Omnivore - Pillar of Atlanta’s food, punk, and gay rights communities Ria Pell RIP

Funeral arrangements and details regarding a celebration of Pell’s life are still coming together

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Atlanta lost a true icon this weekend. Ria Pell, owner of the Memorial Drive diner Ria’s Bluebird, co-founder of the MondoHomo queer music & arts fest., DJ, and 2012 winner on Food Network’s reality cooking series Chopped has died.

Pell was a pillar for Atlanta’s food and punk music scenes, and gay rights activism, who after four years had recently closed down her Inman Park restaurant Sauced to focus her attention on Ria’s Bluebird.

Pell had recently misplaced her cell phone. On Sunday afternoon (Nov. 24), Ria’s Bluebird manager Julie Pender went to Pell’s Grant Park home to ask her a question, when she discovered that Pell had passed away. The cause of death is yet to be determined. Pell was 45 years old.

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