We drove by Paper Mill Village this afternoon and saw that the much-anticipated opening of La Novia Taqueria (by Chas D’Huyvetter and his Moxie Burger venture) is getting closer.
While there’s no specific date that’s been announced yet (we’re placing a call and will update with that information when we get it) there is a hiring sign that’s been posted. On the Moxie Burger Facebook page, the following message was posted on Monday:
“Moxie’s girlfriend La Novia is gearing up for their opening. We are looking for hardworking responsible applicants. Help us spread the word.”
The La Novia space is next to Camp’s Kitchen and was formerly occupied by Valentino’s and Caffé Fortunato. The exterior has been repainted from its previous charcoal look.
La Novia Taqueria will be the fourth restaurant for D’Huyvetter, a Pope High School graduate who opened his first Moxie Burger at Paper Mill Village in March 2012, and has expanded to Shallowford and Trickum Roads and to Founders Square in downtown Roswell.
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The proposed Paprik’a restaurant is located at the former sites of a Pizza Hut and Donny’s Home Cooking on Sandy Plains Road. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved a request for a liquor license for a proposed Northeast Cobb restaurant that has been fought by nearby residents for the last two years.
By a 4-1 vote, the commissioners granted the alcohol permit to Naseeb Rana of Kasbah Corp., who wants to open the Paprik’a Restaurant at 4674 Sandy Plains Road. The space has been empty since 2015, and is adjacent to the Sandy Plains Village Shopping Center, at Sandy Plains and Woodstock Road (Highway 92).
Only commissioner JoAnn Birrell, whose district included the area until last year, voted against Rana’s application. The commissioners took up the matter after Rana appealed a denial for a pouring license by the Cobb License Review Board.
Residents from the Chatsworth, Jefferson Park and Jefferson Township neighborhoods, located just south of the commercial area off Sandy Plains, have said Rana has not been forthcoming with her plans since trying to get the alcohol license.
The star signifies the proposed Paprik’a restaurant site. Click for a larger view.
They said she hasn’t always communicated with the neighborhood about her plans and expressed concern about traffic and parking issues.
“This application has been denied twice, and there have been so many red flags,” said Lisa Hanson, representing the Chatsworth Homeowners Association. “We are all for a renovated building.”
Hanson said Rana initially had proposed opening a nightclub at the location that would be open very late, and a stop-work order was issued. Those events, Hanson said, “made us question whether this application was following law.”
Both Rana, a graduate of Lassiter High School, and her attorney, Lisa Morchower, denied there were ever plans for a nightclub. Rana said she wants to have valet parking for Paprik’a since there’s limited space around the building, and explained that she has revised her menu to reflect her business’ primary function as a restaurant.
Morchower said the proposed hours for Paprik’a would be 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday.
Rana said she was being unfairly “targeted” by the community, and insisted that her restaurant is similar to others in the area. “I don’t see why my small restaurant will make such a big impact,” she said.
Sandra Richardson, the Cobb business license manager, said the Paprik’a site was originally a Pizza Hut that opened in 1998 and served alcohol. After that, a restaurant called Donny’s Home Cooking operated at the location until 2015 but did not serve liquor.
Hanson said nearby residents have also dealt with noise issues from the Movie Tavern, which opened in 2013, with garbage trucks making pickups late at night. She said there have been numerous violations of other stipulations by DDR Sandy Plains, the shopping center property owner.
But commissioner Bob Ott, who represents the area, said he was satisfied with the application and said that if traffic and parking ever become an issue, the community can raise them at that time.
“We have to let the restaurant open before we know,” he said, adding that Rana’s appeal hearing often felt like a zoning hearing. “Alcohol doesn’t increase traffic. Ms. Rana has her work cut out for her, but she’s made a tremendous effort to change her menu.”
Ott said that unlike a zoning, a liquor license holder has to satisfy all stipulations and be approved for renewals yearly.
Birrell said: “I’ve heard the concerns of the community, and I cannot support this.”
The Sandy Plains Village area has been in transition recent years. It was the location of a Kroger and Stein Mart before the Movie Tavern opened. A Walmart Neighborhood Grocery also opened there in 2013 but closed earlier this year.
The Sage Woodfire Tavern Windy Hill (3050 Windy Hill Road) opened for business last month (previous East Cobb Newspost here), but an official ribbon-cutting event is slated for Oct. 19 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The ribbon-cutting was rescheduled; the special guests include District 2 Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott, CBS 46 Meteorologist Ella Dorsey and former Georgia Bulldog/Miami Dolphin Randy McMichael.
“Our priority is to insure that our guests feel like an honored visitor in my family’s home,” said James Liakakos, President of Sage Woodfire Tavern restaurants.
After the ribbon-cutting, the restaurant will re-open to the public for normal dinner service at 3:30 p.m.
Sage Woodfire Tavern Windy Hill has a general dining room capacity of 250 and a private dining room that seats 70 for business meetings, family celebrations and other special uses.
Restaurants in the Powers Ferry Road area have had a tough go in recent years. The Sage Woodfire Tavern is located in the former Houston’s Restaurant space that’s been vacant since early 2013.
Down the street, Sal Grosso’s and TGI Friday’s have been closed; only Rose & Crown Tavern, which opened in 2010, remains in that vicinity.
What has changed is the arrival of SunTrust Park, which is drawing restaurants to the area, not just to The Battery complex adjacent to the stadium.
The following East Cobb restaurant scores for thus far in the month of September have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing to view details of the inspection:
A follow-up to the story we reported here Monday about a proposed Taqueria Tsunami in East Cobb going up in the old Caribou Coffee/Einstein Bagel space on Johnson Ferry Road: It’s gotten a recommendation of conditional approval by the East Cobb Civic Association.
During its monthly business meeting Wednesday, the group voted to recommend approval of a site plan amendment being proposed on behalf of Fork U Concepts, the Marietta company that runs the six-restaurant Latin-Asian fusion concept chain, but with some stipulations.
Those recommendations include the district commissioner (Bob Ott) signing off on building renderings for the new restaurant, a landscaping plan for the property and front signage, none of which have been submitted to the Cobb Zoning Department.
The 0.70-acre tract at 1275 Johnson Ferry Road has been vacant since Einstein Bagels left in 2015. The land was first zoned for commercial use in 1978 as a Krystal fast-food restaurant (Caribou replaced it in 1995 and closed in 2013).
Amor Design Group, an architectural design firm submitting the application, wants to revise the site plan to remove the drivethru window used at the former Caribou location, in order to increase parking. The proposal calls for a parking expansion to 42 spaces that would include restriping.
The ECCA, which represents more than 90 homeowners associations and other individuals, is a citizens group that provides advisory opinions to the Cobb Planning Commission and Cobb Board of Commissioners on zoning and land use cases. While it wields no official power, its influence is frequently considered (Ott is a former ECCA president), especially when community opposition arises.
One other thing to note about the Taqueria Tsunami case: It’s considered “other business” in Cobb zoning parlance since it’s a site plan amendment proposal, instead of a pure rezoning matter.
Therefore, this case doesn’t need to go before the Cobb Planning Commission and instead will be heard by the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Sept. 19.
A zoning case that was on next Thursday’s Cobb Planning Commission agenda but that has been continued until October is the proposed redevelopment of the former Mountain View Elementary School (Z-053-2017). The nearly 14-acre tract would be converted into a mixed-use complex of restaurants, grocery, retail, banking and other commercial uses.
According to Jill Flamm of the ECCA, the applicant, Brooks Chadwick Capital LLC, is asking for more time to work with the community.
She also briefed ECCA members on other zoning and land use cases that have no new information to report. They include another high-profile September case, proposed by Lidl Grocery (OB-016-2017) to redevelop the Park 12 Cinema on Gordy Parkway, and a proposal by S & B Investments to add a drivethru window at the Starbucks Coffee location near Paper Mill Village, at 31 Johnson Ferry Road (OB-028-2017).
The ECCA has recommended denial of the Lidl Grocery application and supports the Starbucks addition.
Also on Wednesday, the ECCA voted to hold an application by Blair Waldron to amend a site plan for 1.28 acres on the north side of Roswell Road, just west of East Piedmont Road, to allow for a 16,000-square-foot medical and dental office building.
The land is located between a Bank of America branch and the East Cobb United Methodist Church. The proposed building would house Waldron Dentistry, which is currently located at 3020 Roswell Road, near Old Canton Road.
Flamm said no renderings have been submitted, and there are 34 pages of stipulations to consider. Much of that stems from a litigation settlement in 1999. Here’s the file information on OB-041-2017 from the Cobb Zoning Department, which hasn’t done a staff analysis for the application since it came in after the Aug. 4 commenting deadline.
More East Cobb restaurant news, following Monday’s posts about Loyal Q/Sugar Benders and a proposed Taqueria Tsunami in the Johnson Ferry corridor: the new Sage Woodfire Tavern location at Windy Hill Road and Powers Ferry Road is opening next week.
The hiring process is underway, and social media accounts have been started (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) for the new restaurant, located in the old Houston’s space at 3050 Windy Hill Road.
According to the office of Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott, a ribbon-cutting and open house reception for invited guests is scheduled for next Thursday, Sept. 7, from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with service to the public starting at 4 p.m.
This will be the third Sage Woodfire Tavern location, along with Alpharetta and Dunwoody. It’s located in restaurant space that has been vacant since Houston’s at Wildwood closed in Jan. 2013.
That’s also in a Powers Ferry corridor that’s been challenging for restaurants in recent years. TGI Friday’s and Sal Grosso are among the more notable casualties, along with Houston’s. An exception is the Rose & Crown Tavern, which opened in 2010 at 1391 Powers Ferry Road, just north of the new Sage Windy Hill.
The opening of nearby SunTrust Park earlier this year has been a magnet for new eateries located in The Battery, adjacent to the new stadium for the Atlanta Braves, and in the surrounding area.
The Infinite Dining Group which runs the Sage Woodfire Tavern also operated the Sage Social Kitchen & Bar in East Cobb, which closed in April after being open for only a few months. Previously the location of Chequer’s and Houlihan’s, that space in the Merchants Festival Shopping Center (1401 Johnson Ferry Road) remains vacant.
Across the parking lot, the Black Swan Tavern is preparing for opening with a date yet to be determined (previous East Cobb News coverage here). A liquor license approval is still pending.
An early check into a really busy September Cobb zoning calendar (especially in East Cobb) revealed this agenda item: the growing, Marietta-based Taqueria Tsunami Latin-Asian fusion restaurant concept may be headed this way.
An application in the “Other Business” section, OB-039-2017, has been filed by Amor Design Studios on behalf of Fork U Concepts, which runs six Taqueria Tsunami locations, including the Marietta Square, Roswell, Woodstock, Athens and soon in Sandy Springs.
The East Cobb location would be at 1275 Johnson Ferry Road, where Caribou Coffee and an Einstein Bros. Bagels operated side-by-side.
Caribou Coffee closed in 2013, and Einstein Bros. Bagels followed in 2015.
The Cobb Planning Commission will hear the application next Thursday, Sept. 7.
Amor Design Studios, an Atlanta architectural design firm, has filed a site plan amendment which states the following intent:
“Fork U Concepts would like to improve the property by deleting the drive-thru [of the former Caribou store] and increasing the number of parking spaces by restriping the parking lot.”
The proposed site plan changes (below, click to see larger image) call for 42 total spaces, 32 of them standard-sized spaces. The total land size for the building and parking is 0.70 acres.
There’s no preliminary staff zoning analysis for the moment since the application was filed on Aug. 15, after the Aug. 4. deadline for comments.
Some major East Cobb redevelopment proposals are also on the September calendar, and we’ll have more in forthcoming posts:
Z-053-2017, by Brooks Chadwick Capital, LLC, which would rezone the former Mountain View Elementary School location on Sandy Plains Road for a retail, restaurant, bank and grocery store development;
OB-016-2017, by Lidl US Operations, LLC, to tear down the Park 12 Cinema on Gordy Parkway and build a Lidl grocery store, a proposal that’s been delayed several times (see previous East Cobb Newsstory) and has community opposition;
Z-012-2017, by SSP Blue Ridge, LLC, to rezone 21 acres northwest intersection of Terrell Mill Road and Powers Ferry Road for a mixed commercial and residential development anchored by a Kroger grocery story. This application also has been continued.
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Loyal Q and Brew (website; Facebook page) opened Aug. 17 at the Parkaire Landing Shopping Center (4880 Lower Roswell Road, Suite 850, between Sellars Goodyear and Ted’s Montana Grill), once it got a distance waiver from the Cobb BOC to serve alcohol.
The barbecue concept, which specializes in smoked meats, was started by two former Taco Mac executives, ex-CEO Bob Campell and ex-chief operating officer Susie Addo.
Loyal Q is open for dinner only during the week (Mon-Thur 5pm-10pm; Fri 5pm-midnight) and serves lunch on the weekends (Sat 11am-midnight; Sun 11am-10pm). Phone: 678-921-0456.
Down the road at Paper Mill Village, longtime Sugar Benders Bakery owner Veronica Estrada has put up a sign indicating the forthcoming arrival of a Cafe at Pharr location that will share space with her business (255 Village Parkway, Suite 240-A, just around the corner from Camp’s Kitchen).
She’s estimating the new joint location will open in mid-September. Cafe at Pharr, which specializes in gourmet salad and sandwich lunch fare (here’s the menu), has been expanding around metro Atlanta from its original site in Buckhead. This will be its first location in Cobb County.
A couple of weeks after failing a health inspection, a longtime East Cobb restaurant and bar got a perfect score in a follow-up visit from Cobb and Douglas Public Health.
The Wing Cafe and Tap House (2145 Roswell Road, in the East Lake shopping center) got a 100 score during an inspection last Friday. Management posted the new report in a front window (above) and on the establishment’s Facebook page, with the following message:
“Please accept our apologies for anything that may have wavered your trust in us! We look forward to seeing you all back here soon! Thank you to all of our patrons who stuck with us during this trying time! We appreciate all of our loyal customers!”
On July 21, an inspection at The Wing Cafe resulted a score of 62 with six violations, including employees failing to wash hands, improper temperatures for food storage and a moldy ice machine.
Formerly known as the Wild Wing Cafe, The Wing Cafe marked its 22nd anniversary earlier this summer.
The following are scores from Cobb and Douglas Public Health inspections of restaurants in East Cobb in the last two weeks. Click here for general information, and the restaurant name for the full inspection report:
The long-awaited new Mountain View Elementary School campus will be christened on Thursday. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
The last full week of summer vacation will be a busy one for East Cobb students and their parents, beyond shopping for clothes and supplies and getting oriented with the academic year ahead.
The ribbon-cutting for the new Mountain View Elementary School takes place Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m. (yes, bright and early, but before the searing heat sets in) at its new location at 3151 Sandy Plains Road, just down the road from where it had been for decades;
It’s guaranteed to be hot and stifling Sunday afternoon when the new Walton High School campus (same location, 1590 Bill Murdock Road) will be dedicated, with ribbon-cutting starting at 2 p.m. An Open House takes place from 2:30-3:30 p.m.;
The final Paper Mill Village food truck of the summer will be Monday from 5 p.m.-8 p.m. in the main parking lot (255 Village Parkway). Admission is free and so is the live music; cost of food tickets vary according to vendor;
Two East Cobb library branches are holding a joint summer farewell party for students on Thursday from 2-4: The event is at Gritters Library (880 Shaw Park Road) and also includes staff from Mountain View Regional with crafts, games, snacks and other fun activities;
Early Saturday morning, the McCleskey-East Cobb Family YMCA (1055 East Piedmont Road) is the venue for the Dog Days Run presented by the Rotary Club of East Cobb. You can still register (race-day fee of $30 starting at 6:30 a.m.), and the organizers are looking for volunteers and sponsors.
There’s so much more on our Events Calendar to check out, and if you have an item to share, please e-mail: calendar@eastcobbnews.com.
