The former Dairy Queen is being renovated to house the new restaurant, which is scheduled to open March 1.

Owner Edward But still hasn't pinned down a name.

"It would be nice if people would give me ideas," he said with a laugh.

The restaurant will include a licensed cocktail lounge with wide-screen televisions, games and a diverse menu with lots of finger foods.

In the non-smoking dining room, he'll offer a lunch buffet for $10. Steak sandwiches will cost about the same. All the steak is Grade AAA, he said. The largest hunk of meat on the menu will be a 64-ounce porterhouse steak. Seafood will be shipped up weekly from the Maritimes.

But describes his new restaurant as a nice steakhouse crossed with Red Lobster. Sort of a higher-end Earles.

He first inquired about purchasing a Keg franchise, but was told Yellowknife is too small.

"The Keg won't touch us unless we have 80,000 people," he said.

"I think the town needs something like this," he said. "There's not too many places here in town offering good steak at an affordable price."

He said his menu has a bit of everything and he hopes to draw in both a lunch and dinner crowd.

"I don't want this to be a restaurant where you go on special occasions only."

But is the former owner of Jade Garden. He sold his interests in the restaurant to relatives last month.

"It was a sad thing, because I built it from scratch," he said. "It took a long time to build up the clientele we've had. My customers are so loyal. But I'm sure they'll be at the new place."