The owners of Blue Ribbon Grill have found a new home for their restaurant. In a Facebook post early Thursday, the restaurant, owned since 2021 by Jennifer and Eric Greene, revealed they have leased space in North Hills shopping center to not only reopen Blue Ribbon Grill, but debut a second concept, too.
The new restaurant, in a center today anchored by Big Lots, is about four miles from the original Blue Ribbon Grill which opened in 1985 at 4006 LaVista Road between Northlake Festival and Northlake Mall. Ahead of Blue Ribbon's closure, the Greenes started a GoFundMe account, soliciting donations from the community to aid them in their relocation and renovation efforts. Seeking $50,000, the couple was not met with the enthusiasm and generosity they had hoped for and after raising less than $2,000, stopped the campaign and instructed the organization to refund donors.
Whereas the original Blue Ribbon Grill was 4,800 square feet, the new location will be just shy of 3,000 square feet. The Greenes have leased an overall 4,175 square foot space that was most recently home to Carniceria El Toro De Jalisco, a Mexican supermarket and taqueria that closed late last year.
"We are moving the restaurant to a slightly smaller space, but we will still be a neighborhood bar and grill with the meatloaf and menu for which we are known and loved. We plan to use this move to update our floor design, decor, and bar menu," said Jennifer Greene.
In addition to Blue Ribbon Grill, the Greenes, who before purchasing the eatery in 2021 had no restaurant experience, are also opening a second concept: Jenovelle. The post said little about Jenovelle other than that it will be "a European food concept" and that it will occupy the balance of the space or about 1,400 square feet. Further research online suggests that Jenovelle will be a European food market and restaurant. An online listing states that Jenovelle will feature "Foods from all over Eastern and Western Europe with online retail/gift shop planned for future release."
Blue Ribbon will carry the 3352-C Chamblee Tucker Road address while Jenovelle will be located at 3352-B.
In North Hills, Blue Ribbon Grill and Jenovelle will join several existing eateries including Mediterranean Bakery & Sandwich and Bamboo Panda, a new Chinese restaurant that opened earlier this year in place of a longstanding Subway.
Despite mixed emotions about the Greenes as owners and the GoFundMe campaign, the majority of early comments on the restaurant's Facebook page announcing the news seemed positive. Hopefully this sentiment translates into "butts in seats" and the Greenes find success in their new home.
Are you excited about the reopening of Blue Ribbon Grill and the debut of Jenovelle in Tucker? What is your favorite restaurant in North Hills shopping center? What kind of restaurant would you most like to see open in the area?
Please share your thoughts below.
6 comments:
Wishing the the best and looking forward to the openings. Hope they have a restaurant, consultant and an investor to make them successful.
It is a shame that Blue Ribbon left Tucker, it will not be the same! They should have stay in town!
It would be wonderful to have a Greek style restaurant in the area, sit down and be served
Only went there once and can't remember much about it either way. The new place won't have as much exposure, but still close enough for current customers. I guess the question is will they attract enough new customer, and do most people see a center with Big Lots and McDonalds as a place to buy premium European delicacies?
I am really happy to see that BRG will be re-opening and I think it’s a good location. Looking forward to the European restaurant too.
When we were there, it was God, awful dirty, the entire place looks like it was never cleaned with Windex ever and meatloaf that I guess from this post is so famous literally spoons of salt in it had to be , It was full of salt, we got up and walked out. It makes sense that a novice would acquire that business, sounds like they found the perfect buyers, if they were going to Move like that and open in another center, they could’ve done that on their own without acquiring the business. I really do wish them the best and I will be out to support them and their European food concept - I will support them until I have a reason not to.
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