June 5 (Bloomberg) -- Chef Gordon Ramsay is to open Petrus restaurant in Belgravia in September close to the rival venue of Marcus Wareing, his former friend and protege who ran Petrus at London’s Berkeley Hotel until the two fell out.

Petrus will be on Kinnerton Street, over the road from the hotel, where Wareing holds two Michelin stars for Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley. Ramsay says he will direct the establishment together with Mark Askew, who first joined Ramsay in 1992 at Aubergine and is executive head chef of Gordon Ramsay Holdings.

Ramsay is seeking to capitalize on the Petrus name after his company almost failed when it expanded too quickly, opening eateries around the world. The chef told the Sunday Times that he and his father-in-law, Chris Hutcheson, invested more than 5 million pounds ($8 million) of their money to save the business.

“Petrus is a cornerstone of the group and this stunning new site is the beginning of the next chapter in the life of this restaurant,” Ramsay said today in an e-mailed statement.

The modern French menu will include dishes such as fillet of Angus beef with Swiss chard, wild mushrooms and red-wine sauce; and baked line-caught sea bass with confit fennel and caviar sauce, Ramsay said today in the e-mailed statement, distributed by his public-relations company, Sauce Communications.

‘Gordon Food’

“It sounds like familiar Gordon food,” Wareing said today in a telephone interview. “Petrus for 10 years was the creation of Marcus Wareing and now it’s going to be the next generation. I’m very happy to hand the baton over to my new neighbor and wish him the best of luck with it, I really do.”

Ramsay was best man at Wareing’s wedding and helped finance the original Petrus for Wareing. The two later drifted apart personally and professionally. Wareing went public with the dispute last year and resigned from Gordon Ramsay Holdings.

“I wouldn’t have had a Petrus in the first place if it wasn’t for Gordon and I wish him well,” Wareing said today.

That’s a rather different sentiment from the one Wareing expressed in an interview last year, when he said he wouldn’t care if he never saw Ramsay again in his life.

“If he wants me never to get to the status I want, then my advice to him is: Put a gun to my head, shoot me, put me in a box and bury me, because if you don’t, I’ll come back and I’ll come back,” Wareing told “Waitrose Food Illustrated.”

Jean-Philippe Susilovic, who was Wareing’s maitre d’ for five years, will be director of the new restaurant.

Petrus will feature an open wine cellar in the center of the dining room displaying as many as 2,000 bottles. The design is by Russell Sage Studio, which was also responsible for Ramsay’s York & Albany hotel in London and is also revamping the Savoy Grill. Two semi-screened dining tables will seat six and 12 guests. The aim is for a contemporary look.

The reservations number is +44-20-7592-1609.

(Richard Vines is chief food critic for Bloomberg News. Opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer on the story: Richard Vines in London at rvines@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 5, 2009 08:06 EDT