Longtime coastal Georgia steakhouse expands and more from Savannah’s dining scene
Twenty-five years after opening in Darien, B&J’s Steaks and Seafood has opened a second location down the road in Brunswick; James Beard Award winner Rodney Scott hopes to reopen in Charleston and other cities; 520 Wings makes a short move next door; and Olympia Cafe, a stalwart of the Savannah dining scene, closes for good after 35 years on River Street.
B&J’s Steaks & Seafood opens new location in Brunswick
After 25 years in Darien, B&J’s Steaks and Seafood opened its second location about 20 miles away in Brunswick in late April.
Terry Dowling, who co-owns the restaurants with his wife, Nicole Dowling, said the new location had a two-hour wait for tables on opening day and has been busy ever since.
“It makes you feel good to make people feel happy,” Terry Dowling said.
A Brunswick native, Dowling attended Brewton-Parker Christian University, where he was a shortstop for the baseball team. After college, he returned to Brunswick and worked a corporate job for several years before he had the chance to open B&J’s first location in a former pizza shop in nearby Darien.
Dowling praised the Brunswick Downtown Development Authority and Brunswick city officials for making the new location’s opening as smooth as possible.
“It’s like everybody was trying to help,” Dowling said. “Honest to goodness, I’m telling you, it blew our minds what the city of Brunswick did to get us open.”
Dowling said he has had many opportunities to expand over the years, but the time never felt right.
The additional location will allow B&J’s to grow its catering business. The Brunswick restaurant does not have enough space for the buffet that has proved so popular in Darien, but the new location offers additional menu items like a calamari appetizer and a filet mignon.
“We just try to do things right,” Dowling said of B&J’s’ consistency over the years. He added that he has low employee turnover and has a longstanding agreement to buy shrimp solely from Shell Creek Seafood.
Both B&J’s locations are open from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday and 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.Friday and Saturday.
Two locations: 1600 Newcastle St., Brunswick. 912-266-8439; and 901 North Way, Darien. 912-437-2122; bandjssteaksandseafood.com
Award-winning chef hopes to reopen in Charleston, other cities
The recent financial woes of the Alabama-based Pihakis Restaurant Group, which led to the closure of a number of restaurants — including Psito and Hero Diner in Atlanta’s Summerhill neighborhood — also caused the closing of locations of Rodney Scott’s BBQ. The flagship restaurant on King Street in Charleston, South Carolina, ceased operations May 3.
Scott, a pitmaster known for his whole hog barbecue, won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southeast in 2018. Scott was among the talent at the 2025 Atlanta Food & Wine Festival, and Rodney Scott’s BBQ was featured at the 2026 Georgia Food and Wine Festival in Marietta.
In mid-May, Scott told the Charleston Post & Courier that he wants to reopen the restaurants, with Charleston as the top priority.
“This is tough to process knowing how much heart our team and our guests have put into these places,” Scott told the Post & Courier. “Right now, my focus is on our people — the folks who showed up every day and treated this like family — and on figuring out a path forward so we can get back to doing what we love: cooking whole hog barbecue and bringing people together.”
Multiple locations in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee. rodneyscottsbbq.com
520 Wings moves to new space in Savannah’s Starland district
In early May, 520 Wings moved to a newly renovated building on Bull Street in Savannah’s Starland District.
A former service station that had been vacant for many years, the new home is next door to the space that 520 Wings had occupied for 15 years.
The restaurant’s name honors the May 20 birthday of founder Gary Gordon. The grand opening of the new space took place May 20, with live entertainment and five-piece wing combo specials for $5.20. Savannah Mayor Van Johnson even declared May 20 as “520 Day” in Savannah.
520 Wings also has a food truck and a location in Enmarket Arena.
In addition to a variety of wings and sauces, the 520 Wings menu includes cheesesteaks, gyros, burgers, seafood, pasta, salads and other options.
2701 Bull St., Savannah. 912-349-5317, 520wings.com
Olympia Cafe closes after 35 years on River Street in Savannah
Olympia Cafe has closed permanently after a 35-year run on River Street in Savannah.
Olympia’s new lease for the ground floor of the city-owned Thomas Gamble Building was covered in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s coastal dining update in November. It seemed at the time that Olympia would remain in the space for many more years once the city finished with major renovations on the building later this year.
But the restaurant’s owners have decided not to reopen.
“Olympia Café made this location into a cultural and culinary landmark in Savannah, creating decades of great memories for locals and visitors alike,” City Manager Jay Melder said in a May 13 news release. “We were excited to extend the Olympia Cafe lease, but we respect the decisions that the owners of Olympia Cafe have made regarding their business and their partnership.”
City officials will be reopening the process to evaluate new proposals for the space in the coming months.
