Courtesy of Colonnade
Paul Donahue has been a daily on the cozy Southern location within the Colonnade for almost 40 years. His enterprise companion Louise Jeffries has been having fun with fried hen and heat hospitality for 60 years, ever since she visited her grandparents. When former proprietor Jody Stallings approached Jeffries at dinner one evening and supplied to promote him his satisfaction and pleasure, he felt honored. Collectively, he and Donahue, who co-founded the Lingering Shed Social Membership on the Beltline in 2018, acquired the keys to the 97-year-old restaurant on Monday and can open it for enterprise as typical on Wednesday.
“We had been very involved that the colonnade ought to proceed because it was,” Donahue says. “We noticed a number of generations of households there. You see folks working to tables as a result of everybody is aware of one another. It is a very particular factor that is distinctive to that restaurant.”
Initially, nothing will change. All present workers members plan to remain—the brand new homeowners even need to deliver again a couple of longtime workers. As soon as they really feel comfy, Colonnade will start serving dinner seven days per week as an alternative of 5. (The restaurant is closed Mondays and Tuesdays.) It might additionally supply Saturday brunch sooner or later.
As for the menu, “we hope to get it again nearer to what it was pre-pandemic and produce again some buyer preferences,” Jeffries mentioned. He is referring to gadgets like fried oysters, spinach salad and prime rib, which had been reduce because of rising ingredient prices and pandemic-induced worker shortages. Properly-loved choices together with fried shrimp, turkey with dressing and salmon croquettes will stay, with some new salads on the horizon.
Recognized for its austere traditional cocktails—martinis, Manhattans, and Previous Fashioneds—the Colonnade might see some fruitful results of lingering shade. Jeffries mentioned he plans to introduce 4 or 5 off-menu seasonal cocktail specials, similar to a watermelon jalapeño margarita and pumpkin spice martini for summer time. For the primary time in its historical past, Colonnade could have a bodily wine checklist that includes primarily American-made wines by the glass and bottle. (Earlier it was a verbal supply.)
Over the subsequent few years, the inside of the colonnade can be subtly refreshed, including a bit extra coloration and vibrancy to the beige and black. “Jody Stallings all the time mentioned that the Colonnade is a rustic membership with out membership. We’ll make it extra like a rustic membership with some carpet and wall overlaying modifications—it makes it a bit Palm Springs and a bit Palm Seaside,” mentioned Donahue, whose inside design There’s the backdrop. Even the restaurant’s signature brown placemats might be substituted. “Nothing too wild,” Donahue assures.
Jack Clark opened the unique Colonnade in 1927 on the nook of Piedmont Street and Lindbergh Drive. It was moved to its present location on Cheshire Bridge Street in 1962. Paul Jones purchased it in 1979 and his daughter Stallings took over in 2019. Throughout his tenure, a GoFundMe raised almost $125,000 to assist save the restaurant from closing.
Atlanta’s second-oldest restaurant—Atkins Park is the primary—Colonade is right here to remain. “It is there, it is going robust, and it’ll all the time be an Atlanta establishment,” Jeffries asserts.
“We’re very glad the restaurant is in good arms,” Stallings mentioned.
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