Decatur Chef’s Latest Restaurant Includes Neapolitan Pizza and a Rooftop Bar

Chef Pasquale “Pat” Pascarella, co-owner of The White Bull in Decatur, is opening Neapolitan pizza and Italian restaurant Grana on Piedmont Avenue in the Piedmont Heights neighborhood. Grana, located across from Grindhouse Killer Burgers and a block from Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, will feature wood-fired pizzas and Pascarella’s handmade pastas, for which he’s become known for at The White Bull.

The restaurant also includes a “special meatball program” along with vegetable dishes and a polenta dish served family-style, inspired by recipes from Pascarella’s family. Classic cocktails, Italian wines, and beer are all planned for the beverage menu at Grana.

“I’m excited to bring Atlanta authentic Italian dishes that are reminiscent of my childhood,” Pascarella says in a prepared statement. “Rather than serving inventive takes on traditional specialties, our emphasis is going to be on providing well-executed dishes that are true to Italian tradition.”

Grana’s main dining room may be similar to The White Bull, with communal seating around the bar along with smaller two and four top tables scattered about the space. There’s also dining on the restaurant’s mezzanine and a rooftop bar equipped with fire pits. Diners can watch as Pascarella works the dough for pizzas, fired in two Marra Forni brick ovens in the dining room.

Pascarella opened The White Bull last March, next to Brick Store Pub near Decatur Square. The menu consists of approximately 16 dishes, four of those dedicated to pasta made from flour milled on site. The restaurant takes its name from American novelist Ernest Hemingway who referred to the challenges of conquering the blank page while writing as “the white bull”. Prior to opening his restaurant in Decatur, Pascarella worked as executive chef at The Optimist, at Bar Sugo in Norwalk, Connecticut, and at Eric Ripert’s Le Bernardin in New York City.

1835 Piedmont Avenue NE, Atlanta.

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