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Friday, January 30, 2015

Paul's Restaurant & Social Vinings Listed For Sale, Chef Paul Reportedly "Retiring"

Paul's Restaurant in Peachtree Hills
Paul Albrecht is apparently retiring.

Chef Paul Albrecht has listed his metro area restaurants for sale citing "retirement."  Chef Paul, now in his 70s, is known to many in Atlanta as the co-founder of Buckhead Life Restaurant Group.   Chef Paul was also one half of Pano's & Paul's restaurant, which opened in 1979 in West Paces Ferry Shopping Center. (Pano's & Paul's closed in 2008 and is reopening...?)

Paul left Buckhead Life in 1998 and opened a single restaurant in Florida. In 2002, Albrecht returned to Atlanta and became Executive Chef / Managing Partner at Spice in midtown.  After leaving Spice, Paul's Restaurant opened in Peachtree Hills in 2005.   Social Vinings, near Vinings Jubilee, followed in 2008.

While Albrecht's restaurant group, Great Food Group Inc., today includes just two restaurants, the group previously included a number of others.  A casual burger eatery called The Burger Club was open in Vinings Jubilee from 2009-2010.  The Burger Club's closure brought the arrival of the Vinings Fish company, which lasted until 2012.  Dos Amigos Cantina, a Mexican eatery, opened in 2012 in a former Black-Eyed Pea restaurant on Spring Road in Smyrna.  Albrecht's foray into Mexican fare was not well received, and it closed in 2013.   

Chef Paul previously announced plans to open four restaurants in "Peachtree Hills Place," a residential community for residents ages 62 and older. One of the restaurants would have been open to the public with the remaining three reserved for residents and their guests.  The project would have been built adjacent to Paul's current Peachtree Hills restaurant. After announcing the project in 2007, and scheduling an opening for 2009, the entire project remains stalled.  

The sales offering indicates that both the 4,700 square foot Paul's, and the 6,800 square foot Social Vinings, were profitable in 2014.  

What is your favorite memory of a Chef Paul restaurant? 

Please share your thoughts below.  

16 comments:

  1. My Father worked in the hospitality supply business for years and often spoke fondly of both Pano and Paul. They were good businessmen and did a lot to establish a higher level of dining in Atlanta. I also personally remember when taking a date to Pano’s and Paul’s was guaranteed to empress.

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  2. Can you please clarify...

    what is for sale? The operating business or the real estate? Or both?

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  3. @Anon RE: what's for sale?

    The business is being offered for sale, not the building or real estate.

    I'm sorry for the confusion.

    Thanks for your comments and readership!

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  4. Chef Paul doesn't retire.Totally false.

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  5. There is a false statement about chef Paul retiring. Not so!

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    1. Made me feel like a sissy one Valentine's service. Burned the crap out of myself. I look over and his anckle looks like a grapefruit. He grabs a bucket fills it with ice and water sticks his foot in and keeps trucking he was 62!then

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  6. Chef Paul is not retiring.

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  7. Yes, he does retiring. That so he says. Perhaps you all forgotten much? He says it ago two years. And again now.

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  8. Spoke with Chef Paul on this news. He was surprised that he is "retiring"; which he definitely is not. Curious the word is in quotes. AJC please be accountable in accurate reporting!

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  9. hes not retired...hes goin to augusta to open a bizz..both places here are sold..nice fellow----GREAT chef.! best of luck-- bruddah,!!

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  10. I remember when he played tennis w/ mcenroe , conners & wilander & agassi in the omni just before it closed...serving them a cake & cigars as well...before he went to florida...1996

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  11. Paul's is now closed permanently. Tried to make reservations for NYE and was told the sad news. Big loss for Peachtree Hills neighborhood.

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  12. The health department should have closed it a long time ago. That place was filthy, disgusting, & it had tons of bugs! A huge hole in the wall by the back door allowed bugs in at night. Most definitely the nastiest restaurant I've ever been in! Surprised no one ever got sick.

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  13. Nope he keeps going see what he's up to now chef paul is one of the reasons I've owned my own place for the last 9 years. Spoke tongue last week. Never slows down. Guy is as real as they come. I was 6 in 1979 when pano and PAUL'S was opened.

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  14. Anyone with something negative to say about chef paul should try his shoes on. He is the real deal and hasn't slowed down one bit. Spoke with him last week. He is one of the reasons I've had my own place for years

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  15. Visited Paul's many times with a dear friend, and just found out it had closed! We always liked to sit under "the pear". Will sure miss the lobster po'boy and those homemade chips. I wonder where "the pear" is now?

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