It's "check, please" time at OSI Restaurant Partners (NYSE:OSI), now that shareholders have approved a private equity buyout at $41.15 per share in cash. The parent of casual steakhouse pioneer Outback Steakhouse will cease trading no later than June 19.

It's sad to see OSI go private so quickly after rival Lone Star Steakhouse did likewise. Both companies made restaurant stocks exciting in the early 1990s, blazing a trail with their attractively priced chophouse concepts. But growth-stock investors moved away years ago, as the chains approached maturity. So it's fitting that our vulture-happy Inside Value newsletter service ultimately recommended OSI.

As a credit to the value investing team, several steakhouse chains such as Lone Star, Roadhouse Grill, and Smith & Wollensky (NASDAQ:SWRG) received premium buyout offers after OSI got the nod. Clearly, there was value in the sector, and it was just a matter of time before OSI would find its own suitor.

But OSI didn't surrender quietly. When your flagship menu items have names like Thunder Down Under and the Bloomin' Onion, you don't exactly go out without a fight. The consortium of investors taking the company public had to sweeten its original $40 a share deal to get the acquisition approved.

OSI's exit leaves few steakhouses publicly traded. RARE Hospitality (NASDAQ:RARE) and Texas Roadhouse (NASDAQ:TXRH) remain on the casual-dining side. Ruth's Chris (NASDAQ:RUTH) and Morton's (NYSE:MRT) will carry the torch on the upscale end.

I'd be surprised if another buyout or two didn't happen before the end of the year. When private equity is hungry, it begs to be fed.

Well-done Foolishness:

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Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz is fan of a good steakhouse. Or a bad steakhouse, for that matter. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.