Former My Panini to Become BobbyG's Chicago Eatery

The former My Panini at Lindbergh City Center will re-open as BobbyG's Chicago Eatery early next year. One of two concepts thus far to fail in the Lindbergh City Center, My Panini lasted about a year before it closed and neighbor eatery Hot Stix didn't fare much better, closing shortly thereafter. BobbyG's hopes to fill a niche not currently served in the area. Similar to its original location in Alpharetta, the eatery will offer sandwiches as well as "Chicago style" pizzas and hot dogs. With Urban Flats next door offering some pizza, BobbyG's will offer more variety at a lower price point. Urban Flats seems not quite sure what they want to be with prices ranging from the single digits to over $20 for main entree items. Urban Flats seems destined for closure in the first quarter of 2010 unless a new reduced lease is signed. With so many of the nearby condos and apartments empty, the upscale restaurants in the area are having an especially tough time keeping tables filled and the doors open. BobbyG's is capable of competing if not thriving in the area if they can deliver a quality product and higher properly. ToNeTo Atlanta

STELLA Down Like Its Neighbors In Oakland Cemetary

STELLA Pasta Pizza Spirits in Grant Park will be closing at years end. STELLA, the sister restaurant of Osteria 832 Pizza & Pasta from VaHi opened in March of 2008, but never really caught on in the neighborhood. An original member of the "Deathwatch" on my previous site, the restaurant just did not fit with the area. Rich Chey of HomeGrown Restaurants will replace STELLA with his successful Asian concept, Doc Chey's Noodle House in February. ToNeTo Atlanta

LOLA Out, Cantina In At Terminus

LOLA, currently described by Here To Serve as a Mediterranean concept, will finally be re-concepted. Since opening in 2007, LOLA was recently re-labeled to offer Mediterranean cuisine rather than simply Italian, but it seems that was not enough to save the concept. "Cantina," set to open early in the first quarter of 2010, will be a Mexican style restaurant with some elements borrowed from sister eatery Noche. Similar to what Riccardio Ullio did with the re-concepting of his midtown eatery Cuerno to La Lupe Taqueria, the prices at Cantina will be lower and the atmosphere a little more ethnic that LOLA's. With luck, these changes will be enough to save the space, but the problem may be just as much the location as it is the food. Cousin's Terminus has been a disappointment to all, with a number or closures already at the development, not even two years old. Many Buckhead residents are not pleased with the parking and valet situation and the "wind tunnel" of sorts that forms in the breezeway between the towers. I wish Tom and the rest of the Here To Serve team the best of luck with the new concept, but it will definitely be an uphill battle. ToNeTo Atlanta

The Havana Restaurant Crisis

After nearly a year's absence, Havana Sandwich shop is being resurrected, strangely though, this is occurring in two different locations. Havana sandwich shop is set to reopen in the Crossroads Village Shopping Center... or is it? Two separate restaurants are set to open on Buford Highway, both named Havana Restaurant and both claiming to be the resurrected location of the original eatery at Druid Hills and Buford Highway that burned to the ground just over a year ago. Each restaurant even duplicates the iconic palm tree that extended the "v" in Havana. The location at the Crossroads Shopping Center (Buford Highway at Clairmont Road- pictured above) is being opened by Debbie Benedit and the location at Northeast Plaza (pictured below) is being opened by William Benedit. Just so we are clear, Debbie was co-founder of the original Havana Sandwich Shop with her late husband Eddie, William is a relative of Eddies. Mrs. Benedit's store is scheduled to open Today whereas Mr. Benedit is looking at opening January 1st. Both locations are within 3 miles of the original, though Mr. Benedit may have the advantage of being in a larger space in an established shopping center in the former Cafe Mex (originally built as a Long John Silvers), Mrs. Benedit's location is smaller and is surrounded by empty storefronts, so she won't have the benefit built-in traffic. One bright spot: the Crossroads Village Shopping Center is home to the south's most successful and high traffic El Pollo Loco location as well as one of metro Atlanta's few Aldi locations. ToNeTo Atlanta

New Checkers Stacking Up In Metro Atlanta

Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc. is adding even more locations to metro Atlanta. After opening in Lenox Square earlier this year and close to opening another location on Broad Street downtown, another location will open in Peachtree center as well. Taking what most recently had been an "Oriental Express" the new restaurant is scheduled to open in the second week in November. This is yet another "in-line" location for Checkers, widely recognized for their stand alone twin drive thru restaurants. According to a company executive, this is a new strategy in many of Checkers' metropolitan markets. Clearly a cost savings, this new growth plan will make it easier for the restaurant to lease spaces it might not have leased with its past model. Another similar location is scheduled to open in Mall of Georgia's food court sometime in the first quarter of 2010. ToNeTo Atlanta

VaHi Residents Not So Hot For Hudson Grille

Metrotainment's planned VaHi Hudson Grille is stalled for the moment. Set to be part of a four story development at 841 North Highland, Hudson Grille's planned location is not going over so well with area residents. "The Mix 841" would be located on land that is currently home to a parking lot and a Bank of America ATM, so the thought of a multi-level development, bringing substantial additional traffic to an already congested area has area residents up in arms. Having been submitted for approval on multiple occasions, the NPU (Neighborhood Planning Unit) has yet to grant approval, and perhaps never will. Currently Metrotainment has three Hudson Grille locations: Alpharetta, Perimeter and Brookhaven, with a fourth set to open in the coming weeks on Peachtree Street in midtown. ToNeTo Atlanta

Saskatoon Is Gonna Get Killed In Buckhead!

With an abundance of available real estate in metro Atlanta, a new eatery will soon open in a space with a proven track record of being a poor location for restaurants. Located at the corner of Grandview and Pharr Roads, Saskatoon, a Greenville, S.C. based restaurant serving traditional steak and seafood offerings as well as Elk, Ostrich and Venison, will be the second restaurant in the space this year and forth overall. Most recently the location was the site of Harry Bissett's failed attempt at franchising its successful eatery outside of Athens, the Buckhead location lasted a mere 5 months before closing. Spondivits expanded from their successful East Point and Lake Lanier locations to this exact site years ago but closed less than a year into business. The location at 360 Pharr Road in the lobby level of the Alexan apartments was originally built as Tib's Grill, a concept restaurant from AFC Enterprises Inc., but it never opened as the concept was abandoned. I'm not always right in my restaurant predictions but this seems out of place for the metro area and the current economy and I don't see this being a success. ToNeTo ATLANTA