Amer, the Smart New Cocktail Bar From the Bocado Team, to Open in Inman Quarter This March

The opening of hot new development Inman Quarter has been highly anticipated since places like Victory Sandwich Bar were torn down to make way for it back in 2013. One spot going in is Amer, a new cocktail bar from the team behind Bocado. David Durnell, who's been with the Westside restaurant for four years, will lead the beverage program.

Says owner Brian Lewis:

The idea is to make this a more specific style of cocktail bar. Specifically, we've been attracted to bitters and Italian amari. That's our baseline inspiration.

He intends for the bar to be "the perfect place to begin the evening and end the evening," a place that falls "between the esoteric and the playful." In addition to cocktails, look for a food program focusing on light bar far ranging from oysters and crudo to small sandwiches, charcuterie, and cheese plates.

The space will be small and well-designed, with inspiration drawn from bitters themselves — deep and brooding, like the "sun-drenched flavors of apertif," suggests Lewis. "Drinks that get your palate excited, and nicely composed dishes paired with the atmosphere and the drinks."

Amer is slated to start serving in late March, not too long after the opening of sister concept Bocado Burger Bar in Alpharetta's Avalon. Lewis notes that the team is "building upon what they've established at Bocado." After years of refining and developing the famous burger, it got its own location, and now they're doing the same with the beverage and bar program.

Lewis and Durnell will take over the space this month, and if all goes according to plan, they'll open by the end of the first quarter of 2015.

Stay tuned for more on the menu and do send any and all intel through the tipline.