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| Paul's Restaurant in Peachtree Hills |
Paul Albrecht is apparently retiring.
Chef Paul Albrecht has listed his metro area restaurants for sale citing "retirement." Chef Paul, now in his 70s, is known to many in Atlanta as the co-founder of Buckhead Life Restaurant Group. Chef Paul was also one half of Pano's & Paul's restaurant, which opened in 1979 in West Paces Ferry Shopping Center. (Pano's & Paul's closed in 2008 and is reopening...?)
Paul left Buckhead Life in 1998 and opened a single restaurant in Florida. In 2002, Albrecht returned to Atlanta and became Executive Chef / Managing Partner at Spice in midtown. After leaving Spice, Paul's Restaurant opened in Peachtree Hills in 2005. Social Vinings, near Vinings Jubilee, followed in 2008.
While Albrecht's restaurant group, Great Food Group Inc., today includes just two restaurants, the group previously included a number of others. A casual burger eatery called The Burger Club was open in Vinings Jubilee from 2009-2010. The Burger Club's closure brought the arrival of the Vinings Fish company, which lasted until 2012. Dos Amigos Cantina, a Mexican eatery, opened in 2012 in a former Black-Eyed Pea restaurant on Spring Road in Smyrna. Albrecht's foray into Mexican fare was not well received, and it closed in 2013.
Chef Paul previously announced plans to open four restaurants in "Peachtree Hills Place," a residential community for residents ages 62 and older. One of the restaurants would have been open to the public with the remaining three reserved for residents and their guests. The project would have been built adjacent to Paul's current Peachtree Hills restaurant. After announcing the project in 2007, and scheduling an opening for 2009, the entire project remains stalled.
The sales offering indicates that both the 4,700 square foot Paul's, and the 6,800 square foot Social Vinings, were profitable in 2014.
What is your favorite memory of a Chef Paul restaurant?
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