Ecco-Buckhead Finally Opens in November at Phipps Plaza

The third location of Ecco finally opens in November at the corner of Peachtree and Wieuca Roads in Buckhead on the edge of the Phipps Plaza mall complex. It’s been over two years since the restaurant-prolific Fifth Group first made the announcement. Andrea Montobbio serves as executive chef.

The menu at Ecco-Buckhead will include several of the restaurant’s most popular dishes, including the fried goat cheese balls during lunch and dinner. Montobbio (Pricci, STK Midtown) also plans to add a few new dishes like a frito misto sandwich with oysters, hake, shrimp, and smelts for lunch and parsnip risotto cacio e pepe for dinner. Buckhead’s cocktails will center around gin.

Ecco-Midtown opened in 2006, followed by a second location inside the international terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson airport in 2013. The restaurant serves an amalgamation of European fare and wines with a particular focus on Spain and Italy.

The free-standing Buckhead location includes seats for 240, an 80-seat private dining room, cafe seating for 50 on the patio, and a large oval bar.

Phase 3

Phase 3

Fifth Group partner Robby Kukler says Ecco was originally inspired by “tucked-away neighborhood restaurants” and feels the Buckhead location fills “a need in the market” to become a “neighborhood staple.” This particular area is in the heart of Buckhead’s financial and hotel districts and hardly qualifies as “tucked away” in a neighborhood. Not to mention, most neighborhood restaurants don’t seat 200-plus people. Nonetheless, Ecco will likely do brisk business with visitors and wheeling-and-dealing power brokers seeking a place for a weekday meeting.

A second location of the group’s downtown Latin restaurant Alma Cocina will open next year at the former BrickTop’s location in Buckhead’s Terminus complex. In addition to Ecco and Alma Cocina, Fifth Group owns several locations of South City Kitchen, Lure in Midtown, La Tavola in Virginia-Highland, and the Original El Taco in Virginia-Highland and at the airport.

3462 Peachtree Road NE, Atlanta. ecco-atlanta.com.

• Ecco Is Expanding With a Third Outpost in Buckhead [EATL]
• Ecco Is Now Serving at ‘The Club’ at Hartsfield-Jackson [EATL]
• South City Kitchen Avalon and Alma Cocina Buckhead Coming Soon [EATL]