When Chef Dustin Staggers (of Roux, Ten Tables, Epic Sammich Co etc.) announced the plans for America. The Diner. in February, the casual 24-hour concept was supposed to be up and running by the Fourth of July. Though Independence Day is nearly here, America. The Diner. is… not.
According to the deed for 814 Cherokee Road, filed in Jefferson County on April 23, 2015, the property was purchased in April by FB 2011 LLC. A limited liability company, FB 2011’s annual report is signed by member Brook Brown Barzun.
“We acquiesced to some of the concerns they had, but I think I a negative stigma was attached to what we were doing, unfairly and unnecessarily. Like the church on the corner – I mean, people ran with those unfair assumptions,” says Staggers.
The unfair assumptions of which Staggers speak took form in a petition, circulated through the Cherokee Triangle neighborhood by the nearby Church of the Advent. The church’s listed concerns included the questionable appropriateness of a restaurant serving alcohol until 4 a.m. for the neighborhood, the possible poaching of parking spaces and the increase in traffic.
But this new plan was not enough for the new owners to reach an agreement. “They had some concerns about the kind of crowd that would come with a 24-hour establishment, so we made some concessions, we were going to close earlier, cut liquor off earlier, but it just came down to some final negotiations, and we couldn’t get on the same page.” Staggers says. “No hard feelings, business is business.”