Thursday, April 30, 2015

Local Restaurant Coming to Underserved Intown Neighborhood


Local entrepreneurs opening neighborhood eatery  

Business partners Brian Hogan, formerly of Shorty’s Pizza in Tucker, and Patrick Dunn, formerly of Leon's Full Service in Decatur, plan to open Pea Ridge Kitchen & Bar next month.  

The restaurant will be located in Decatur on Lawrenceville Highway near its intersection with Frazier Road / McLendon Drive.  The 2,200 square foot freestanding building was most recently home to Country Cafe, a comfort food eatery that closed months ago.   

Dunn, who previously held the role of sous chef at Leon's, will be the culinary head of the restaurant.  The menu at Pea Ridge will likely feature assorted soups, salads and sandwiches as well as rotating and seasonally inspired appetizers and entrees. The menu will rely heavily on locally sourced / seasonally available ingredients, providing guests an alternative to the "static" menus found at many other restaurants. Pea Ridge will also feature a specialized bar program featuring unique cocktails and craft beers.

Pea Ridge hopes to follow in the footsteps of Oak Grove's Sprig, and provide area residents an approachable, family-friendly alternative to chain eateries in the area.  


Pea Ridge is a community home to a growing number of families with both McLendon Elementary and Druid Hills Middle School (fka Shamrock Middle School) nearby.  I, myself, grew up not far away and am a graduate of Shamrock Middle School and am pleased to see the progress the area is making.  


Up Lawrenceville Highway in Tucker, the owners of Local 7 are opening another new restaurant, 572, on Main Street. Down the road, near North DeKalb Mall, Goodwill is building a new store and donation center in place of a long vacant Cub Foods.  With luck, the new Goodwill will lead to further interest and development in the area. 

Currently, plans call for the restaurant to be open Tuesday through Saturday for lunch and dinner, and Sunday for brunch only.  If all goes well, Pea Ridge hopes to begin serving customers by mid May, possibly as soon as Wednesday May 13th.  

The inaugural Pea Ridge Kitchen & Bar menu can be found here.  

8 comments:

Ham said...

I agree this is good news for an area that traditionally had just been “between” Decatur and Tucker. They also could pull form some pretty large neighborhoods outside the perimeter and inside along Briarcliff and Lavista.

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to checking it out.

Anonymous said...

Pea Ridge Rd and area has been around in Habersham county for over 90 years. I know. I live here and Pea Ridge Rd is next door. I hope they do well.

Anonymous said...

Pea Ridge also was what the community on Lawrenceville Highway straddling I-285 was once known as in earlier years. Nice to see that folks still remember area history.

Anonymous said...

SO exciting to have a real restaurant opening in what is otherwise a fast food wasteland. I'll be there!

Anonymous said...

Actually, Druid Hills Middle School is nearby...

renata said...

Very excited to see good restaurant opening in Area!

Anonymous said...

Whatever happened to the other Bryan of Shorty's - Bryan Wilson? Anyone know?

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...