City officials cheerleading development along the canal walk and Turning Basin have been name-dropping Morton’s since last year. But in January 2002, when the restaurant was scheduled to open, there was an announcement the project was delayed. Then, in June, the amended opening date passed; nothing happened. At the time, a spokesman for Morton’s would not even confirm that Richmond was in the restaurant’s sights.

Roger Drake, vice president of communications for Morton’s Restaurant Group Inc., blames the delay on “economic factors and our slight adjustment in the number of new Morton’s opened in 2002.”

Now the project is on again. “We are excited about Morton’s coming to Richmond, VA, especially with our downtown location being in the heart of the city’s business district,” Drake writes in an e-mail. He tentatively puts the restaurant’s opening in February 2003. — Jason Roop