An Early Look at The Pinewood Tippling Room

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The Pinewood Tippling Room opened yesterday after weeks of anticipation surrounding consulting chef Julia LeRoy's funnel cakes and fried bologna sandwiches. The amount of work put into the details is evident: Brooks Cloud's mother created the dried flower arrangements, T. Fable Jeon did the chalkboard art, and everything The Pinewood uses from the jams to the tinctures and sodas is made in house. With its exposed-but-painted pipes, candles in mason jars, and furniture and bar built from locally-sourced pinewood, the restaurant is both rustic and modern and doesn't at all conjure up images of the Boy Scout derbies one might expect. Eater checked out the space today and chatted with co-owners Cloud and Jeon about their favorite things on the menu and the success of opening night.

Cloud recs the sweet potato brownie for dessert and says that despite being a "carnivore at heart," he loves the pink-eyed pea hummus and the sweet potato bombers. As for drinks, he likened the Hibiscus Fizz to a "flowery milkshake," and mixologist Jeon demonstrated how to hand mill huge cylinders of ice for the Pinewood Cup, revealing over flying ice shavings that his favorite cocktail is currently the Day that I Die, which is "number one on the list and number one in his heart." It's a whiskey concoction with fresh ginger syrup and roasted Georgia pecan tincture.

The Tippling Room has already garnered a positive response from the community, which is awesome news but means the crew is "still recovering" from their first night, as Jeon said while straightening up the bar shelves. Right now, they're open for dinner and drinks, but weekend brunch service starts in about two weeks. Lunch will roll out shortly after and will feature slightly different offerings— like salads and more sandwiches— than the current dinner menu. Pinewood aims to be a place for families to gather as well as a bar, and the owners promise their housemade sodas, like the Shirley Temple with homemade grenadine, will be the best children have ever tasted.
· The Pinewood Tippling Room [Official Site]
· All Previous Coverage of The Pinewood Tippling Room [-EATL-]