[UPDATE] Alex Kinjo Bringing Vietnamese Eats to Virginia Highland

 A new restaurant called Mai Kitchen is slated to open in March in Virginia Highland. The restaurant, which replaces Genki Noodle and Sushi (1040 North Highland Avenue), is being opened by Alex Kinjo, who over the years has opened more than a half dozen Asian restaurants around metro Atlanta including MF Sushi, NAM and Sakura Ramen Bar, among others.  Genki, which closed in 2020, had been in business for about a decade.  When Genki opened in 2011, it replaced longtime neighborhood favorite Everybody's Pizza, which had been a Virginia Highland mainstay for two decades.  

[EXCLUSIVE] Lazy Dog to Bring Fido Friendly Dining to Alpharetta

More than a year after we first heard that Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar was planning to open a third Atlanta location, new signage confirms it.  A new Lazy Dog will be built at the corner of Haynes Bridge Road and North Point Parkway, just off exit 9 of GA 400 near North Point Mall in Alpharetta.   The new Lazy Dog joins an existing Atlanta area location that opened during the summer of 2019 on Peachtree Parkway in Peachtree Corners, and a second location that is slated to open in February in an outparcel of Perimeter Mall in Dunwoody.  

[EXCLUSIVE] KFC Goes "Dark" in Alpharetta

The KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) at 5150 Windward Parkway in Alpharetta has closed.  The restaurant, which for the past several months has been marketed for lease by The Shopping Center Group (TSCG), reportedly closed quietly within the past few days ahead of what the lease brochure indicated was a planned February 1 closure.  The 3,167 square foot freestanding drive-thru enabled restaurant sits on .97 acres and was built in 2002, according to the leasing materials and property records. 

[SPECIAL] Bask Steakhouse Set For Spring Debut in Roswell

The owners of From The Earth Brewing in Roswell announced shortly after the first of the year that they plan to open a new steakhouse later this year.  Bask Steakhouse will be located in a roughly 2,400 square foot space next door to From The Earth Brewing and could open as soon as May, if things go as planned and supply chain issues don't cause too many problems.  Although esteemed chef Kevin Rathbun is involved in From The Earth, he is not expected to be part of Bask, given its proximity to Kaiser's Chophouse in Sandy Springs of which he's also a part.  

[EXCLUSIVE] Patel Brothers to Open New Store in Kennesaw

Patel Brothers, an Indian oriented grocery store and market, plans to open its third Atlanta area location.  The new store, which will be located not far from Town Center at Cobb in Kennesaw, will backfill a large building that was years ago home to Rec Warehouse, a retailer of pools and billiards.  The building (2646 George Busbee Parkway) is about 22,000 square feet and was as of 2019 slated to become a new location of locally owned Souq International Markets, a Middle East-focused grocer, but those plans never came to fruition.