Taco Bell to Launch Upscale Eatery : Restaurants: The Irvine chain teams with an Orange County restaurateur for Southwestern-style cuisine.

In its second restaurant venture beyond fast food, Taco Bell Corp. said Monday that it is joining forces with a well-known Orange County restaurateur to develop a chain of sit-down eateries featuring moderately priced Southwestern-style cuisine.

David Wilhelm, who owns and operates a handful of upscale restaurants including Kachina in Laguna Beach and Bistro 201 in Irvine, will design the still-evolving concept for the new chain, Irvine-based Taco Bell said. The proposed chain will feature what Wilhelm described as Santa Fe-style dishes that incorporate “a contemporary . . . (Anglo-American) interpretation of Mexican foods.”

Wilhelm, 44, will design the decor and develop the menu, while Taco Bell, the nation’s leading Mexican-style fast-food restaurant chain, will operate the venture.

Neither Wilhelm nor Taco Bell officials would say what a typical meal would cost at the new restaurants.

Taco Bell, a subsidiary of Pepsico Inc. in Purchase, N.Y., last month bought Chevys, a San Francisco-based restaurant chain with 37 locations. That acquisition is intended to serve as a foundation for a nationwide chain of 300 Mexican-style, sit-down restaurants.

Chevys will continue to offer moderately priced, family-oriented dining. The still-evolving Southwestern chain is expected to generate “higher check averages,” Taco Bell spokesman Jeff Lightburn said Monday.

The two sit-down chains mark a dramatic change in direction for Taco Bell, which has 4,000 fast-food locations around the world and $2.5 billion in annual revenue. While Taco Bell hopes to create the first nationwide chain featuring Southwestern cooking, it will face stiff competition from other companies that are trying to lure baby boomers who are gradually shifting from fast food to more expensive restaurant meals.

“There’s plenty of room for growth in the casual dining segment,” said Craig Shulstad, spokesman for Minneapolis-based General Mills Inc., which operates more than 1,000 Red Lobster and Olive Garden restaurants in the United States and Canada.

General Mills is adding about 100 Red Lobster and Olive Garden restaurants a year.

It has also opened a handful of China Coast restaurants that serve Asian-style food in a casual atmosphere.