Azure Hotel Holdings today announced a transformative partnership with world-renowned celebrity chef David Burke that will elevate the culinary landscape of Central Florida. Under the agreement, Burke’s signature Red Horse restaurant concept will open as the flagship dining destination at the new Azure Hotel Kissimmee Historic Downtown.
“Partnering with Chef David Burke is a game-changer for Azure Hotel Kissimmee and the entire Kissimmee community,” Azure Hotel Holdings CEO Ramon Gomez said. “His innovative approach to modern American cuisine perfectly aligns with our vision of delivering exceptional, memorable experiences.”
Known for his TV appearances on Iron Chef America and Top Chef Masters, Burke is a two-time James Beard Award nominee who has authored multiple cookbooks and developed 18 unique restaurant brands and concepts. He created and patented a technique using Himalayan pink sea salt to age the beef served at Red Horse and his other restaurants.
Burke told GrowthSpotter the process involves building a special room with salt walls and aging the meat anywhere from 30 to 55 days. It produces a perfectly tender, seasoned steak that tastes even better than traditional aging. The dry aging room adds about $50,000 to the construction cost, but Burke said the results are incomparable.
“It’s hard to build a room everywhere, and when we do age in our own restaurants, you need to have a world-class butcher,” he said. “We will most likely have a dry aging room at the Red Horse in Kissimmee.”
Gomez told GrowthSpotter that Red Horse will occupy the two-story restaurant space just off the lobby, with a sushi bar planned for the second floor. This will be Burke’s fourth Red Horse Steakhouse — it has locations in New York and New Jersey — and his second Florida venture, following the recent opening of SeaHawk Prime in West Palm Beach last New Year’s Eve.
Gomez has been a frequent diner at SeaHawk. “The food is incredible,” he gushed. “It’s similar to Red Horse. The only thing is, since it’s on the Intercoastal, it has more seafood. But it has all the trademark steaks and dishes there. I can tell you, you have to go with an empty stomach because it’s too good.”
Chef Burke has also been retained by Azure to design and develop all of the menus for the 300-room luxury boutique hotel and the adjacent 45,000-square-foot Kissimmee Convention Center. In addition, Azure Hotel Holdings has entered into a full-service management agreement with David Burke Hospitality Management to oversee operations of all Food & Beverage outlets across both properties.
The Azure Hotel Kissimmee and Kissimmee Convention Center represent a $180 million mixed-use development replacing the former Civic Center site. Located on the shores of Lake Tohopekaliga in historic downtown Kissimmee, the 10-story hotel will feature 4+ star accommodations, a rooftop bar, pool bar, pool, full-service spa, retail space, and direct access to the state-of-the-art convention center.
“It’s a very big project,” Burke said. “I don’t know the market well, but I know the developer. I know the architect, and I know Ramon now, and I thought what a great opportunity. And sometimes the chemistry is there. I love the energy that’s going into the design.”
Burke said Red Horse will showcase many of his most popular dishes, including the famous lobster dumplings and “clothesline bacon.” He will be traveling to Kissimmee to get a better feel for the local culinary scene.
“We’ll have a variety of signature dishes that will be similar to what we have at SeaHawk,” he added. “I always like to create a dessert that is specific to each restaurant and the region. So for Kissimmee, it might have something to do with cattle, and maybe we call it chocolate moo or something like that with a cool play on words.”
The other hotel restaurant will serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and will offer modern American cuisine. “That’ll still have a local flair to it,” he said. “It’ll probably be a little less pricey than Red Horse, so whether that’s a tavern or a bistro, it’s going to be a more approachable American restaurant.”
Gomez said Burke was also impressed with Azure’s partnership with Preferred Hotels and Resorts, which extends to locations in South Florida, as well.
“He saw that we have a path for the brand, per se. So he saw that, and he got excited. He said I’m going to bring your brand to light. We have a really good rapport with him, and we have become friends.”
Gomez said demolition of the civic center is scheduled to start in late July, and sitework for the hotel will start before the end of the year. The project is designed to position Kissimmee as a premier destination for business, tourism, leisure, and community events.
“Partnering with Chef David Burke is a game-changer for Azure Hotel Kissimmee and the entire Kissimmee community,” Gomez added. “His innovative approach to modern American cuisine perfectly aligns with our vision of delivering exceptional, memorable experiences.”
The new Red Horse restaurant at Azure Hotel Kissimmee is expected to open in conjunction with the hotel’s anticipated 2029 debut, with the convention center slated for completion in 2028.
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at lkinsler@GrowthSpotter.com or (407) 420-6261. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.
