CHESTER – A former nude nightclub in Hancock County is going country – and putting its clothes on.

What was once Daizy Duke’s Country Saloon (formerly the Velocity Club and Kamikaze’s) soon will be the Saddle Ridge Bar & Grill, 2097 Lincoln Highway (U.S. Route 30).

New owner Eli Elkobi, who bought the property on Aug. 1, said the new establishment will be family-friendly and will focus on a full lunch and dinner menu.

Although the temporary sign out front advertises “hot bartenders,” Elkobi said the female bartenders will be fully clothed-outfitted with flannel shirts, jean shorts, cowboy boots and cowboy hats.

Elkobi, an Israeli who settled in Chester in 1996, said he has no doubt Hancock County will support a country establishment with a mechanical bull, barstools that look like saddles, line dancing, karaoke and other accoutrements.

“There’s nothing like this from here to Pittsburgh or Youngstown,” he said. “I want people to walk in here and say, ‘Wow, this is totally different.'”

The building is undergoing an interior and exterior renovation and should be ready for an Oct. 1 “soft” opening and an Oct. 3 grand opening, he said.

“Our main concern will be the food. We want people to come and bring their kids,” Elkobi said. “We don’t want the bad crowd.”

The Saddle Ridge will have a chef providing a full lunch and dinner menu from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and a late menu from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. – seven days a week. The restaurant will close at 3 a.m.

Elkobi, who owns Fantasy’s Gentlemen’s Club on state Route 2, said he was not interested in perpetuating the building’s history as a nude nightclub. “I already own a strip club. Why would I want another one?” he said.

At one time, Kamikaze’s (and later Velocity) was known as the only club in the country where the female bartenders served patrons in the nude.

Elkobi also owns the Gym Fitness & Tan, 2429 Lincoln Highway, and two limited video lottery cafes in Chester.

In addition to the mechanical bull, the Saddle Ridge will have karaoke on Tuesday, line dancing on Thursday, bands on Friday, a disc jockey on Saturday and bike night on Sunday, he said.

The restaurant also will have four limited video lottery machines, he said.