Food Network Host Willie Degel Opens His First Atlanta Restaurant in August [Updated]

If you're a fan of Food Network's Restaurant Stakeout, you know the restaurateur behind a forthcoming Duluth eatery. Host Willie Degel is planning to open a local outpost for his new steak concept Uncle Jack's Meat House, a representative tells Eater Atlanta. On pace to begin service in late August, the restaurant will take up residence at 6590 Sugarloaf Pkwy.

"Atlanta is a great eating city, offers outdoor eating nine or ten months of the year, and has restaurants with big personality," Degel said in a prepared statement. That makes it a perfect fit for what I do. Duluth gives us an ideal proving ground for the Uncle Jack’s Meat House concept and a way to build brand recognition for other locations in the metropolitan area."

The Duluth restaurant will be Degel's first Uncle Jack's location, and he plans to follow that up with a second restaurant in Queens, N.Y. Once they're up and running, the restaurateur and TV personality plans to franchise the brand for further expansion, and he calls Atlanta a "target market." Uncle Jack's will offer the obvious beefy cuts, but Degel says he's targeting a wide-ranging clientele, so there will be variety in the menu and prices.

In addition to the forth coming Meat House restaurants, Degel operates a few other Uncle Jack's brands in New York: Uncle Jack’s Steakhouse, Uncle Jack’s Steak Sandwich Shoppe at Madison Square Garden, and Jack’s Shack Organic Eatery.

Update: A representative previously told Eater Atlanta Uncle Jack's would open in September. Degel now says the restaurant will open in late August.