Last night my husband and I were invited to attend the "soft" opening of Ted's Montana Grill (located in the Historic Downtown Bozeman's Baxter Hotel), with the Press and Local VIPs in attendance.  The food was fabulous, specializing in bison burgers and entrees. Ted Turner and his associates were there to for the opening to sample the food as well.  See below the feature article in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

Ted's Montana Grill welcomed by downtown businesses

By TREVON MILLIARD Chronicle Staff Writer


   Ted's Montana Grill opens its doors at 4 p.m. Monday in the Baxter Hotel, and many neighboring business owners expect the restaurant - co-founded by media mogul Ted Turner and specializing in bison - to be an attractive bonus to the downtown district.
   "It's like Broadway," said Paul Grossman, owner of Looie's Down Under, a couple blocks east. "The more Broadway shows that are hits, the better. Broadway grows."
   It's the same for downtown Bozeman.
   Grossman said Ted's is a popular chain that will bring more people downtown who might otherwise go other places, so it will help Looie's too.
   Although Ted's opens to the public Monday, the cooking started Wednesday with dinners for Turner's family and friends. Tonight, the restaurant will host a ribbon cutting and dinner for the media. And VIP dinners are planned Friday and Saturday for local business owners, community service clubs and the Chamber of Commerce. On Tuesday, Ted Turner visited the restaurant for the first time since its restoration. "We're really excited," Turner said while greeting restaurant staff who were preparing for the opening. Designed to seat 128 people indoors and 96 on two patios, Ted's will offer a variety of menu choices from shrimp cocktail to bison burgers and short ribs. Prices range from about $10 for a blue plate classic to $32 for a bison tenderloin filet.
   Carla Hill, owner of John Bozeman's Bistro, said seeing Ted's open just a stone's throw from her restaurant is a good thing. It pays to be close to the excitement, she said. Most likely, people will have to wait for tables at the Grill and neighboring businesses will reap the benefits, she said.
   "I think it will be really complementary," Hill said. "The overflow goes to the next door down, which just so happens to be us."
   David Smith, president and CEO of the Bozeman Area Chamber of Commerce, said the restaurant will bring more people downtown and keep others there after they leave work, thereby improving business in an area that has been difficult for restaurants, on the west end of the Main Street district.
   "Most restaurateurs will say that their patronage will take a hit," Smith said. "But it will rebound for them if they provide good service."
   Kay Johnson, owner of Miller's Jewelry, called the new restaurant a positive change that will help keep downtown alive.
   "Every business and activity we can have is positive," Johnson said. "There's no reason to complain."
   Hill said many of her customers at the Bistro come downtown just to walk the sidewalks and take in the history that lines the streets, like the 79-year-old Baxter Hotel. And with Ted's renovating the first floor area that used to be the Robin Bar and Baxter Grille, she expects a resurrection for the hotel, which had fallen into disrepair.
   "That building is worthy of life," Hill said.
   Built in 1929, The Baxter provided more than 70 guest rooms but now has 20 condominiums on the upper floors. The hotel used to be a mainstay but lacked stable businesses occupying the first floor, so the hotel suffered as maintenance was put off, said David Loseff, owner of the Baxter's commercial space.
   The fact that Ted's Montana Grill, a successful restaurant chain with 57 locations in 19 states - none of them in Montana before now - has invested so much money in the Baxter, has given Loseff the confidence and money to restore other areas of the Hotel, he said.
   The hotel's ballroom, which is not a part of the Grill, has seen its maple floor renovated and the area cleaned for weddings and other events, Loseff said. The lobby also has been returned to its original grandeur, including the removal of carpeting that for two decades covered a terrazzo, or marble-flecked stone, floor.
   Loseff said he hopes to have the vacant Bacchus Pub leased out by a business soon, with Ted's Montana Grill inspiring confidence. And, Loseff said, the grill doesn't detract from the turn-of-the-century style of the Baxter.
   Ted's restaurants are designed in honor of Montana's early 19th century design of the Arts and Crafts period, which is "actually from the period of this building," Loseff said.
   Bruce Traucht, the proprietor of Bozeman's Ted's Montana Grill, said he's worked to keep the hotel's architecture a part of the restaurant. The two patios are still overshadowed by the original steel fire escapes with their faded-green paint and rust stains. The walls are mahogany wood from floor to ceiling, and the floors are walnut.
   "It's a benefit to the Baxter," Traucht said. "It's a turn-of-the-century concept in a turn-of-thecentury hotel."
The new sign for Ted's Montana Grill, the first of the restaurant chain in its namesake state, hangs off the facade of the Baxter Hotel.