24 hour eatery to reopen
R. Thomas Deluxe Grill, the popular and healthy Buckhead all-day eatery will be reopening tomorrow, January 9th at 8AM after months of work and renovations following a small fire. The "small fire in the kitchen" occured late in the evening of Wednesday October 14th and while renovations were originally expected to be quick, owner Richard Thomas made other improvements to the kitchen while the restaurant was closed for the first time in 30 years.
I visited the restaurant late Friday night as employees were putting the finishing touches on the kitchen and preparing to start serving patrons in the morning.
This past Wednesday, a giddy Thomas was photographed proudly holding the restaurant's City of Atlanta health score of 100/A. The photo, posted to the R. Thomas facebook page and with the message that they would be reopening Saturday, had been liked by over 1000 people and shared nearly 100 times as of Friday night.
For those who may not know, before opening R. Thomas in 1985 at its quaint and funky location on Peachtree Street, Thomas first co-founded a breakfast place in Charlotte, North Carolina called Bojangles'. While R. Thomas is nowhere near the size of the now publicly traded biscuit behemoth, the healthy fare and fun atmosphere of Thomas' second venture have made it a favorite for many a diner.
R. Thomas' reopening follows the October reopening of another popular Buckhead eatery, OK Cafe. Elsewhere in Atlanta, three other fire-damaged restaurants are at varying stages of existence.
Slope's BBQ caught fire in mid December in Sandy Springs and hopes to reopen in the spring. LongHorn Steakhouse at Toco Hills was severely damaged by a June of 2014 fire and after demolishing the restaurant last year, a restaurant representative tells me that construction of the new restaurant should begin soon with a planned reopening in the summer. In Chamblee, Bombay Grill, an Indian eatery on Savoy Drive was severely damaged by fire this past November. Today the building sits abandoned, an eyesore to the neighborhood and likely not to be reopened.
What is your favorite menu item at R. Thomas? What time of day do you most often visit the restaurant? Have you never been to R. Thomas?
Please share your thoughts below.
1 comment:
Why do you say Bombay Grill is unlikely to be reopened? What information do you have that leads you to that conclusion?
Post a Comment