After opening his first venue in New York City in 2004, Local West, John Meadow went on to open Scarpetta in New York’s Meatpacking District in 2008 and launched LDV Hospitality. The company grew from there, and today LDV Hospitality proudly boasts 20 venues around the country offering a quality and soulful mix of fine-dining restaurants, charming cafes, intimate lounges, and decadent nightlife venues.

When I was 14 years old, I told my father I wanted to get a tattoo of la dolce vita on my forearm. That didn’t go over so well. I never got my tattoo, but I have realized my dream to make that notion of the charmed yesteryear and nostalgia of the classics a big part of my life and vision for LDV.
LDV Hospitality is committed to bringing this concept of joie de vivre, or the good life, to the modern day, creating charming restaurants and nightlife experiences rooted in updated classics and traditions. Other restaurant groups might specialize in specific types of cuisines or establishments, but we exist purely in the realm of the good life. When we first began opening restaurants, we realized that instead of viewing them as separate entities, it made more sense to grow them under one lifestyle approach. That way, the passion derives from the same place and gives our company signature cohesiveness.
The common thread remains the same— making the dreams of la dolce vita real for our guests by making the classics relevant to modern-day life. Take, for example, American Cut, our new American steakhouse. This is our nod to the New York City steakhouse that goes all the way back to Delmonico’s, bringing back that classic American fine-
dining experience with a respectful approach. This is what the original Delmonico’s would feel like today. Chef Marc Forgione understood and was able to execute our concept. And for design, Chris Sheffield combined modern art deco details with industrial Tribeca grit within the framework of the old Hotel Bar Butter factory.
That’s the approach we take with everything we do. Our partnership with Amy Sacco speaks to what we think of today’s nightlife as we reinstate old-school New York. We
play vinyl in the Rec Room. In every LDV venue, we adopt the sensibilities of the classics—what we mean when we talk about our version of Fellini’s 1960s Rome. It’s communal, it’s convivial, it’s accessible, and it’s elegant and indulgent too. We carry that into the food we serve. We don’t believe in food as precious art; we believe in Mother Nature first and finding chef partners who put ingredients first. We push for fresh, bright, straightforward, soulful, indulgent cuisine as opposed to calculated science.
The beauty of what we offer means we have something for everyone—and New York is a melting pot more than anywhere else. It’s the capital of the world, and it will always be our home base. We don’t target a specific demographic as much as we address a void in the marketplace. Come one, come all to participate in our version of la dolce vita! We welcome a wide variety of people with differing concepts, price points, and venues. And I think we can truly say that with 10 venues in Manhattan alone, we get a cross- section of New York communities buying into our dreams of the good life: tourists in Times Square with Corso Coffee and the Diamond Horseshoe at the Paramount, bankers in Tribeca at America Cut, and the international community of celebrities who come to party with Amy Sacco at No. 8, to name a few.
There are people from all over the world who want to participate in that lifestyle. We have made Miami very much our second home, and continue to grow our footprint in other cities where we’ve opened restaurants, such as Los Angeles and Las Vegas. La dolce vita is for anyone who appreciates classic, understated elegance.

