3 new Buckhead food & beverage happenings

Three recent announcements involve wine and beer opportunities at two Buckhead Starbucks locations, the opening of Twin Peaks “breastaurant” at Tower Walk and the return of two long-time Buckhead restaurateurs to Peachtree Road with a new eatery. 

Starbucks’ changing its brew

Unless Mayor Kasim Reed vetoes the idea, people will be able to belly up to the service bar at two locations in Buckhead for an afternoon or evening class or beer or wine.

 

The two locations, at 1230 West Paces Ferry Road near the OK Café and 1801 Howell Mill Road near Walmart and I-75, have been approved for beer and wine sales by the Atlanta License Review Board and are just awaiting their permits to pour.

Starbucks has been testing the beer and wine market since 2009 and announced in December it would expand the alcohol sales to five new cities, including Atanta.

  

Alcoholic beverages will be sold starting at 2 p.m. in an effort to attract customers winding down from work. In Seattle, one of the first test markets, beer sells for $5 and wine for $7 to $9.

Starbucks reportedly carefully chose the 25 U.S. cafes where it will sell alcohol and has no plans to offer beer and wine in all of its 17,000 worldwide cafes.

Place for men to gaze and graze

BuckheadView first announced in January the plans of Twin Peaks restaurant to open in Tower Walk at 3365 Piedmont Road and again in past months when the owners appeared before both Neighborhood Planning Unit B for liquor license approval and before the Development Review Committee of SPI-12 for approval of its build-out plans.

The exterior decor of the Twin Peaks restaurant on Piedmont Road

Well, the 12,700-square-foot Twin Peaks “breastaurant” concept has opened this month  in Buckhead, making it the largest location for the lodge-style sports restaurant in the country. This location is also the second Twin Peaks to open east of the Mississippi River and the first location in the Southeast.

Those who go there to see the new sports bar/restaurant will notice a distinct similarity of the Twin Peaks servers to those of the Hooters restaurant chain. It could be because the ole Hooters owners now have a stake in Twin Peaks. The interior décor, however, is distinctly different.

La Cima Restaurants LLC, which is Twin Peaks' largest franchisee, opened the Atlanta location as part of an agreement between the two companies to open 35 units.

To read a feature story on Twin Peaks Buckhead, go here.

F&B Atlanta opens on Peachtree Road

Seasoned restaurant team of Fabrice Vergez and Cindy Brown have returned to Buckhead and opened F&B Atlanta (stands for “food & beverage”) at 3630 Peachtree Road, the ground floor of the high-rise office/condo/retail building at the corner of Peachtree and Peachtree-Dunwoody roads.

 

“Buckhead is home. Our first Buckhead restaurant, Brasserie LeCoze at Lenox Square, was a grand success, and we look forward to seeing many of our Buckhead neighbors and loyal customers back in our newest restaurant, F&B Atlanta,” said “Fab” Vergez. The couple return to Buckhead after closing their large FAB restaurant in downtown Atlanta last year.

F&B Atlanta serves contemporary French and Mediterranean-inspired dishes—some from the menu of Brasserie LeCoze, but the rest featuring lighter fare with a Mediterranean influence.

The restaurant seats 120 guests, not counting the outdoor seating for 20. It is open daily at 11:30 a.m. and remains open throughout the day and evening. Sunday hours will be announced soon. Valet parking is provided. For reservations, call (404) 254-1797 or visit www.fandbatl.com. All major credit cards are accepted.