If you're going to invest in the food service sector, fine dining is a good place to look. As baby boomers age, they are hitting their prime earning years, which, when combined with their increased disposable income as their children move out of the house, means that there are 78 million potential customers in America with the money and the leisure time to spend on fine dining. But food service can be a tricky industry. There's a high rate of failure, and a lot of a company's worth is derived from the cachet attached to the brand name. That said, every once in a while you find a company that manages to have an organization that is strong enough to ride out these risks and provide some real money making potential. Ruth's Chris Steak House, Inc. (NASDAQ: RUTH), the leading upscale steakhouse chain in the U.S., is one of those companies.

With more than 100 restaurants scattered around the country, Ruth's Chris has the diversification to ride out any localized failures, which are more often than not caused by changes in the economic environment in a restaurant's community. And the company plans to keep expanding, with hopes that the chain could eventually run to over 250 restaurants in the U.S. alone.

There's also potential for international growth; there are already 10 Ruth's Chris restaurants around the world, in markets as diverse as Hong Kong and Taiwan, with tentative plans in the works for up to 50 more in the future, starting with the recently announced plans for a Tokyo outpost. And all of this expansion seems to be paying off -- Ruth's Chris reported revenue up 20% last quarter.

As far as brand name cachet goes, Ruth's Chris' good name is also solid. The company has been voted "Best Steakhouse" in 25 cities across the country, and was given Wine Spectator's "Award of Excellence" in 2006, along with being voted "America's Best Steakhouse" by Restaurants and Institutions magazine. And unlike most "steakhouses," Ruth's Chris gives its customers even more of the "fine dining" experience from the expansive wine selection, which is offered by a highly educated staff (more than 90% of its management and chef staff are certified sommeliers).

Ruth's Chris was already a good bet before the company announced last month that it plans to acquire a total of 22 Mitchell's Fish Market and Cameron's Steakhouse restaurants from Cameron Mitchell Restaurants LLC out of Ohio. Beyond just being solid evidence of the company's expansion plans, this offers Ruth's Chris the opportunity to take the quality and strength of its steakhouses and branch out into other fine dining segments -- a smart move that should offer additional shelter from any fluctuations in the popularity of steak in general, and also to offset any problems with beef supply. This is one stock that could really heat up -- I'd step up to the table before the opportunity is gone.

Type of Stock: Ruth's Chris Steak House owns, operates and manages 114 fine dining restaurants worldwide.

Price Target: The stock is currently trading at just over $12 a share, but Goldman is predicting that it should go to $16 over the next year. I think it could go even higher -- perhaps over $20.

Hilary Kramer,author of the newly released Ahead of the Curve, is a financial editor and money coach for AOL and an authority on investing.