CHICAGO – The legendary Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami Beach, owned and operated by the same family since 1913, finally has a sibling, but not an identical twin: Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab.

Doing things a little differently to meet the expectations of a different market, the new Chicago restaurant is a joint venture between the original Joe’s Stone Crab, Chicago-based Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises and ICON, a partnership of Lettuce executives Richard Melman and Gerard Centioli. Unlike the Miami landmark, the new Joe’s will be open all year, instead of just during the stone crab season from October to May. And, as its modified name indicates, the offspring emphasizes steaks and other seafood items even more than the concept’s renowned stone crab claws.

“Everything you see is rooted in Joe’s – that’s the heart and soul of it – but it has clearly evolved to a different niche in a different market,” Centioli said.

The emphasis on Prime steaks and other seafoods is somewhat new positioning for the concept’s debut in Chicago, according to Centioli. That slant distinguishes the newcomer from the city’s many existing steak houses and other seafood restaurants. The positioning also sets Joe’s apart from multiconcept Lettuce’s own nearby seafood flagship, Shaw’s Crab House.

“Shaw’s does a wonderful job with seafood and oysters,” Centioli said, “It doesn’t have the heavy emphasis on steaks at all. No one will walk in and say that this looks like Shaw’s.”

Centioli declined to project the new restaurant’s annual sales.

The Miami Joe’s takes in more than $22 million during its seven-month season, according to Marc Fine, the restaurant’s comptroller, who estimated that dinner check averages are $50 and those at lunch are $35.

An all-day check average of $50 is expected in Chicago, Centioli said. Dinner entrées range from $15.95 to $42.95 and lunch entrées are $7.95 to $32.95.

A smaller restaurant than the 450 seat Miami original, the Chicago Joe’s seats 223. And, unlike in Miami, the Chicago version takes reservations for dinner.

“The reservation thing doesn’t work for us,” said Joann Bass, third-generation owner of the original Joe’s. “We don’t take reservations because we can’t honor them; we can’t get parties to get out when they’re supposed to.”

Consequently, guests in Miami Beach wait in line for tables, often as long as three hours. However, Bass admitted that regular local customers are given “some special consideration so they don’t have to wait three hours behind people who come once a year.”

Bass said she does not track the percentage of customers who are local vs. those who are tourists. Local customers for lunch, for which reservations are taken, account for about 75 percent of the total, she said. She also noted that the restaurant’s tourist customers come for stone crabs, while locals also come for other menu items. Stone crabs are 75 percent of food sales.

Noting that Joe’s nearly ran out of stone crabs a few times, Bass said restaurants can’t guarantee their availability. “We own three fisheries, but that doesn’t control the ocean,” she said.

Her grandparents, Joe and Jennie Weiss, were the first restaurateurs known to have stone crab claws on their menu in the 1920s. They served them simply chilled with mustard sauce. Stone crabs are hand-harvested in the Gulf of Mexico, one claw at a time, and returned to the sea alive. Four sizes are served: medium, select, large and jumbo.

Other famed signatures of Joe’s that are served in Chicago are Joe’s scallops, Joe’s coleslaw, creamed spinach, hash browns, Joe’s grilled tomatoes and Key lime pie.

The Chicago Joe’s plans to offer takeout starting next year. Food-to-go at the Miami Beach restaurant has become a $2 million-a-year business. In the meantime, guests in Chicago may pick up phoned-in orders at curbside.

Bass said she never planned to duplicate Joe’s because she likes the control of having a family member on the premises at all times. However, she agreed to the joint venture with Lettuce and ICON at the urging of her son, Stephen Sawitz, Joe’s chief operating officer. He and Lettuce founder Melman had spoken informally about the possibility of a joint venture for nearly seven years.

Bass said she had turned down many offers to buy her out over the years. Since she is considering retirement, she said she wanted to give Sawitz the opportunity to take Joe’s to the next level.

Because she knew Melman and his reputation, Bass said she felt comfortable in joining forces with his companies. “Because of the people who are running this, I can’t see this as being a mistake,” she said. When she first saw the finished restaurant, she commented, “They picked up not only the look but the essence of Joe’s.”

Décor at the new place is timeless and clubby, with white walls, dark woodwork, wooden window shutters and black-and-white photographs of family members on the walls. The servers wear tuxedoes.