Look Inside Timone's, Ron Eyester's New Pizza Joint

Grid View

• Signs from streets in Little Italy, pizzeria photo taken by Ron's sister-in-law
• The bar
• Painted reproduction of Joe's Pork Store advertisement
• Frank Sinatra's mug shot, pressed tin reclaimed from the Craigie House, print of Little Italy pizzeria
• Tiffany chandelier that used to hang in Ron's childhood kitchen
• New York Last Supper
• Patio

Timone's, the new "local pizza joint" from Ron Eyester, will open on North Highland Avenue on Thursday, July 25. The restaurant, Eyester's third in Morningside, will offer pizzas and pasta— linguine and clams, baked ziti, chicken and eggplant parmesan— as well as appetizers like rice balls with prosciutto, garlic knots, fried clams, and mussels. It opens on the same block as Rosebud and the Family Dog in the the space that used to be Burger Tap, followed briefly by Waffold. About Timone's, which can seat about 115, Eyester says, "Every part of it has a story. To me, this is the most fun— transforming a space." Below, the chef's thoughts on how the details came together.
On the restaurant
The whole idea is when you walk in, bam, you get all the energy. The bar is right there, and the kitchen is completely open, so you see guys tossing dough and pulling things out of the oven.

We have a tendency to take over nostalgic spaces. Timone's is a mix between old and new. This neighborhood likes restaurants that feel like they've been here for 20+ years, but they also like all of the modern-day amenities.

On the pizza
It's not necessarily that there's New York-style pizza, but it's got a New York-style vibe. Don't get me wrong, the majority of the menu, especially the non-pizza items, is straight out of New York. It's New York-inspired.

On the bar
The whole idea with the bar is to keep it really minimalist and clean. We're only serving beer and wine— our draft system will feature four wines on draft— and a few low-octane cocktails; we have an old school milkshake machine and an old-fashioned soda arm for our house-made sodas. The whole idea of drinking beer with pizza? New Yorkers drink seltzer with pizza, like old people. I grew up [in Long Island] with a pie on the table and two bottles of seltzer. But I never really liked the taste of seltzer, so the idea of making our own sodas goes hand in hand.

On the details
My sister-in-law took this picture of John's of Bleeker Street, one of the most famous pizza joints in New York, and we blew it up and turned it into wallpaper. I think it gives the room a New York sense of energy.

The reclaimed wood and the pressed tin came from the Daughters of American Revolution's Craigie House on Piedmont Avenue. They wanted to get rid of all this. We still have some of the pressed tin, so we're going to paint some of it and put it into Diner [Eyester's forthcoming Atlantic Station restaurant, slated to open this winter].

We made almost every light fixture in the restaurant. One exception is the Tiffany chandelier over the table in the back corner; it hung over my kitchen table in Long Island when I was growing up.

On the Dead
We have to have a little Dead in each of our spaces. The Pizza Tapes is actually a Jerry Garcia album, and that's the exact album cover.

About that mural
It's New York Last Supper, and the guys in gray are no longer alive. Can you spot them all? We'll get you started: There's John Belushi in the middle, and Jerry Seinfeld, JD Salinger, Lucky Luciano, Woody Allen, Joe DiMaggio, Robert DiNiro, Sammy Davis Jr., Barbara Streisand, Mickey Mantle, Billy Joel, Christopher Walken, and Neil Diamond also make appearances.

Other notes on the decor
Also hanging on the walls are: a wood-carved label from the oldest Italian beer, Birra Moretti; a print of one of the first pizzerias in Little Italy; and a painting of a real advertisement from Joe's Pork Store, a "deli on steroids."

Open Monday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Friday, 4 p.m. onward; Saturday, 11 p.m. onward; and Sunday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. 1409 North Highland Ave., Atlanta; (404) 809-2979
· Timone's Pizza [Facebook]
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