![Ford Fry. [Photo: Emily Schultz]](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zZEMMps6sXIiX4UQ0hz_N30KVfw=/10x10:1010x760/1200x800/filters:focal(10x10:1010x760)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45862242/fryabattoir.0.0.jpg)
Ford Fry, the local empire builder who most recently opened Superica in Krog Street Market, plans to install a steakhouse in the Westside Provisions District space that houses Anne Quatrano's Abattoir. Fry will take over the space after Abattoir closes later this month.
Neither Fry nor his PR team responded to a request for comment, but a tipster in the know confirmed that the restaurateur, who is a semifinalist for a James Beard Award this year, will open a "proper" steakhouse — think of something more traditional than the Southern chophouse concept at Abattoir. It will be Fry's third Westside restaurant, his first steakhouse, and the only steakhouse in Westside.
In addition to Superica, Fry's Rocket Farm Restaurants group operates sister "Mex-Tex" eatery The El Felix in Avalon, plus The Optimist and JCT. Kitchen & Bar in Westside, King + Duke and St. Cecilia in Buckhead, and No. 246 in Decatur. A sister restaurant to The Optimist will open in Inman Park's Inman Quarter development later this year.
UPDATE: Fry tells Atlanta Magazine the steakhouse will be named Marcel, after early 1900s French boxer Marcel Cerdan, and is on track to open in July. Plus, he is working on another "Mex-Tex" restaurant in Buckhead.