Pano's & Paul's, the iconic Atlanta landmark that turns 30 next February, will close just after its birthday celebration.
The Buckhead Life Restaurant Group has confirmed that the restaurant's lease will not be renewed come next April. But founder Pano Karatassos plans to relocate his flagship restaurant to an unnamed Buckhead location, though no specifics have been announced.
"He knows," said Jennifer Boozer, the company's public relations spokesperson, referring to Buckhead Life founder Karatassos. "He wants something new. Something fresh."
Boozer repeatedly emphasized in a telephone conversation that the restaurant, an '80s destination that helped bring Atlanta restaurants into national focus, will remain open until the lease expires, and that the company will most definitely find a new home for it. Parking at the current location in the Publix shopping center has proven a problem over the years, Boozer said.
Rumors had been wafting through the city's dining rooms since last year that the group might pull up roots at the restaurant's present location on West Paces Ferry Road. Once the destination of diners, the Buckhead spot has fallen from favor in recent years from all except the uppercrust crowd that lives in the surrounding area.
Now the table talk is of where the new location will be — the St. Regis Atlanta, scheduled to open next March? Seems like good timing...
Meanwhile, chef Gary Donlick, currently at Pano's & Paul's, has been appointed chef at Pano's Grand Cafe, the company's new restaurant designed by the Johnson Studio, set to open next spring in the Sovereign/Tower Place complex on Peachtree Street.
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