Not so fast on Smith & Wollensky deal

Looks like Joachim Splichal's Patina Restaurant Group has some company in the bidding for steak house chain Smith & Wollensky. Landry's Restaurants has sweetened its offer to $9.75 per share, a half-buck higher than the deal Patina cut with S&W last month. The stock is now trading at $9.85, up 9.4 percent for the day. Landry's earlier low-ball offer was $7.50 a share. Patina execs had talked about expanding the S&W chain to L.A. and other locales, but it looks like they'll have to up their offer to at least ten bucks to make it happen. Crain's NY Business

Motley Fool contributor Rick Aristotle Munarriz lays out some of the backstory on S&W's struggle for bottom-line excellence:

Just like that, Smith & Wollensky has become the belle of the butcher-block ball. It's an amazing tale of redemption, humility, and some really big porterhouse steaks. Until gentleman callers began lining up two months ago, the classy eatery found itself toiling away in anonymity for years since going public at $8.50 back in 2001. The stock never traded above that IPO price until Patina's offer in late January.

Why was Smith & Wollensky doomed to a life of single-digit share prices, while recent chophouse rivals like Morton's (NYSE: MRT) and Ruth's Chris (Nasdaq: RUTH) have been better-received? The key is the blood-rare income statements. Profitability has been scarce and temporary for Smith & Wollensky. It has always managed to pack crowds in and grow its comps, but those sales have proved dicey on the way to the bottom line. Landry's and Patina obviously think they can change that.