Ford Fry Just Keeps on Expanding His Empire

Perhaps the name Ford Fry isn't familiar. If that's the case, here's a brief primer: his newest restaurant, The Optimist, opened in May and was recently named the best new restaurant of the year by Esquire. It came less than a year after No. 246, which serves up Italian fare in downtown Decatur and followed JCT Kitchen to the Atlanta restaurant scene. Fry's upcoming project, King + Duke, is set to open in March, only ten months after The Optimist. He also has an eatery in the works for the Avalon development in Alpharetta, which may or may not serve Mexican food.

Got all that? Good, because it seems like the chef just isn't going to slow down. Fry told Atlanta Magazine that besides King + Duke, he has two more in-town projects in the works in addition to a possible expansion into Houston, where he grew up. There's the still-unnamed Alpharetta eatery, which may be the "kind of Austin, Texas, tex-mex" project that the restaurateur wants to open with "awesome margaritas and maybe even a live music component," but what about the other restaurant? Will that be Mexican instead? Where's it going to be? Got inside information? Send it through the tipline.

· Chef Ford Fry Talks About King + Duke and Other New Restaurants [Atlanta]
· All Coverage of Ford Fry [-EATL-]