After Selling His Restaurant in 2018, It’s Back to Brookwood Hills for This Chef

Chef Nick Leahy returns to the Brookwood Hills neighborhood with a new restaurant when the Usual opens Tuesday, February 15, at the Arya complex across from El Azteca on Peachtree Street.

Leahy sold his Southern small plates restaurant Saltyard in the Buckhead neighborhood three years ago to Lee Schulman, the owner of the Old Vinings Inn. Schulman eventually closed the Brookwood Hills restaurant, which is now home to Osha Thai Sushi Galleria behind Botica (which took over the Watershed space).

Partnering again with Dash Hospitality owner David Abes, Leahy and chef Jason Hall bring the Brookwood Hills neighborhood a casual, family-friendly restaurant serving everything from burgers and loaded French fries topped with Mornay sauce, popcorn shrimp, and pickled chilis to hanger steak, seafood and dumplings, and smoked short rib served with pimento cheese grit cakes.

Abes and Leahy previously worked together to open Aix and Tin Tin, the French restaurant and wine bar the chef later transformed into Nick’s Westside on Brady Avenue. Hall was a former sous chef under Leahy at Saltyard.

Look for takes on the Hemingway daiquiri, Cosmopolitan, Aviation, and French 75, along with original cocktails from beverage director Matt Gibbons on the bar menu for the Usual. Gibbons is also the general manager and beverage director at Nick’s Westside.

In addition to table and booth seating in the dining room, the Usual features a bar, a small events space for private parties, and 48 seats on the patio.

Anna Laine

Anna Laine

Anne Laine

Anne Laine

1777 Peachtree Street, Atlanta. theusualatl.com. Click here for the menu. Lunch service and online ordering begin soon.

Open Tuesday - Thursday, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Online

Public Transit Info: Accessible via MARTA bus #110 along Peachtree Street.

Disclaimer: Health experts consider dining out to be a high-risk activity for the unvaccinated; it may pose a risk for the vaccinated, especially in areas with substantial COVID transmission. The latest CDC guidance is here; find a COVID-19 vaccination site here. It is highly advised people wear masks indoors or when in crowded situations, regardless of vaccination status, to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

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• French Restaurant Aix Is Closing to Become a Neighborhood Spot Called Nick’s Westside [EATL]