Baker St. opened here on Nov. 8 and occupies the former China Court building.

The restaurant is the first outside Texas for owners Hospitality USA Management Group.

Hospitality USA owns 221B Baker St. Pub & Grill and Sherlock's Baker St. Pub & Grill locations in Houston, San Antonio, Arlington, Austin, Fort Worth, and Addison, all in Texas.

The group, which was formed in 1995 by Larry Martin and Edgar Carlson, has plans on opening in Denver (two sites); Baton Rouge, La.; Boulder, Colo.; and Tampa, Fla. Hospitality USA has 1,000 fulland part-time employees and has reported company sales increases of more than 30 percent since 2001.

Randy Smith, general manager of the Oklahoma City location, said Hospitality USA is currently scouting for a potential site in Tulsa.

Hospitality has 15 restaurants in Texas, and the second out-of-state restaurant opened Wednesday in Denver.

The Oklahoma City restaurant is off to a good start, Smith said.

"It's been great; a lot better than I expected," Smith said. "It looks likes this part of town needed something like this."

221B Baker St. Pub & Grill is a 21-and-over restaurant with live entertainment Wednesday through Saturday.

Baker St. has an English flair, Smith said.

"It's an English pub and has a warm feel," Smith said. "We have a stone fireplace and 16 televisions."

Smith added that patio service is in the works.

Smith said construction and refurbishing of the restaurant began in mid-July and was completed by the time the restaurant opened.

221B Baker St. Pub & Grill from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily and serves lunch, dinner and late-night appetizers. The restaurant features a fullservice bar, complimentary wireless Internet and games such as billiards and steel-tip darts.

Jerry Shottenkirk reports on retail, health care, energy and law.