Wednesday, January 4, 2012
News Ludacris closes Straits, opens Chicken N Beer at the airport
Posted by Besha Rodell @BeshaRodell on Wed, Jan 4, 2012 at 12:17 PM
- Joeff Davis
- Ludacris and Kasim
Well, not so much. Turns out, it's not the Korean Chicken and Beer at all, rather, the Chicken N Beer now slated to go into the airport is owned by Ludacris. AND, the contractor for Chicken N Beer is the Atlanta Restaurant Partners LLC group, an "out-growth" of Jackmont Hospitality, the concessions firm formed by late Mayor Maynard Jackson and currently led by Daniel Halpern. Halpern was Mayor Kasim Reed's campaign fundraiser and one of his appointees to the Atlanta Housing Authority.
So, yeah. So much for the casting off of the uneasy feelings.
Oh yeah, and when Luda found out he had the contract for Chicken N Beer, he decided to close Straits, his MIdtown Singaporean restaurant that's been open for four years.
Comments (10)
Showing 1-10 of 10
Since I live, like, 150 feet from Straits, I was in there a few times in the past three months. I really liked the vibe at the bar, but as a restaurateur said to me once about when he knew it was time to close: "the stench of death was on the place."
I really, really want that little corner of Juniper to succeed, for selfish reasons. Concept? Someone? Anyone? Bueller?
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Romantic italian, preferably run by an actual, you know, Italian. This city needs more decent Italian. Alternatively, maybe we can get Ninos to move down there.
A real Singaporean restaurant would be tough to pull off in Atlanta. The concept seemed overly ambitious. Now, chicken and beer--that is something Atlanta could conceivably do well.
Kasim and Luda are doing what the good ol boys have done for decades. It is ALL about who you know.
I moved here in 1992 and The Airport has always been the Mayors office private bank account.
"Romantic Italian" in Atlanta = stereotypical italian restaurant with gaudy, boring decor, the same menu items you find on any italian menu, and the same cast of suburban trash who come into the city one a quarter to take their overweight, pasta fed wives to a "Fancy dinna'"
How is it that Atlanta's taste buds are so poorly refined that we can't get more than a couple restaurants in this city that can be considered "creative"...
I would definitely not say that about al Italian places in Atlanta. La Tavola in V-H is about as great as they come and that type of place would be perfect there. Juniper could use a Fifth Group restaurant. As far as Luda and the Mayor and the airport all I can do is roll my eyes.
Straits sucked anyway. I'm glad its closed. I do want something cool to be successful there.
People bitch about being stereotyped, then they crow about a Chicken & Beer joint opening at the airport. Riiiiiiight. SMH
And there is nothing wrong with classic Italian. I love modernist Italian like Ecco, but I also adore the refined elegance of La Grotta Buckhead. Just depends on the mood I'm in. There is room enough in the city for both. What we DON'T need is another oh-so-trendy-look-at-me-I-look-like-Snooki-or-NeNe place where the only thing fresh and exciting is watching the white crust form around the hostess' nostrils as the night wears on.
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