Image by Duane Nutter
Former Just one Flew South chef Duane Nutter and restaurateur Reggie Washington departed the award-successful airport restaurant in 2016 following virtually 20 yrs. 1 calendar year later, they opened Southern National in Mobile, Ala., earning Nutter a 2020 James Beard Award finalist title. This summer, the famed duo will bring Southern Nationwide to Atlanta, opening in Summerhill in July or August.
Serving lunch and dinner, as perfectly as Sunday brunch, the cafe will be a “more innovative and cosmopolitan” model of the Cell area, actively playing to Atlanta diners’ palate with dishes encouraged by Nutter’s heritage and travels.
“The cafe will play homage to my biggest hits at culinary workplaces,” Nutter says.
He and Washington chose Summerhill for the 80-seat restaurant in component for its historically Black roots—the area was established by former enslaved men and women in 1865. They want to give back again to the group by hiring Summerhill residents to perform at the restaurant and making a local community backyard to present fresh produce for all those suffering from food stuff insecurity.
“My loved ones has been in the horticulture small business for four generations,” Washington claims. “We want to get the local community associated and mature some items for our restaurant but give again to the educational institutions and the Summerhill place.”
We spoke to Nutter and Washington to discover far more about their plans for the restaurant—and what’s in retail outlet for the potential.
Image by Duane Nutter
Why’d you come to a decision open up Southern Countrywide in Atlanta?
Washington: It has been in our plan given that we remaining One Flew South. We wanted to go somewhere we felt we could separate ourselves and produce our possess manufacturer. It was inescapable that we’d appear back—we have deep, significant roots below. We developed our adhering to, our foundation, in the Atlanta area for 19 decades with A single Flew South.
How did you choose Summerhill?
Washington: We looked at historic African American neighborhoods: West Midtown, Decatur, and Buckhead. When we noticed the space and the vision for Summerhill, it seemed like a excellent healthy for Southern Countrywide, which provides businesspeople, readers, and neighborhood people today, and is extremely available.
What can we expect from the menu?
Nutter: The menu is my cooking—back residence and celebrating all the sites I have traveled. There will be some things I was recognized for at airport, like the pork belly slider, but I’ll make it smoked because we’ll have a smoker. We’ll do a espresso-rubbed pork chop, collard greens and mussels, and Cherry Coke-braised shorter ribs considering the fact that Atlanta is household to Coca-Cola. My Creole-treated salmon is about my two coasts coming with each other. (I was born in Louisiana and raised in Seattle.) I’ll do Kentuckyaki salmon because I labored in Kentucky. I’m fantastic friends with Kevin Ouzts [of the Spotted Trotter], so I’ll do something ridiculous with his lamb sausage. We’ll be earning pastas in home, like short rib ravioli. I’m functioning on snack thoughts for pleased hour like bulgogi tacos. It’s all about my travels.
What will the beverage application be like?
Nutter: It’ll be a powerful bar application with a minor little bit of all the things, which include signature cocktails from Cellular. We’ll have an comprehensive wine list with a very little of every little thing. Reggie is a enthusiast of the New Entire world. I’m a enthusiast of the Outdated Earth, so we’ll mix it up.
How would you explain the space?
Nutter: Smith Hanes Studio is creating it to be pretty comfortable and open up with beautiful, warm pecan or walnut wood and two garage doors that open in the bar spot to deliver sights of the sunset. We’re commissioning artwork from a area African American artist—paintings that pay out homage to the community. Music will be an intricate portion of the cafe. We’ll have a playlist that retains the energy substantial and absolutely everyone in a very good mood. I really do not want it to be as well fussy and scare absent the neighborhood people.
What are your strategies for the potential?
Washington: We’re on the lookout to broaden in the Atlanta sector with a barbecue concept termed Metal Smokin, and a industry with the solutions we generate at Southern National (like pimento cheese and pastries) identified as SoNat Industry. We’ll begin it with a compact spot in Summerhill. We also started Pizza Box as a ghost restaurant in the pandemic in Mobile and we’re scouting for locations for it.