Aspen Creek, from owners of Texas Roadhouse, opens in Irving

In former Bennigan's spot.

IRVING — Aspen Creek, a new young sibling to the Texas Roadhouse chain, opened in Irving last week on the site of the old Bennigan's at Esters and 183.

It's the second branch of Aspen Creek, following the original in Louisville, Ky. NRN says that founder and Colorado native Kent Taylor based the concept on the ski lodges of Aspen, and you can see his inspiration in the restaurant's mountain-lodge decor.

Nothing on the menu exceeds $10. It's a pretty standard TGIFriday's-kind-of-lineup with salads, pizzas, baby back ribs, burgers, pot roast, pastas, spinach-artichoke dip, and a disproportionate amount of chicken dishes -- Hawaiian chicken, ranchero chicken, chicken fingers, smothered chicken, and so on.

However, according to service manager Meghin Wilkerson, who is quite the dynamo, all of the food is made on the premises.

"We cut all our steaks in store and every item is made from scratch," she says.

The restaurant has 380 seats, as well as a full bar, with a $1.99 happy hour every day from 3 to 6 p.m. They're also open relatively late: until 11 p.m. every night.

Texas Roadhouse is headquartered in Louisville and has 364 branches across the country, Wilkerson says. A survey just published by NRN says that it's #2 on the list of favorite casual-dining restaurant chains in the country.