Watchman’s Seafood and Spirits is closing after nearly four years at Krog Street Market, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported for the first time. The restaurant closes after dinner service on Sunday 27th February.

Owned by Jesse Smith, Matt Christison, Bryan Rackley and Miles Macquarrie, the team behind Decatur’s Kimball House, Watchman’s opened in the food hall in 2018 and serves a seafood menu dedicated to the sustainability of aquaculture from South and farmers and fishermen in the region.

“It was an extremely difficult decision to make, but we came to the conclusion that the Watchman concept is unfortunately not the best fit for the market,” Rackley told Eater. “The reality of this pandemic world is that even our best efforts could not sustain the costs associated with staffing and operating this restaurant.”

While the restaurant was doing well before the pandemic, Rackley says the global health crisis affected Watchman’s more than Kimball House. The emergence of the Omicron variant at the end of 2021 and the subsequent increase in cases during the holidays, coupled with the cold weather, had a profound impact on the Krog Street Market restaurant.

Rackley says Watchman began recouping some of the sales lost in the first year of the pandemic last spring. Those numbers dropped again once construction began behind the market and across the street at the Stove Works complex. Asana Partners, the developer of Stove Works, also owns Krog Street Market and the new Krog Street District.

“If I’m to blame anything, it’s us. If we didn’t give the neighborhood what it wanted, it’s up to us,” Rackley says. “We tried too hard in the beginning Now this is the best food and drink we’ve had, and we’re not selling it to anyone.

However, Watchman’s closure does not affect the partners’ other efforts, including Kimball House and the Shiny Dimes Oyster Farm that they created out of a rustic marina in Spring Creek, Florida. Located just off Oyster Bay, the small 1.5 acre plot is part of Cypress Point Farms and has 55,000 oysters in its beds.

The passion project aims to carry on the legacy of sustainable oyster farming in the South by preserving and protecting the coastal environments of the region’s bivalves. Oysters from the farm are now served on the menu at Kimball House, alongside other sustainably farmed oysters across the country.

“Watchman’s has been a great outlet for farmed South Atlantic and Gulf oysters, so losing that will be a disappointment on many levels,” Rackley says. “I still like the idea of ​​representing Gulf farms like Watchman’s and I haven’t buried the idea that it can work here [in Atlanta].”

Andrew Thomas Lee

For now, Rackley, Smith, Christison and Macquarrie are concerned about placing as many Watchman’s employees as possible at Kimball House, calling it their “number one priority.”

“We did some things right and we got things wrong. But one certainty is that we had the opportunity to work with really incredible people,” he says. “These people have taken significant risks to be part of this team over the past 1.5 years, and we will always be grateful for their contributions.”

668 Highland Avenue North East, GA 30312
(404) 781-0931

The OP Cafe, one of Los Angeles’ most popular breakfast and lunch destinations, will close permanently this weekend after more than 40 years in business. Located inland from Santa Monica along Ocean Park Boulevard, the bright yellow wood-fronted building featured eggs, breakfast burritos, huevos rancheros, pancakes and waffles in the morning. , followed by burgers, sandwiches and more, serving a mostly local crowd. Owner and Santa Monica native Mark Verge, who also owns Golden Bull, Ashland Hill, Art’s Table and Margo’s, said the OP Cafe had not been profitable since the pandemic began.

Verge said it was difficult to keep business going, but that without the support of nearby office workers (Activation Blizzard recently left the large office complex across the street after 10 years) the OP Cafe simply did not have the option of continuing to operate. The OP Cafe has received PPP funds and has done its best to navigate the pandemic, using most of its funds to pay employees, and even serving as a base of operations for a takeout company called Order. for Me, where chef Greg Daniels (who oversees Golden Bull) made things like beef on weck.

OP Cafe has also set up a large covered back patio in an effort to accommodate more outdoor dining. None of these things were enough to tackle the loss of steady business due to office workers and daily traffic entering the area.

The OP Café

Verge said about 20 remaining OP Cafe employees will move to its other restaurants, meaning no one will lose their jobs despite the shutdown. Mark and his wife Lani Verge acquired the restaurant in 2006 and have owned it ever since. Originally opened in 1979 as Ocean Park Cafe, the original owner sold the restaurant to his then chef in 1999. This chef then sold it to Mark Verge but didn’t want to give up the full name of Ocean Park Cafe. Hence the nickname OP Cafe, which replaced the beloved neighborhood restaurant. Prior to Ocean Park Cafe, Verge said the space is more of a bar, but has become a favorite with the Santa Monica family over the past few decades.

The OP cafe will serve its last meals on Sunday September 26. It will have regular hours from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., but given the restaurant’s history and its place in the Ocean Park neighborhood, expect long waits during meal times. .

Johnny’s Chicken and Waffles restaurant open all day (and night) for breakfast and brunch is now open in College Park. Backed by hip-hop artist Karlie Redd (star of VH1’s “Love n ‘Hip Hop” and Bounce TV’s “Saints & Sinners”), singer-songwriter Ne-Yo and conductor Crystal Smith, the Breakfast menu includes customizable chicken and waffles, cookie combinations, French toast and omelet.

Currently open 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, Johnny’s Chicken and Waffles will eventually be served 23 hours a day, only closing between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Beyond its namesake dish, Johnny’s Chicken and Waffles also serves sandwiches, such as Triple Decker Grilled Cheese and a Wafflewhich, as well as other dishes like miso-glazed lamb chops, barbecue teriyaki salmon, and the cobbler with peaches in the pan. Champagne and cocktails from the bar are served in decanters to share or in individual jars. A take-out counter inside the restaurant sells fresh pies and other “coffee products”.

The 85-seat restaurant has a mix of booths, tables, high tables and bar seating. The music-themed design for Johnny’s Chicken and Waffles features a mural of the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem, as well as 14 platinum albums lining the walls of Atlanta musicians OutKast, Ludacris, Usher and Ne-Yo.

Johnny’s Chicken and Waffles replaces Soul Crab along Main Street in College Park. Soul Crab, owned by YouTube chef and cookbook author Darius Williams, shut down last February amid allegations by the Georgia Department of Law’s Consumer Protection Division that Above 701, Inc. operate an illegal credit repair business.

Open every day. Take out and delivery available. Masks required. Click here for more information on the restaurant’s COVID-19 precautions.

3725 Main Street, Atlanta. johnnyschickenandwaffles.com.

Emory Village’s all-day breakfast Rise-n-Dine closes after 13 years on North Decatur Road, citing the devastating financial losses resulting from the pandemic and how the health crisis has been handled by the Trump administration.

Rise-n-Dine closed for food service in March at the start of the pandemic and briefly switched to take out. It never reopened. A post on Instagram says the restaurant planned to repay the money it received from the Payroll Protection Program (P3) by October, which was used to pay rent. The PPP loan, which is part of the federal COVID-19 stimulus package for small businesses, is only canceled if a company re-hires its staff.

“… Trump is winning this battle. His intentional incompetence in handling the pandemic is leading to the shutdown of many of us small independent businesses. The big business associations have an army of lawyers and accountants to find loopholes to make the PPP work and force their owners to reduce the rent, ”the message reads in part. “Our landlord worked with us but didn’t give us any break on rent until December. The rent of $ 8,000 per month is too high to pay for takeout and limited outdoor seating.

Rise-n-Dine’s equipment and supplies are already for sale online, with decor items and restaurant books due to go on sale at a later date. The money will be used to repay the PPP loan and a possible restart of Rise-n-Dine.

The friendly, retro-inspired restaurant, serving sweet potato pancakes, Belgian waffles, and egg sandwiches, was a popular spot for Emory University students and faculty to dine over breakfast and lunch. Before the pandemic, Rise-n-Dine was also a perennial list of Eater Atlanta’s essential breakfast restaurants.

Eater asked for comment on the closure.

Earlier this week, Atlanta-based ice cream company Queen of Cream closed its Poncey-Highland store after a year in Plaza on Ponce, citing “the devastating effects of Covid-19” on the retail side of the company. October also saw the closure of Italian restaurant Donetto in western Atlanta, Ammazza pizza in Decatur, Farm Burger in Peachtree Corners, and happy hour hotspot Tavern at Phipps in Buckhead.

Williamsburg’s longtime breakfast hotspot Egg will close for good at the end of the month, owner George Weld announced. The restaurant will serve its last meals on September 27.

Weld told Eater the shutdown was “partly a financial decision and partly a concern for public health and the health of our staff.”

The restaurant has been offering take-out and delivery, as well as alfresco dining, for several months. While the takeout and delivery went “better than expected,” says Weld, they still only accounted for about 25% of Egg’s regular income. For outdoor dining, the restaurant was only able to set up four tables outside due to the location’s small street frontage.

And while indoor dining is expected to return to 25% capacity on September 30, Weld didn’t think that was a viable option for the restaurant. The revenue generated from operating the service at 25% capacity “was not going to help us break even,” says Weld, and he was concerned about the greater health risk than eating out. inside imposed.

“Even though we are great [rent] concessions from our owner, that would always be a huge struggle, ”says Weld. “We could either try to get through this winter with slow bleeding or take a clean break now and rethink what we’re doing.”

Robert Sietsema / Eater

Although the restaurant started out as a pop-up, when it eventually turned brick and mortar, Egg quickly became a Williamsburg staple. The restaurant had several imitators in various parts of town, but none could match Egg’s pugnacious attitude or original menu.

Its cavernous premises on North 3rd Street, just off Bedford Ave., featured stark painted white brick, white tables, and a seating area at the back. It was a quintessential breakfast spot, and the food here had Southern, Virginia and Low Country-inspired flowers, according to its website. Egg proudly displayed his ingredients, including Anson Mills Oatmeal from South Carolina and Newsom Country Ham from Kentucky, and he sourced many of his other fixins locally from farmers’ markets and the northern farm. of the state of the restaurant.

Although the menu was reduced for the pandemic, it still included fried chicken cookies, chili cheese and heirloom tomato sandwiches, but its earlier, more eclectic menu offered plenty of surprises. The chorizo ​​and egg sandwich, available all day, was a particular favorite, paired with perfect fries and drizzled with coffee, served with frequent fillings. Another highlight was the Rothko Eggs, named after Mark Rothko, an American painter of color fields from the middle of the last century. It was a runny egg on a toasted brioche coated with Grafton cheddar cheese.

In the future, Weld hopes to bring back a new version of Egg that is fairer and more sustainable for his staff. Weld has been trying for some time to increase the salaries of kitchen staff in the restaurant, he says, but to pay line cooks at least $ 45,000 a year in the current version of Egg, Weld should have increased. prices by at least 50 percent. On the menu.

“It feels like what we really want and what this moment can absorb is a long way off,” Weld said.

Weld plans to spend “the next few months” working on a new restaurant model for Egg that is better equipped to pay staff more. It can materialize as a more suitable place for retail or take out, although no firm plan has yet been set. The restaurant’s two sites in Tokyo, as well as the upstate farmhouse where Weld lives and grows produce to be supplied to the restaurant, remain open.

Former Carolina Panthers player Marcus Lucas is bringing Lowcountry seafood to Charlotte with new restaurant Krustaceans Seafood.

Krustaceans opened on May 15 and specializes in boiling seafood – with an added twist. Customers can add spices and flavors to each dish, like jalapeño garlic, lemon pepper and the “original,” an Old Bay flavor, Lucas said.

Krustacean’s # 1 seller is a crab and shrimp platter, Lucas said. But for guests keen to explore, he recommends one of his star dishes: fried lobster tail with a red velvet waffle.

Prior to opening Krustaceans, the former Panthers undrafted free agent was looking for an investment opportunity, “something that could continue after my playing days.” During a visit to his hometown of Kansas City, Lucas’s aunt praised a seafood restaurant called Krab Kingz. There he met his current business partner and co-owner, and together they planned to open a similar seafood restaurant in Charlotte. After changing brands, they created Krustaceans Seafood.

Krustaceans was originally scheduled to open in March, but COVID-19 halted those plans. Located near several corporate offices and business parks in the shops of Lake Pointe, the restaurants were normally crowded during lunch hours. “And it was naked the first time we had ever seen it,” Lucas said.

After pushing back the opening date to mid-May, Krustaceans is now open for take out and delivery. “We wanted to take this time that people are a bit hesitant to go out and still be able to offer them great taste at a really high price,” Lucas said.

When the dining room opens, there will be music and gloves going internally, so guests can “get a little dirty” while creating a fun and safe environment. Lucas said Krustaceans has already received positive feedback from the community. “We’ve been open for three weeks now and I’ve seen people four or five times already. So I think we’re doing something right, ”Lucas said.

Looking back, Lucas said the most rewarding part of opening up Krustaceans was the learning process.

“I played football, and it was my life for a very long time. But now, to be just an entrepreneur and a business owner is to learn mechanics, ”Lucas said. “Now I could build a restaurant from scratch. It was the funniest part, just learning everything.

Seafood Krustaceans

2908, boul. Oak lake

Instagram: @krustaceansseafoodcharlotte

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This story was originally published 8 June 2020 5:20 pm.

Maddie Ellis is a reporting intern at CharlotteFive. She is studying English and Journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.