Stevie G gets into the restaurant game

WHAT DOES a £6 million-a-year Premiership footballer buy when he has got everything? His favourite restaurant, of course.

Steven Gerrard might have taken the very idea of going out for the night in Southport onto a whole new level – but now he's joining the other side, where he won't get into any daft lumber.

The England and Liverpool FC star, whose Formby back yard gym is so big that it's got its own postcode, has hooked up with Paul Adams, head honcho of the Vincent Hotel and Warehouse Brasserie. They are to relaunch the Warehouse with a new look and new name.

Is it Brasserie Gerrard. Nah, been done. Is it the Warehouse Bar & Grill? Oh puleease. No, no and no. it's the Warehouse Kitchen & Bar.

The Warehouse, top haunt of Premiership stars and their good lady WAGs, has long been the only Merseyside restaurant to retain a Michelin Bib Gourmand for good value food. Now it is undergoing a major refurbishment before opening all new at the end of this month.

Gerrard, as a shareholder in the venture, said: “If you look back at any interviews I have done where they’ve asked me about my favourite restaurant, and I’ve done a lot over the years, I’ve always said the Warehouse.

“I’ve been eating there for years because I love the food and the atmosphere, so it’s genuinely exciting to become its co-owner with Paul.

“I don’t want to just be the celebrity face of the restaurant. This is not a theme bar, it’s about great food, great surroundings and making it a place that people really want to come back to.”

The theme of the restaurant, it says here, “is a closely guarded secret”.

Nevertheless we learn that it has “taken its inspiration from the new wave of “hipster bars” popular in New York’s Tribeca district”.These are not to be confused with the old wave of “hip replacement bars” popular in Southport's Lord St district – at least among the resort's elderly population.

Adams said that there are plans to roll out the brand deep into WAG country with branches in south Manchester, Chester and Liverpool. “To have Steven join our team is just fantastic,” he added.

Stevie G follows team mates Jamie Carragher (Cafe Sports England), and Daniel Agger (Que Pasa, Lark Lane) into the heady world of clattering cutlery.

The move comes as further proof that Liverpool FC players are keen to display their skills off the pitch and in the kitchen.

Earlier this week, Fernando Torres revealed that he wants to take part in a Come Dine With Me special.The Spanish striker has frequently spoken about his passion for food and British cookery shows, confessing to holding competitions with Gerrard and Carragher.

Gerrard insists: “This is my first venture in the restaurant trade but I think it’s important to also say that my priorities are, and always will be, on the football pitch.”

But anxious Reds fans, concerned that dressing room banter will be more about the price of sausages than Rafa's team talk, appeared to have their worries confirmed this week when an Anfield insider related to Confidential a recent half-time exchange overheard between players.

"Someone said 'great nutmeg' and assumed it was a compliment until I realised he actually said 'grate nutmeg' which, as we all know, is step five of Carra's legendary cauliflower cheese recipe."

Or as the people of Berkshire like to say, "They can beat an egg, but they can't beat Reading."