Two seasoned restaurateurs are teaming up on a new concept set to launch this fall in Brookwood Hills.
The Usual, slated to open Nov. 1 on the ground level of the Arya apartment building at 1777 Peachtree St. NE, comes from Nick Leahy, who owns Nick’s Westside in West Midtown and Dash Hospitality founder David Abes, Atlanta Magazine first reported.
Abes met Leahy, who previously owned Saltyard restaurant in the same neighborhood, when Dash consulted on the opening of Leahy’s French eatery Aix, which turned into Nick’s Westside last fall.
“I always loved cooking in that neighborhood and developed a lot of good relationships with the people in the area,” Leahy told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I always thought that that area had great potential.”
One thing that’s always been missing from the neighborhood, according to Leahy, was a “good, go-to neighborhood restaurant,” a void he said he and Abes hope to fill with the Usual.
Leahy envisions the restaurant as a place that “you can bring kids to, take your wife on a date night to or just come together for a casual dinner with friends.”
The menu will include appetizers, salads, sandwiches and entrees with dishes like cacio e pepe tater tots, smoked chicken wings and a Korean fried chicken sandwich. Keep an eye out for seasonal vegetable dishes including curry roasted squash. A children’s menu will feature chicken fingers and fries.
On the beverage side, expect modern takes on classic cocktails, a 25-bottle wine list and a variety of local and regional beers.
The 3,500-square-foot space will feature a 30-seat patio in addition to the main dining room and bar, which will have about 50 seats. There will also be a 14-seat private event space in the back of the restaurant, and a small bodega will sell gourmet items to go and mostly cater to residents of the apartment building.
Abes described the space as “bright and lively,” with multicolored tile on the bar, wood, clean lines, pendant lights and a mural of Arya Stark from “Game of Thrones,” a nod to the name of the building where the Usual will be housed.
The Usual will launch serving dinner only, with plans to add lunch and brunch in the future. Takeout and delivery will also be available. Opening hours will be 5-10 p.m. weekdays and 5-11 p.m. on weekends.
Once the restaurant opens, Leahy will split his time between Nick’s Westside and the Usual. He’s also helping with menu development for the restaurant and entertainment complex Abes is developing in the Dunwoody Village Shopping Center. The development’s first concept, Bar(n), is slated to open in October, along with a food truck that showcases menu items from forthcoming concepts Morty’s Meat & Supply and Cuco’s Cantina.
Israeli restaurant Yoffi and seafood restaurant Message In a Bottle are set to come online in the Dunwoody development in the coming months.
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