[EXCLUSIVE] Local Restaurateur Bringing Speakeasy and Neapolitan Pizza to Buckhead

The group that previously ran the Andrews Entertainment District in the Buckhead Village is returning to Buckhead.  Stephen de Haan, formerly President of the Andrews Entertainment District, plans to bring his new concepts, Red Phone Booth and Amalfi Pizza to Buckhead Place later this year.  The new concepts, both of which currently exist in Downtown Atlanta, will occupy the former Gordon Biersch at Buckhead Place near the intersection of Peachtree and Piedmont Roads in the heart of Buckhead.  

Gordon Biersch, owned by Nashville-based CraftWorks, abruptly closed its Buckhead location last March. (The Midtown Gordon Biersch closed in late 2017 and reopened in early 2019 as City Tap, a Philadelphia-based gastropub.)

After closing his group's various Buckhead concepts at the end of 2015, de Haan and his business partners launched Red Phone Booth and Amalfi Pizza on Andrew Young International Boulevard downtown in late 2016. The two concepts occupy a roughly 12,000 square foot multi-level space known to many longtime Atlantans at the old Dailey's space. Soon, the group will add a third concept, Saito, a new sushi restaurant and bar from Master Chef Takashi Saito, slated to open around the corner from the existing establishments at 207 Peachtree Street.  In addition to the downtown establishments, de Haan's group recently opened a Red Phone Booth in Nashville and is reportedly  "in talks" for new locations in Biloxi and Dallas.  

The Buckhead outposts of the two concepts will share an 11,500 square foot space behind the 05 Buckhead apartments and adjacent to the Hyatt Place Atlanta/Buckhead hotel.  Renovation permits have yet to be filed with the City of Atlanta, but the twin concepts are already listed as tenants on the Coro Realty Advisors site-plan for the property.  A visit to the space this weeks shows limited interior work has already begun and a re-purposed pizza oven has been delivered.  

Red Phone Booth, a 1920s speakeasy bar, marks the return of such a concept to the Buckhead area following the late 2015 closures of Prohibition (the concept on which Red Phone Booth is based) at East Andrews and Establishment, which later reopened at Colony Square in Midtown.

Amalfi Pizza also brings upscale Neapolitan pizza back to Buckhead.  STG Trattoria and later Don Antonio by Starita both closed on West Paces Ferry Road near The St. Regis Atlanta several years ago, and more recently, Genuine Pizza closed at Phipps Plaza last January after about a year in business.

Are you excited for the opening of Red Phone Booth and Amalfi Pizza in Buckhead?  Where is your favorite place for pizza in Buckhead?  What would you like to see open in the recently closed Pier 1 Imports at Buckhead Place?

Please share your thoughts below.