Old Fourth Ward’s Cast Iron on Highland Avenue Is Closing

Cast Iron at the corner of Highland Avenue and Sampson Street in the Old Fourth Ward is closing. A reader alerted Eater Atlanta to the closure which was posted to the restaurant’s Facebook page. Cast Iron will likely close by the end of March.

Chef/owner Evan Cordes opened Cast Iron with his wife in the former Last Word (and P’Cheen) space in November 2016. Cordes has worked previously as a chef for Serpas, Cakes & Ale, and H. Harper Station before spending three years as a personal chef prior to opening Cast Iron.

In an interview with Eater Atlanta following the restaurant’s opening, Cordes said the idea behind Cast Iron’s food was ”seasonal dishes for all occasions or no occasion at all, nothing too fancy.”

Cordes told Eater Atlanta on Wednesday the closure was due in part to the tragic loss of friends and investors in his restaurant who died in a plane crash last September.

“They believed in my vision for a quality-driven, neighborhood restaurant and supported it,” Cordes said of the loss. “I tried to use that as a motivator. My wife and I put everything we had into this place and loved it like a child but, in the end, that wasn’t enough.”

As for his next move, Cordes said he is focusing his energy on these last few weeks of service and being there for his staff and guests of the restaurant.

This is the second closure to hit this portion of Highland Avenue in a week. Mexican spot Across the Street shocked neighbors and regulars last week when it suddenly closed after 11 years.

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701-5 Highland Avenue NE, Atlanta. castironatl.com.

• All Cast Iron coverage [EATL]