Beauty and the Feast returns to Atlantic Hotel

With a nasty legal fight apparently over, restaurant romance is blooming anew between the Atlantic Hotel and Spa on Fort Lauderdale beach and the operators of Beauty and the Feast, the resort’s previous well-regarded eatery.

Society 8 Hospitality Group, which ran Beauty and the Feast from its 2014 opening until its acrimonious February 2017 eviction, returned to the condo-hotel on Nov. 1 and is now managing Coastal restaurant. Coastal opened one year ago in the former Beauty and the Feast location as a court battle raged between Society 8 and the Atlantic’s owners.

“It’s an interesting and unique outcome,” says Steven D’Apuzzo of Society 8. “Usually when things end up in court there’s a split and everyone goes their separate ways. But we were able to reach a resolution when a new board took over [the condo-hotel’s ownership group]. The new board recognized the success of what we had done and everyone realized it was not in anyone’s interest to sever a relationship that was so beneficial in the past.”

Although the court case is still listed as pending, upcoming proceedings have been canceled as a formal settlement appears to be in the works.

D’Apuzzo says the restaurant, at 601 N. Fort

Lauderdale Beach Blvd., will remain known as Coastal through the holidays, with an Italian menu and its current staff. But he says changes are coming in early 2019, when a new concept and name are unveiled.

Does this mean the return of Beauty and the Feast?

“No, it’s going to be a different name,” D’Apuzzo says. “Bringing back the same name would cause too much confusion in the market.” D’Apuzzo says the new concept will focus on shareable plates — from tapas to family-sized “cutting-board platters” — featuring many vegetarian dishes and culinary trends that he picked up on travels this year to food destinations such as Nashville, Austin, New York City and Asheville, N.C.

“There’ll be seafood platters, and cutting boards with preparations of different parts of the same animal,” D’Apuzzo says. “It’s going to be exciting for foodies.”

D’Apuzzo’s group also runs Park & Ocean restaurant at nearby Birch State Park along with Avant in Delray Beach, an artsy restaurant that has been recently revamped as a livemusic supper club. Society

8 is also busy completing Sistrunk Market and Brewery, Fort Lauderdale’s first food hall, which D’Apuzzo says will also open in early

2019.

D’Apuzzo is not ready to reveal the lineup of a dozen food vendors at Sistrunk Market, but says he has signed up chefs from Miami and West Palm Beach, including stands specializing in tacos, ceviche, ramen and Japanese ices. “It’s going to be high-quality vendors each offering six to 10 specialty items,” D’Apuzzo says. Khoffner Brewery will relocate to the new market from its current Fort Lauderdale warehouse north of Sunrise Boulevard. The microbrewery specializing in German-style lagers and ales also plans to unveil a line of American-style beers brewed under its Shady Brewing moniker.