They went into Morton’s Grille for dinner, and the place was dead.”

Last week, I left messages with the corporate communications spokesperson for Landry’s — they were never returned — and Gayle Terry, the marketing director of the Country Club Plaza, who chose not to comment.

One source told The Pitch that the local Morton’s Grille staff was given no warning and was informed last night that it would be their final night.

Kansas City also had an outpost of the expensive Morton’s: the Steakhouse at Crown Center, which closed in 2008.