Guard and Grace, a steakhouse concept, is expanding to two more locations, one in Charlotte, North Carolina, and a second one in Denver, where TAG Restaurant Group is headquartered. Chef and restaurateur Troy Guard already operates a Guard and Grace in downtown Denver and one in Houston.
Troy Guard also operates four units of his breakfast concept, Hashtag, two locations of his fast-casual bowl concept, Bubu, a cocktail bar in downtown Denver called Done Deal, and two Mexican restaurants called Los Chingones.
A new modified version of Guard and Grace is slated to open in November in the Denver Tech Center, where one of the Los Chingones restaurants has been operating for nine years. Troy Guard said, “The DTC deal came to us just a few months ago,” adding that he’d actually looked at the same space around five years ago, “and we just couldn’t get the numbers to work with the landlord.”
Since Troy Guard first looked at the space, other steakhouses have opened in the area, including Eddie V’s and Ocean Prime, so Guard is adjusting the focus of the new restaurant toward seafood and calling it Guard and Grace Surf Club.
Troy Guard grew up on the coast, in his native Hawaii and San Diego, and has a diverse seafood background which he plans to use in developing the Surf Club’s menu. He said, “I’ve been around the ocean a lot, so I have lots of great ideas and flavors I want to bring to the table.”
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Guard and Grace already has a diverse seafood menu as well as vegetarian and vegan options, but Troy Guard plans to expand those seafood choices at the DTC location. In fact, Guard said steaks now make up just 62% of orders at the steakhouse, down from 85% when the first location opened 13 years ago.
The DTC location is around the same size as the downtown restaurant — 8,500 square feet and around 250 seats. The new Charlotte location, which is slated to open on September 30, will be headed by chef Adam Vero, who has long been Guard and Grace’s executive chef.
The menu will be about 80% the same as other Guard and Grace locations, but with location-specific items including seafood items, cornbread dishes, and local oysters. To prepare for the opening, Troy Guard and his team have been partnering with local restaurants to hold popup events, including a Carolina-meets-Hawaii luau at The Goodyear House.
Troy Guard said, “We had a big smoker and I did a suckling pig there. It was a ton of fun.”