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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2007 > January > 25 > Entry
Spice may lose its new chef, get new owner
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With practically every news cycle of late, a different, more salacious rumor regarding Midtown’s Spice restaurant trickles into Buzz Central. So, on Wednesday we rang up owner Bruce Patterson to try to separate fact from fiction. “We’re open, we’ve been open, and we’re staying open,” Patterson told us jovially while whipping up a gourmet feast in his home kitchen.
Whether the Juniper Street dining destination’s future includes Turner South “Home Plate” celebrity chef Marvin Woods, however, is less certain. Last summer, Patterson successfully lured Woods to the property to inject some flavor into the 6-year-old restaurant with his Low Country-Island-African-influenced dishes. Woods officially debuted in the Spice kitchen last fall to mostly positive reviews.
But in recent weeks, Woods has been a vapor trail. “Marvin’s on a break,” Patterson confirmed. “He’s hasn’t formally resigned, and he hasn’t been terminated. He’s on a leave of absence.”
Attempts to reach Woods via his cellphone and e-mail by Buzz were not successful. Patterson said about 50 percent of Woods’ menu remains intact at Spice, “but we’re not featuring Marvin in any of our new advertising.”
One of the wilder rumors of late involves Atlanta rapper-actor Ludacris as a potential buyer of Spice. Patterson confirmed that “people representing Ludacris have been in touch, but there is no signed deal on the table.”
Reps for the rapper-actor strongly hint to us that Luda may be interested, but no deal has been struck.
Patterson told Buzz he owns both the business and the lucrative property at 793 Juniper St. Since he first gutted the former crack house and turned it into a heat-seeking eatery, the neighborhood has gone decidedly upscale, boasting a flurry of other restaurants and boutiques. “I don’t know that we were solely responsible for [the redevelopment], but I’d like to think that Spice helped,” Patterson said.
‘Runaway Bride:The Musical’
Twenty-one months later, the Runaway Bride drama still keeps running. Thanks to Duluth’s Red Clay Theatre, plans are, er, afoot to stage “The Runaway Bride,” tagged as an “unauthorized rock opera.” Writer Jamie Heck, a Duluth resident, said the musical will not be a satire or spoof of the nonwedding between Jennifer Wilbanks and John Mason in April 2005.
Rather, Heck said, the plot revolves more around the community’s reaction to that week’s events — Wilbanks’ disappearance, the search, her return — that turned Duluth into a national soap opera.
Heck said that Wilbanks’ and Mason’s characters will have minor parts and, for legal reasons, won’t even be named. He has not spoken with the parties involved, he said.
“I really want it to be a good story about the community,” Heck said, “and a positive story about the community without it being sappy.”
The musical is scheduled to premiere in October.
A Deen taste test
Paula Deen’s boys are in Atlanta this week filming segments for the second season of their popular Food Network series “Road Tasted.” Savannah’s the Lady & Sons restaurant managers and TV hosts Jamie and Bobby Deen spent Tuesday at the Atlanta bakery of Breadwinner, a brother-sister-wife-owned business started by Geoff Melkonian, his sister, Wendy, and his wife, Katie.
For more than seven hours, the Deens and the Melkonians filmed segments, whipping up loaves of the family’s signature Papa Don’t Peach and Better Than a Bubble Bath Mocha Chocolate Chip breads. The baked goods are available locally at Souper Jenny in Buckhead, Metro Fresh in Midtown, Muss & Turner’s in Smyrna and online at getloafed.com.
“Since they built a family business up as well, they were incredibly supportive and humble,” Geoff Melkonian told us of the Deen brothers Wednesday. “They were guys you would totally watch the game and have a beer with. We spent a lot of the day cutting up with them.”
The segments should air in April.
Neither Geoff nor Wendy is exactly a stranger to the spotlight. As a musician for Five Eight and Josh Joplin, Geoff has appeared on “Late Show With David Letterman” and “Late Night With Conan O’Brien.” Wendy, meanwhile, left the taping session this week to don a nun’s habit as Sister Mary Gabriel in “Sister Act: The Musical” at the Alliance Theatre, which officially opened Wednesday night.
Quote of the day
“I’m only going to fly United from now on.”
— Oscar-nominated “Jesus Camp” documentary filmmaker Heidi Ewing extolling the virtues of the airline in The Washington Post Wednesday. Ewing was flying Tuesday when a United pilot announced to passengers that Ewing had scored the nomination.
Celebrity birthdays
Blues singer Etta James is 69. Actress Leigh Taylor-Young (“Peyton Place”) is 63. Guitarist Matt Odmark of Jars of Clay is 33. Singer Alicia Keys is 26.
Contributing: Ken Sugiura and news services
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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