Bits & Bites

The new Kroger is so big it's hard to capture in a picture 

The new 109,000 square foot Kroger opens today at Glenwood Marketplace near the intersection of Glenwood Avenue and Bill Kennedy Way.  The store is not quite a   "Marketplace" store, but does carry more products than a typical Kroger store.

Ron Eyester has resurfaced as the executive chef at Nancy G's at Fountain Oaks shopping center on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs.  I actually like Nancy G's (which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary) and hope Eyester doesn't ruin it like he did his restaurants. 

Supercuts has opened in the Publix/T.J. Maxx-anchored Briarcliff Village near Northlake Mall.  If memory serves, the hair salon previously had a location in the nearby Michael's-anchored Briarcliff LaVista shopping center.  

The existing North Atlanta Urgent Care on Clairmont Road has been converted to a Piedmont Urgent Care by Wellstreet.  

Pieology has opened its first Atlanta area location at The Atwater across from Avalon on Old Milton Parkway in Alpharetta.  The Santa Margarita, California-based quick service pizza eatery has plans for a handful of additional locations in metro Atlanta in the coming years.  

Dunkin' Donuts is opening a new location within an existing BP convenience store near the intersection of Cotillion Drive and North Peachtree Road, just off I-285. Dunkin' Donuts also opened a shop in the existing BP at the corner of Spring Street and North Avenue, among others it has opened in convenience stores around Atlanta. 

Uncle Jack's Meat House plans to open next month at "Shoppes on Sugarloaf," a small strip center adjacent to Infinite Energy Arena (fka The Arena at Gwinnett Center). The new steak house opens in place of Cotton & Corn Kitchen Bar which opened in the center in 2014 and closed last year.  The restaurant space is 2,400 square feet with additional space on its outdoor patio.  The restaurant, which will serve lunch and dinner as well as weekend brunch, will seat about 50 people inside, about 14 at the bar, and about 75 on its patio.  The concept from restaurateur Willie Degel, host of Food Network's (reportedly faked and cancelled) “Restaurant Stakeout," will be the first outside of Degel’s native New York.  Degel already operates an Uncle Jack’s Meat House in Queens, as well as New York locations of Uncle Jack’s Steakhouse, Uncle Jack’s Steak Sandwich Shop and Jack’s Shack.  

In related news, the upcoming "Embassy Suites by Hilton Atlanta NE Gwinnett Sugarloaf," currently under construction on Satellite Boulevard near Infinite Energy Arena, will no longer feature a steakhouse.  When I first wrote about the project in 2009, it was to feature a "Shula's America's Steakhouse."  After the hotel stalled amidst the financial crisis, rumors were that Ruth's Chris Steak House, a longtime partner of Embassy Suites, would open with the hotel.  In fact, neither will happen.  Instead, Brickstones Grill, a house restaurant of the Embassy Suites brand, will open in the hotel.  Brickstones is described by ownership as "a contemporary American grill that features a unique a la carte experience." Embassy Suites plans to open February 2017. 

A new Moe's Southwest Grill is coming to the food court of Cumberland Mall in Cobb county.  Moe's joins fellow Focus Brands Cinnabon and Auntie Anne's in the food court already. 

Neighbors are not happy about a proposed "Gen 3" QuikTrip (QT) planned for Beaver Ruin and Indian Trail Roads.  The new QT would replace The Crossings, an existing shopping center.  An existing "outdated" QT about a half mile away on Beaver Ruin Road and Norcross Parkway would likely close if the new location is opened.