Florence Fabricant reports that restauranteur Charlie Trotter and his team of developers have cancelled their plans to open a restaurant in the Time Warner Center, a.k.a. the luxury food court.

Mr. Trotter said in a telephone interview yesterday that as his restaurant's budget climbed from $6 million to $9 million to $11.5 million, the Related Companies, the center's co-developer, decided to scale back the concept and design. . . . "I didn't want to remove some of the exciting design elements to make it work," Mr. Trotter said. "And then the concept changed to something a little more casual than we originally planned."

Kenneth A. Himmel, the president and chief executive of the retail-development division of the Related Companies, said: "There was a real disconnect between the cost and what this project should come in at. We couldn't get the project to where Charlie and I were both comfortable."

The Times notes that developers are also looking for a replacement for Jean-Georges Vongerichten's V Steakhouse, which is not doing as well as expected, but that no final decision had been made that V would indeed be replaced. Who would you want to see in the most expensive food court in the world? Surely they're open to our suggestions . . .

Gothamist on V Steakhouse

photo from CharlieTrotters.com