Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Le Méridien Atlanta Getting Signature Restaurant, Portico

Jean-Georges Culinary Concepts, which currently manages Cook Hall at the W Buckhead and Spice Market at the W Midtown, will soon have a third concept in Atlanta.

Le Méridien Atlanta, which officially opened last week in place of the former W Perimeter, will soon welcome Portico. The restaurant will be built on what is currently a broken and dilapidated patio adjacent to the lobby bar on the main level.(seen above through the partially obstructed lobby windows)

According to the the hotel's website, Portico will be helmed by chef Brian Lee, who was most recently in the kitchen at the St. Regis San Francisco.  Portico will feature an international menu with seemingly heavy European and Asian influences, according to a brief menu description.

The restaurant will join a far less crowded field than in Buckhead, where Jean Georges' Market failed and was recently re-concepted as Cook Hall, a gastropub.    With the exceptions of  Goldfish, McKendrick's and Sage Woodfire Tavern, basically all of the nearby sit-down restaurants are chain restaurants.  Portico should be a nice addition to the area. 

A hotel representative told me the official word is that the restaurant will be open in May.  I questioned this timetable since zero work had been done to even prepare for an entire restaurant to be built.  The rep conceded that the timeline she was provided with was likely inaccurate. 

What are your thoughts on this new restaurant opening?  What would you like to see open in the former Hudson Grill / Garrison's at Perimeter Mall?  What should replace the old American Cafe within Perimeter Mall?

Please share your thoughts below.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can you please reference the source that indicates the restaurant will be managed by Jean-Georges or a company affiliated with him? I don't see this anywhere.

Atlantan99 said...

Hi Anon,

The Jean-Georges affiliation was provided to me by a food & beverage employee onsite at the hotel.

Thanks for reading and for the question!

Anonymous said...

The information provided to you by the employee appears to be completely inaccurate, so I would suggest retracting this post. Alternatively, you could provide a quote with the name of the individual, or another actual source of the information that can be traced back to Jean-Georges or an affiliated company. Otherwise this is very questionable journalism.

Billy said...

Hey Eli - Did the Jean-Georges affiliation that you indicated back in February turn out to be true? I found multiple sources that also claimed it (unless they were just copying you)and was curious.

Atlantan99 said...

@Billy,

I was told of the J-G affiliation back in February and was told the same thing again this past week. I gotta think it's true at this point. If not, they need to retrain their people ASAP.

Atlantan99 said...

ALL READERS :

Though multiple hotel employees, at various times both in person and over the phone confirmed that Jean-Georges would be involved in Portico, that is apparantly no longer the case.

My sincere apologies for the incorrect information.

Thanks for reading the site!

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