'Steak Done Right:' Joliet Mayor D'Arcy Served First Bite Of Juicy Ribeye Steak At New Longhorn Steakhouse

JOLIET, IL — It's been three years and two months since one of the greatest days in the history of Joliet's restaurant scene: the grand opening of the Olive Garden. For years, Joliet's naysayers predicted doom and gloom, they claimed that Joliet would never get an Olive Garden. Then it did and Joliet's restaurant continues to thrive and flourish.

On Monday at 2 p.m., Joliet Mayor Terry D'Arcy, City Manager Beth Beatty and City Councilman Cesar Cardenas joined Jen Howard, Mike Paone and fellow representatives of the Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce to welcome another powerful force in the national restaurant industry to the city of Joliet: Longhorn Steakhouse held its ribbon-cutting ceremony at 2 p.m. and the restaurant opened for real at 3 p.m.

Joliet's sparkling new Longhorn Steakhouse is near Interstate 55 and Route 30/Plainfield Road. It's inside The Boulevards development, sharing parking lot space with .... you guessed it, the Olive Garden.

Longhorn is now open seven days a week. Prior to Monday's grand opening, the closest Longhorn Steakhouse to Joliet and Plainfield was in Bolingbrook, Oswego and Orland Park.

The new restaurant's hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The Boulevards are anchored by the Costco store; a large portion of the commercial redevelopment is inside the village of Plainfield including the Costco and the Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurant.

If you visit the restaurant website for Longhorn Steakhouse, the first thing you will notice is a simmering steak accompanied by the words: "STEAK DONE RIGHT."

"If you're here, you probably speak our language: steak," the Longhorn website reads. "Making our famous, expertly crafted steaks starts with picking quality cuts and ends where most good things do: on the grill.

"While some take shortcuts and cut corners, at Longhorn, we do things the right way because that is what great steak deserves. And, more important, it's what you deserve. We'd say more, but it would just make us hungry."