The following food scores for the week of Oct. 3 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing for inspection details:
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
A second East Cobb location of Crumbl Cookies will be opening soon in the Parkaire Landing Shopping Center.
The Utah-based chain, which opened its first shop in 2017, will be moving into the former Cold Stone Creamery space at 640 Johnson Ferry Road, Suite 110, next to Ted’s Montana Grill.
Cold Stone Creamery’s signage disappeared last week, and although Parkaire Landing hasn’t removed the store from its directory the store’s website said it’s “temporarily closed.”
A response from Crumbl to an inquiry from East Cobb News said that “this store is still in the early stages. . . we are at the very beginning and months away from opening. . . permits, buildout and staffing still ahead.”
Crumbl Cookies makes fresh-baked cookies on premises, allowing customers to watch. After starting with a single product—chocolate chip cookies—Crumbl has grown its product line to include a rotating menu, and with ubiquitous pink carry-out and curbside pickup boxes.
Aggressive social media campaigns, especially on TikTok, also have helped Crumbl Cookies’ rapid expansion to nearly 600 locations nationwide.
Locally, Crumbl Cookies has opened at Sandy Plains MarketPlace, as well as Kennesaw and Marietta.
East Cobb News also has left a message with Cold Stone Creamery.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Moxie Restaurant Group opened its fourth Moxie Burger location last month in the Kennesaw area.
On Tuesday, the East Cobb-based company announced it has sold its Moxie Taco restaurant at Paper Mill Village.
In a Facebook message Tuesday morning, the Moxie Restaurant Group said that the new owners are those who operate Camps Kitchen and Bar next door.
The new name of the restaurant will be the Green Coyote Cantina, and it will have a similar menu.
“We’ve truly loved building Moxie Taco into a favorite neighborhood restaurant within the East Cobb community and are so thankful for everyone who supported Moxie Taco with their visits, parties, and catering,” the Moxie Restaurant Group message said. “We ultimately made the difficult decision to sell, so that we can focus our efforts on putting Moxie Burger locations into more local community neighborhoods.
“The decision was made easier by knowing it will be handed over to seasoned, successful owners, who are passionate about the concept,” the Moxie message said. “We know our loyal MT customers will be in the best of hands.”
Robert Caswick, a co-owner of Camps, told East Cobb News that his ownership team, the MooCoo Group, took over operations of Moxie Taco last week and has begun a gradual transition to the Green Coyote Cantina.
The restaurant is open from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. daily, and Caswick said hours will expand “once we are staffed up.”
He said the menu (see below) will feature scratch Tex-Mex entrees and specialty margaritas.
“We’re smoking meats in-house and have a margarita menu like no one else” he said. “We love East Cobb and are excited to serve the community we’ve met through Camp’s Kitchen & Bar.”
He said the interior of the Green Coyote will be updated gradually over the coming months during off-hours to make it resemble “a Far West Texas cantina.”
There also will be an expansion of the back patio overlooking the Paper Mill pond.
Moxie Taco opened in 2017 as La Novia Taqueria, then changed the name to reflect the Moxie brand.
Moxie Burger was started by Pope High School graduate Chas D’Huyvetter, who opened his first gourmet hamburger restaurant at Paper Mill Village in 2011.
The newest Moxie Burger is located at 1600 Kennesaw Due West Road, joining other locations on Shallowford Road near Lassiter High School and in Roswell.
The Moxie Restaurant Group message Tuesday said that there are “more to follow soon.”
East Cobb News has left a message with Moxie Burger.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Atlanta Braves are playing host to the New York Mets at Truist Park this weekend in a big series that likely will determine the winner of the National League Eastern Division.
The Flying Biscuit Cafe in East Cobb is marking a big slate of events in October during its grand reopening, and has snagged one of the team’s stars to make an appearance this Sunday.
Pitcher Kyle Wright, the only player in Major League Baseball with 20 wins this season, will sign autographs and meet with fans Sunday starting at 10 a.m. at Flying Biscuit, located at Parkaire Landing Shopping Center (4880 Lower Roswell Road, Suite 70).
Wright won his 21st game Saturday as the Braves defeated the Mets 4-1 to take a one-game lead with four games remaining for each team in the regular season.
The Braves and Mets will play Sunday night at 7 p.m. in a nationally televised game on ESPN.
Flying Biscuit opened at Parkaire Landing in March 2021 but closed in August for a month to undergo training following an ownership and management change.
The restaurant kicks off a month of specials this week that include $1 and $5 meals. Gift giveaways are scheduled for next week, and the promotions are updated on its Facebook page.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The following Cobb food scores for the week of Sept. 26 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing for inspection details:
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The following Cobb food scores for the week of Sept. 19 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing for inspection details:
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
A few readers have contacted us about the closing of Red Sky Tapas & Bar in East Cobb and we’ve contacted the restaurant to get more information.
After 14 years, the restaurant founded by Terry Kirby and Brian Kennington at the Market Plaza Shopping Center on Johnson Ferry Road has shut its doors for good.
A reader messaged us Wednesday night and said “went by this evening and definitely closed. No signs but deserted.”
UPDATED, Thursday, 7:30 p.m.: Red Sky announced the closure on its Facebook page after this story published:
“Thank you for 14 wonderful years of memories, fun, friends and family. Sadly, we are permanently closed.”
There was no further explanation. East Cobb News has left multiple messages with Red Sky Wednesday and Thursday seeking further comment. There was no answer at the restaurant via telephone and there was no voice mail option.
RETURN TO ORIGINAL STORY:
The restaurant and retail site ToNeTo reported late Wednesday that Kirby said he and his partner “were presented with ‘an offer they couldn’t refuse’ and made the difficult decision to sell the business.”
They continue to operate 1911 Biscuits & Burgers, a breakfast and lunch spot on South Cobb Drive in Smyrna, but the Red Sky space “will reportedly be reconcepted under new ownership,” according to the report.
Market Plaza, which includes the Los Bravos, Kouzina Christos, Mediterranean Grill, Bagelicious and Fuji Hana restaurants on eight acres, was sold in August by Market Plaza Joint Venture to Palatka Mall LLC for $9.8 million, according to Cobb property tax records.
In addition to its menu items, Red Sky was known for its live musical entertainment—including dueling pianos—and having a variety of benefit and charitable events.
Kirby and Pennington opened Red Sky in 2008, years after coming up with the concept for a night dining and entertainment concept in East Cobb.
Kirby previously was a manager of a sports bar in Sandy Springs and was shot in the back and paralyzed below the waist during a robbery in which his pregnant boss was killed.
He frequently visited Red Sky guests, moving around in his wheelchair to gauge their experience.
“It’s more than a dining experience,” Kirby said in a 2015 interview with the AJC. “It’s a shared experience. You enjoy the food and the people you’re with. Dining like that builds relationships.”
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Here’s the first look a major change proposed for Paper Mill Village: The building containing an existing Starbucks location would give way to a two-story, standalone coffee shop with a drivethru lane.
That’s according to filings with the Cobb Zoning Office in an application scheduled to be heard by the Cobb Planning Commission Oct. 4.
The filings include a revised site plan with new access points and procedures for conducting a traffic study to gauge how the expanded coffee shop would affect traffic in the busy Johnson Ferry Road-Paper Mill Road area.
S & B Investments has applied to rezone the 0.73-acre tract on the northwest corner of that intersection from future commercial and R-80 to NRC (Neighborhood Retail Commercial).
(Although Paper Mill Village is a mixed-used commercial development, it has a unique zoning history that we noted earlier this year when the property’s developer sought NRC designation for other buildings there.)
According to the application (you can read it here and view more renderings), the building would be around 5,000 square feet and the Starbucks would be open from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. seven days a week.
A stipulation letter from Garvis Sams, the S & B Investments attorney, includes a lengthy list of retail uses that would not be allowed on the property (you can read that letter here).
S & B Investments previously requested, then dropped, a request to add a drivethru lane for its existing 1,600-square-foot building, which includes space for two other retail businesses. One of them, where a nail salon was located, is vacant, and the other is a dry cleaning service.
Initial zoning staff analysis concluded that there wasn’t sufficient space to provide drivethru service for Starbucks with the building intact.
In his letter, Sams wrote that “while Starbucks has been a presence at this intersection for decades, because of the change in demographics and circumstances engrained in the nuanced evolution of our culture generally and more specifically the like-kind demographic within this sub-area of east Cobb County, the drive-thru component is no longer an option but is, instead, a necessary component.”
There is a standalone one-story Starbucks just up Johnson Ferry at Woodlawn Square. There’s a two-story Starbucks similar to the one proposed for Paper Mill Village in Sandy Springs.
Renderings provided in the Paper Mill Village filings show expansive customer space inside the new building, and traffic configurations.
The initial site plan called for a two-way access point from an existing alley off Johnson Ferry Road.
That has been changed to provide separate entrance and exit access from that alley, and a two-way access point from the existing alley off Paper Mill Road. A total of 23 parking spaces are included, including handicapped spots, and the drivethru area would be sealed off.
Cobb Zoning Staff has not completed its analysis or made a recommendation.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Chopt sign has gone up at one end of Pine Straw Plaza (4250 Roswell Road) where the California Pizza Kitchen used to be.
But a timeline for the opening of the salad concept location in East Cobb has still to be announced.
A public relations representative for Chopt Creative Salad Co. told East Cobb News in response to that question only that the opening will be taking place “later this year.”
The fast casual chain specializes in offering several dozen salad varieties that customers can customize for themselves, along with wraps, sandwiches, salads and bowls.
Chopt announced it would be coming to East Cobb earlier this year. It will be the fifth location in metro Atlanta, along with Perimeter Center, Buckhead, Ansley Mall and Toco Hills.
Chopt, founded in 2001, is heavily concentrated on the East Coast, in the New York City and Washington D.C. areas, as well as Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Chopt also has 21 locations in Alabama and seven in Tennessee.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The following Cobb food scores for the week of Sept. 12 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing for inspection details:
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The following Cobb food scores for the weeks of Aug. 29 and Sept. 5 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing for inspection details:
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Flying Biscuit Cafe at Parkaire Landing has been closed since mid-August due to what the company is saying is an ownership and management change.
The new proprietors have been hiring staff and have been off-site for training, according to a Flying Biscuit social media post.
They have announced a reopening date of Sept. 12. We’ve contacted the company for more information on what’s behind the changes and what customers can expect when they return.
This is Flying Biscuit’s second stint in the East Cobb area. The 3,000-square-foot Parkaire location opened in March 2021 in the former La Vida Massage space after a delay of more than a year due to COVID-19.
Flying Biscuit left East Cobb in 2010 in a freestanding space at Woodlawn Commons now occupied by Chase Bank.
The Atlanta-based breakfast and lunch chain has 12 restaurants in metro Atlanta and another in Athens, five in North Carolina, four in South Carolina, two each in Alabama and Florida and one in Texas.
Cobb Foodie Week set
Several East Cobb restaurants are taking part in Cobb Foodie Week, a promotion of Cobb Travel & Tourism that takes place from Sept. 10-17.
The restaurants establish their own specials, discounts and menu options. The East Cobb participants include the following:
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The following Cobb food scores for the week of Aug. 22 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing for inspection details:
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The following Cobb food scores for the week of Aug. 15 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing for inspection details:
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The following Cobb food scores for the week of Aug. 8 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing for inspection details:
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The following Cobb food scores for the week of Aug. 1 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing for inspection details:
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The following Cobb food scores for the week of July 25 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing for inspection details:
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The sign’s been up on what had been Zoës Kitchen for several weeks now, as an East Cobb location of Cava Grill is getting closer to opening.
Last week the new Mediterranean fast casual restaurant received an occupational license from the Cobb Business License Division.
When we checked with Cava earlier this month, they said they didn’t have a specific opening date.
We followed up Monday with another request and here’s what we got back:
“Unfortunately, we don’t have an exact opening time set yet, but we’re aiming for soon. Be sure to follow us at @cava (https://twitter.com/cava) for all of our updates and announcements!”
Cava Group Inc., the parent company of Cava and Zoës, has been replacing the latter with the former concept in a number of locations, including metro Atlanta.
The East Cobb location at Merchants Exchange Shopping Center (4400 Roswell Road, Suite 157) totals nearly 3,000 square feet, according to a directory map of Columbia Properties, the center’s owner.
The Cava chain started in Maryland in 2011 and there are currently 133 locations across the country. There are 15 in metro Atlanta and Athens, including the Cumberland and Town Center mall areas, all of which were former Zoës locations that converted starting last year.
The menu (you can check it out here) includes a variety of “build your own” meal combinations, including salads, grains, dips and spreads, falafel, chicken, lamb, meatballs, roasted vegetables and Mediterranean-style toppings and dressings.
Cava also sells some of its product line at Whole Foods and other food retailers.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
“Southern Born…Southern Bred…And today because of you, Janis Holland…I am well and Southern fed! Yum! Thank you…. Holland Botanical!” wrote a customer.
For East Cobb resident Janis Holland, simply delivering fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables to her customers isn’t enough.
She likes to show what they do with the food they get from her mom-and-pop service, Holland Botanical, every week.
Holland also takes photos of meals she’s prepared for herself and her family, including most recently a bowl of peaches and cream oatmeal with grainless granola and honey.
“It really makes you feel good to know you’re doing a good job,” Holland says of the testimonials she’s received from customers.
For nearly nine years, she and her husband Jonathan have been serving the East Cobb, Roswell and Woodstock area, initially in a weekend pop-up format, and since the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily home delivery.
A mixed vegetable and fruit basket arranged by Holland Botanical.
They’ve also put their sons, former and current football players at Pope High School, to work in what’s become something of a family business.
“It was a side hustle, but we wanted it to be something bigger,” said Holland, whose husband still runs a landscaping business. “We saw a need in the community for produce.”
Like any such entity, Holland Botanical has had to adapt quickly and in dramatic ways.
She said she switched from Saturday set-ups at the Shallowford Falls Shopping Center because “people here are busy on the weekends and they just couldn’t get here.”
She still does some pop-ups tied to community fundraisers and some seasonal mobile farmers markets at select locations in Atlanta.
But she reflects on the original format now as “a great idea at the wrong time.”
The overhead for a full-time farmers market is prohibitive, so going to an all-delivery format—with free delivery to ZIP Codes 30062, 30066, 30067, 30068, 30075 and part of 30188—has made the work she does more efficient.
“Everything stopped,” Holland said, referring to the onset of the pandemic, “and we rebooted it.”
Now it’s a full-time job for her, serving typically between 75-100 customers a week. They fill out their orders on her website by Monday afternoon, and she delivers Tuesday and Wednesday.
Holland travels once or twice a week to the State Farmers Market in Forest Park, filling out orders that include separate fruit and vegetable baskets and a combined fruit-veggie basket. She chooses some of the items based on availability and seasonality, and customers can make special requests.
Janis and Jonathan Holland with the Wit’s End Llama at The Bishop apartments in Sandy Springs, where Holland Botanical holds a seasonal mobile farmers market.
Holland Botanical charges $25 for a basket, which contains enough food for a typical family supply for a week. The emphasis is on Georgia-grown products, including items from other suppliers.
“We want to make it affordable to eat healthy,” Holland said.
While her delivery service is free, she does have a place on her order form for customers to add a gasoline tip, which she said is very helpful in times of soaring fuel prices.
While the margins are tight and the nature of a fresh produce delivery service remains fluid, she’s convinced this type of business is viable.
Despite the reality of the pivots she’s had to make, Holland’s passion for what she does hasn’t subsided.
“I don’t think we could sustain an à la carte menu,” she said. “But I believe in getting healthy food into peoples’ hands.”
While some remain careful accepting their food due to COVID concerns, “our customers are just so happy to see us.”
Holland also gives back to the community by donating leftover food to those who need it.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The following Cobb food scores for the week of July 18 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing for inspection details:
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
