Ford Fry’s Little Rey is opening a new Buckhead location on May 20, 2024 in the new Northcreek Retail development within the Northcreek office park at 3705 Northside Parkway, 1 block north of the West Paces Ferry Huston’s. The new location is a welcome addition to the dining scene on Buckhead’s west side, where dining options are more sparse due to a lack of commercially zoned land. The Northcreek location joins the popular Little Rey on Piedmont Rd in Morningside. There are also locations in Houston, TX and Raleigh, NC.
The Northern Mexican inspired menu features the signature wood-roasted “chicken al carbon”, along with al carbon tacos, traditional street style tacos, salads and fresh salsas. Fresh ingredients and hand-made tortillas combine to elevate the “fast-casual” concept into something truly delicious. Weekend diners can enjoy breakfast tacos and Little Rey’s famous pancakes, and whole, bone-in chicken al carbon is available everyday.
Beverage director Eduardo Porto Carreiro oversees a simple program that includes everything you would expect. Margaritas are served on the rocks or frozen, and Mexican beers are available alongside a curated list of local and regional favorites. Try the house-made aqua frescas when you’re in the mood for something softer.
The new Little Rey at Northcreek was designed by Smith Hanes Studio, and built by DeCarlo Hawker Architecture and Design. The 5,500-square-foot space was designed as a “super-casual joint” with the heart of Texas in mind. The charming and rustic decor, including a curated collection of art from Atlanta and Austin, is designed to make guests feel at home.
The space is set up around indoor-outdoor dining, with a large covered patio and a walk-up window for to-go orders or grabbing another margarita. Perhaps the most unique feature of the Buckhead location is the spacious open-air patio and pea-gravel courtyard overlooking Nancy Creek. This scenic spot offers the perfect place to mingle and enjoy one more margarita.
The new retail strip has been developed by Vantage Realty Partners on the campus of the 4 Class A office buildings that make up the Northcreek Office Park. The Daily, a coffee shop and cafe, and Pace, a popular pilates studio opened for business earlier this year. According to a Vantage Realty representative, the tenant for the remaining space will be an “upscale neighborhood tavern,” and a full announcement should be coming very soon.
Little Rey will host a pre-opening party at the new location May 18 from 5 to 9 P.M. There will be food to sample and drinks for sale, plus face painting and a mechanical bull!
Other grand opening events include free breakfast tacos starting at 10 a.m. on May 25.
If you can’t make it for the opening festivities, Little Rey is definitely worth a visit after May 20. You will find the new location at 3705 Northside Parkway NW, in the Northcreek office park. Visit Little Rey online for menus, hours, and more.
Incredible opportunity to build your dream home on this desirable street in Buckhead just off West Paces Ferry Road. The private 1.75-acre lot is set back from the street with an unusually generous 225 feet of road frontage! The back of the lot offers a rear entrance option off Randall Hall Road culdesac. Luxury home plans are available showing the possibilities that this acreage offers.
The Randall Mill Neighborhood lifestyle is luxury defined, and a juxtaposition of stately peaceful homes amidst the bustling city exemplifies the spirit of Buckhead. Home to iconic landmarks, from local favorite, Smith Ace Hardware, to opulent dinners at Blue Ridge Grill, the area showcases the versatility of Buckhead culture. Two of Atlanta’s finest private schools, Pace Academy and Westminster Schools, are right around the corner.
Buckhead’s Atlanta Police Department precinct is seeing a changing of the guard as its current commander has received a promotion to deputy chief.
Andrew Senzer, who has led the Zone 2 precinct since November 2019 with the rank of major, will head APD’s Strategy and Special Projects Division, he announced at an April 7 meeting of the Buckhead Public Safety Task Force.
Major Ailen Mitchell, who has served as Senzer’s assistant since 2020, will be the new Zone 2 commander, Deputy Chief Timothy Peek said in the meeting.
The transition will happen on April 14, according to APD. The current head of the Strategy and Special Projects Division, Deputy Chief Darin Schierbaum, is being promoted to the vacant position of assistant chief of police.
Senzer was Buckhead’s police commander through the historic COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying crime spike, including the May 2020 rioting and looting in local business areas that spun out of Black Lives Matter protests about the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd.
He also led through the beginning of the Buckhead cityhood movement that based itself on crime concerns. While crime spiked, Senzer took a zero-tolerance approach and Buckhead continues to have the city’s lowest crime rate.
“It really has been an honor to serve as the commander of Zone 2,” Senzer said in the task force meeting. “In my 26 years [in policing], this has probably been the most challenging assignment I’ve had.”
He said his new role will be “a little behind the scenes” but that he will “not be a stranger” in Buckhead.
Peek said APD is “ecstatic” about Senzer taking on the deputy chief role.
Mitchell, according to his APD biography, has been with the department since 2006. He previously commanded the SWAT team and, like Senzer, once served on the Red Dog unit, an anti-drug squad disbanded in 2011 after controversial incidents like an illegal raid on the Atlanta Eagle gay bar. Among his other work was the Gang Unit and the Auto Theft Task Force.
Mitchell became Zone 2’s Criminal Investigations Unit commander in 2018 and its assistant commander in 2020.
Zone 2 is headquartered at 3120 Maple Drive in Buckhead Village.
Update: This story has been updated with information from APD about the transition.
Some popular metro Atlanta restaurant operators are planning outposts or new concepts in Buckhead’s Lindbergh and Northside neighborhoods.
New Korean and Mexican restaurants are scheduled to open this fall in “Uptown Atlanta,” the mixed-use complex around Lindbergh Center station. And new outposts of The Daily and Little Frey are coming, likely next year, in a new restaurant mini-complex in the Northcreek Office Park on Northside Drive.
Here’s what we know so far.
Uptown Atlanta
Uptown Atlanta is the new name for the former City Center, the 47-acre complex around the Lindbergh Center MARTA Station along Piedmont Road. As promised last year, a vast renovation project will include some unique restaurants along Main Street, replacing such previous tenants as the Taco Mac chain.
One newcomer is El Gordo, a new concept from the owners of Marietta’s Birria El Gordo. The concept is Mexican food, an outdoor patio with weekly live music and DJs, and “unique tequila cocktails.” Conceptual illustrations of its interior design includes a skull-studded wall and a mural of a leopard.
El Gordo owner Nestor Pineda said in a press release that he was attracted by Uptown’s intent to create a restaurant environment similar to that of the north metro’s famously diverse Buford Highway corridor. “We’re looking forward to inviting Atlantans to experience an old-school taqueria and try some O.G. street tacos and tequila at our new Uptown location,” he said.
The other newcomer is a yet-to-be-named Korean tabletop barbecue restaurant from the owners of Doraville’s Miss Gogi. The location will include a patio and an indoor-outdoor bar.
Uptown Atlanta also announced that 26 Thai Kitchen and Bar will remain in its spot at 541 Main St., from which it has expanded into a north metro chain. It’s getting renovations, including an enhanced patio.
Northcreek Office Park
Meanwhile, restaurants are in the works for the four-building Northcreek Office Park at 3715 Northside Parkway on the border of Mt. Paran-Northside and Randall Mill, just north of the Church of the Apostles.
Atlanta’s Vantage Realty Partners is working on a trio of restaurants and a yet-to-be-identified fitness center operator.
Vantage partner Chris Carter said two of the restaurants can be publicly identified. One is The Daily, a cafe with existing locations near the Hemphill Waterworks and another in Charleston, South Carolina. The other is Little Rey, a Tex-Mex quick-service restaurant with an existing location in Piedmont Heights.
Patience will be required, as Carter says build-out of the restaurant spaces likely will come around January 2023. He said the other tenants may be named in about 45 days.
The spirit of Buckhead heads forward. This is the way it has been, and perhaps this is the way it will always be. The spirit of Buckhead points forward. You see it in the way we work, and you see it in the way we play. The reach is always extending further. The search is for excellence and beauty and grace and vibrancy.
We are a community of individuals. We are diverse, we are dynamic, and we are discerning. We are builders. We are connected to one another with a common bond. A common dream. A common quest. Pointing life in one direction. Forward.
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