Atlas aims to bring 1930s luxury to Harbor East with two new restaurants

Glass chandeliers, wooden beams and glossy bar tops make up Atlas Restaurant Group’s new Ruxton Steakhouse — a grand shrine to 1930s luxury.

The 10,000-square-foot space looks plucked out of Vegas, eagerly awaiting a Sinatra-type to plop into its plush green booths with an expensive scotch in hand. The aesthetic is built to attract hungry out-of-towners looking for the type of fine-dining experience rarely associated with Baltimore, according to owner Alex Smith.

His restaurant group also operates the Azumi Japanese eatery across the street and the Order of the Ace cocktail bar next door. The bar and steakhouse opened for service Monday.

Smith’s goal is to create a regional dining destination that is able to drive traffic to the growing Harbor East community. Flanked by hotels and major retail shops, the Ruxton and its accompanying cocktail bar aim to add a lively contrast, inviting people to gather over 13 cuts of beef and live music throughout the week.

He expects lunch service at the steakhouse to start off slow. But he believes dinner service will show visitors how the restaurant rivals the scale of eateries found in cities twice Baltimore’s size.

Each room at the Ruxton provides guests with a tailored experience, from the main dining area’s packed round tables and warmly lit booths, to the adjacent room’s quieter and brighter dining aura. Then there’s the wine cellar: a wooden tunnel lined with bottles, circling a large booth and table with a single chandelier for private wine tastings and esteemed guests.

The rooms are decorated in an Art Deco style, taking inspiration from the front-wheel-drive Ruxton automobile, whose design sprang into popularity in the late ′20s. Paintings and photographs of the vehicle hang on the walls of the steakhouse’s main rooms.

Chef Aaron Taylor, who previously worked with STK Steakhouse, crafted the menu behind the Ruxton. The restaurant offers twists on lavish steakhouse foods, from supplanting the avocado in tuna tartare with creme fraiche, kaluga caviar and white soy, to chicken wellington and appetizers like tater tots and caviar.

At the Order of The Ace, obscure cocktail spirits purchased to elevate guests’ go-to classics line an expansive bar, set behind a piano and intimate drinking space. Painted portraits of notable figures from the ‘30s hang around the room: Albert Einstein smoking his pipe, Billie Holiday belting a note and John Paterakis Sr., Smith’s grandfather, sipping a cocktail with a cigar in hand. Smith explained that Al Capone was initially supposed to be in the latter space, but he expected Paterakis and his contributions to developing the Harbor East neighborhood to be far less controversial.

Smith is preparing a $34 prix fixe menu in The Ruxton and $10 gin and vodka martinis for Order of The Ace to help bring in clientele for lunch. With the rise of remote work, he said, the eatery will need to maintain a price point competitive to that of Capital Grille, a popular spot for the city’s power lunches.

“We hope this gives people a reason to stay in town,” Smith said. He sees people using the space for a warmly lit meal after a day of watching the Orioles or exploring the city.

“We want to give people a chance to say positive things about the city and leave with a positive impression.”