Cameli’s L5P converts second floor to throwback restaurant Arcadia

Specialties include meatloaf, tuna noodle casserole, and ants on a log
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Arcadia patio
Arcadia patio

Courtesy of George Cameli

After three years in Little Five Points, Cameli’s Pizza has downsized from two floors to one, allowing owner George Cameli to create a new concept called Arcadia upstairs. Named after the street he grew up on in Omaha, Nebraska, Arcadia offers American comfort food—particularly items reminiscent of the ‘70s and ‘80s. “We want to make people comfortable with the food and not feel compelled to Google items on the menu,” Cameli says. “It’s stuff you might have grown up with that your mom or grandma might have made for you.”

The 21+ only restaurant serves dinner nightly with items like sloppy Joe, Monte Cristo, tuna melt, meatloaf, chicken pot pie, stuffed bell peppers, and ants on a log. Cameli’s executive chef Sarah Case makes the hot dogs in house.

Weekend brunch is open to all ages. Expect pancakes with cinnamon apples, biscuits and gravy, pimento cheese grits, and something called the Wrestler—a combination of pulled pork, baked beans, Carolina mustard barbecue sauce, a fried egg, grits, and caramelized onions. “We have items that made us feel good as kids and still make us feel good,” Case says.

The décor, too, is full of throwbacks, from turntables and string art to old bikes and skateboards. There are 30 seats inside and 50 more on the patio. “It’s quintessential ‘70s, straddling the line between cheesy and cool,” Cameli says.

Cameli’s front of house manager Kayla Flaherty created a cocktail menu with sazeracs, Harvey Wallbangers, and 7 and 7. There are also 14 beers on tap, about half of which are local craft varieties.

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