Credit: Ligaya Figueras
Credit: Ligaya Figueras
Located southwest of Atlanta's central business district, Pittsburgh is one of the city's oldest neighborhoods. Pittsburgh is also a food desert – and a restaurant desert, with minimal offerings besides fast-food chains. One chef hopes to turn that around.
Chef Carl Redding has recently signed a 15-year lease for the space at 1707 Metropolitan Parkway near Casplan Street in the space formerly occupied by Nette & Nona's Café. By late summer, Redding plans to open doors to Redding’s Restaurant.
Credit: Ligaya Figueras
Credit: Ligaya Figueras
“This area is a restaurant desert,” said Redding. “I am signing my dollars into revitalizing this restaurant and hopefully putting a spark in this area,” he said, noting that he chose the spot because of its proximity to Atlanta Metropolitan State College, Atlanta Technical College and a bus terminal.
Redding’s Restaurant will offer what the chef calls a “healthy approach to Southern cuisine and barbecue.” That translates to using less oil that is high in trans fats, less sodium and sugar, more salad and vegetable-forward offerings, said Redding, who attributes his own weight loss of 140 pounds in the last decade to these types of dietary changes.
Credit: Ligaya Figueras
Credit: Ligaya Figueras
Thus, patrons at Redding’s can expect chicken and waffles on the menu, but the waffles will be multi-grain, the chicken baked, the syrup 100-percent maple syrup instead of corn syrup. On the ’cue side, Redding said that he plans to eliminate excess salt and sugars for rubs and sauces.
Redding recently moved to Atlanta from Philadelphia where he worked for food services company Sodexo, serving the student bodies at Temple University and later at Drexel University. Redding’s love for the kitchen began in his youth; at eight years old, he clocked hours at a bakery-restaurant in his hometown of New York City. And during his tenure with the U.S. Marine Corp, he took a food service route. Redding ventured into restaurant ownership in 1999 when he opened the now defunct Amy Ruth’s, a Southern-style comfort food restaurant in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The 52-year-old chef expressed his excitement for joining the Atlanta restaurant scene, particularly since he has family roots not far away in Dothon, Alabama.
“I’ve always had an interest in the South and Atlanta especially,” he said.
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