So Now We Know What Restaurant Will Be Replacing Fountain At The Four Seasons

We already know that Fountain at the Four Seasons is going to be going out on its own terms just a couple days after Christmas. Though breakfast and lunch service will be continuing, the final dinner service at Fountain is scheduled for December 27. We know that the Lounge will linger a bit, but that the whole shebang–the hotel and everything in it–will be shutting the doors for good in June of next year. The Four Seasons will be moving to the new Comcast World Domination Spire. Fountain? It’ll be a part of our collective history.

But as of yesterday, we now know two important things about the new operations at the Four Seasons’ former home. First, we know who’ll be managing day-to-day operations. Second, we know what restaurant is going to be replacing Fountain.

Thing one first: Though we still don’t know who’ll end up owning the soon-to-be-ex Four Seasons, we do know that Sage Hospitality will be managing it. The Denver-based, interstate hotel group will be in charge come 2016 when whatever the Four Seasons will become opens to the public.

Thing two: Sage Hospitality has a food service arm called Sage Restaurant Group. They run operations in a few states, and I’ve got experience with them in Denver, where they launched a cool, Mad Men-style concept called The Corner Office years ago, and another place called Second Home, which I also recall being quite fond of. They also have addresses in California, Portland, Cleveland and Pittsburgh (where they own Braddock’s American Brasserie), but for a bit of local connection, they operate Mercat a la Planxa, Jose Garces‘s Chicago outpost. Small world, right?

Anyway, the concept they have plans to expand into the former Fountain address is called Urban Farmer. It’s a steakhouse with a gloss of local, farm-to-table-y-ness, and is also the group’s first multi-concept brand (with locations already up and running in Portland and Cleveland). The menu is beef-heavy, with a few seafood departures and some interesting, multicultural departures in the first course.

Really, though? It’s a steakhouse. And while the SRG I know from past experience does have a knack for making hotel dining better than expected, filling the space vacated by Fountain? That’s going to be a tough act to follow.

Urban Farmer is currently scheduled to open sometime in 2016.

UPDATE: Just heard from the crew at the Four Seasons, and they explained that the actual ownership of the hotel won’t be changing. The bricks are currently owned by Host Hotels and Resorts, and will continue being owned by same. What will be changing is the management company–from Four Seasons to Sage Hospitality–but a new name and/or brand for the hotel hasn’t yet been chosen.

Sage Restaurant Group [Official]
All Fountain coverage [f8b8z]