America’s taste for red meat over fine dining powered a healthy sales gain for LongHorn Steakhouse in a strong quarter for dining giant Darden Restaurants Inc. Darden’s stock was rallying by 13.% on Thursday as the top gainer among the components of the S& P 500 If the gains hold,

LongHorn Steakhouse reported same-store sales growth of 7.5%. The casual-dining chain has been a top performer in Darden's portfolio in recent years, winning over customers with both the quality of its food and its prices. Wall Street was expecting the chain to report same-store sales growth of 4.1%.

The company, best known as the owner of Olive Garden, reported a better performance at its casual restaurants and tougher times at more costly outlets.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) reported sales increased by 6.0% in FQ2 to $2.9 billion, driven by a blended same-restaurant sales increase of 2.4% vs. 1.5% consensus and sales from the addition of 103 Chuy's restaurants and 39 net new restaurants.