American Cut Delayed as Buckhead Atlanta Struggles

The Buckhead Atlanta development that houses Shake Shack, Le Bilboquet, American Food and Beverage among many other restaurants and shops is hitting hard times. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports several companies have liens against some of the development's tenants, including LDV Hospitality, which operates Corso Coffee, Dolce Italian, and is behind the forthcoming American Cut steakhouse.

With some workers missing pay, construction has reportedly stopped on the steakhouse, which is backed by celebrity chef Marc Forgione. American Cut was supposed to open this year, but now it's been pushed back to 2016, at least. Despite the gloomy report, representatives for LDV tell Eater Atlanta the steakhouse will not be scrapped, "but they are simply planning to open American Cut when the time is right, which will be after there's more growth and excitement at the center."

In a lengthy statement provided to Eater Atlanta, LDV founder and president John Meadow tried to explain the situation.

"We have always believed in and invested capital into the long term vision of the Shops Buckhead Atlanta development and the Buckhead, Atlanta, community as a whole," Meadow said. "We do not look at one restaurant in a vacuum but rather our overall investment of capital and our LDV team of people and loyal guests across our three restaurants in Buckhead as a whole. As early as Q1 2013 our original plan was to build and launch all three restaurants at the same time in early 2014. The project as a whole has been a lengthy endeavor for all parties going back nearly ten years at this point, and many aspects of its timeline have been a moving target, in relationship to the economic growth of the area in general.

"After getting into the project, and continually monitoring our progress, our strategy shifted to a staged out opening process which we felt to be prudent business, in consideration of the growth of the development and the neighborhood. We therefore decided to open our three restaurants over the course of three spread out years, first with Corso in 2014, most recently Dolce Italian, and now American Cut next year. We look forward to opening American Cut next year when the development is fully activated and exciting neighborhood projects like the Restoration Hardware flagship continue to evolve. In the interim, we are focusing on Dolce Italian, which we are thrilled to have opened to a warm welcome from the local community, and our other openings across the country, including two more additional American Cuts."