Tag: Aria

Aria has all the right ingredients: an experienced kitchen, a talented front of house, and a loyal audience willing to pay for the experience. What it currently lacks is a clear sense of risk. That could be the natural tension of a restaurant in transition that’s trying to respect its legacy while daring to redefine it. But Atlanta doesn’t need another temple to nostalgia. It requires restaurants that reflect our current state. Aria could do that—if it just got the nerve.

Kathryn King began whipping up rich, visually appealing treats 25 years ago and has never stopped. Now, the time has come to hang up her apron as she embarks on the next phase of her life. “It feels like the end of an era,” she says, pausing to sniffle and wipe her tears.

There’s a new conductor of the symphony that is Aria, the Buckhead restaurant founded and led by chef Gerry Klaskala for 25 years. Klaskala retired recently and sold the restaurant to longtime general manager Andres Loaiza, who along with Klaskala, is responsible for the outstanding hospitality recognized by the James Beard Foundation. Together, Loaiza and Klaskala hand-picked chef Joseph Harrison, formerly of Common Thread in Savannah, to lead Aria.

After 55 years in the restaurant industry, Aria owner and chef Gerry Klaskala is ready to retire. In the next two months, he’ll pass the reigns to longtime general manager Andres Loaiza, who—with Klaskala’s help—will hire a new chef. It just so happens that his retirement coincides with the announcement of Aria as a finalist for the James Beard Foundation Outstanding Hospitality Award.

With most restaurant dining rooms still shuttered due to the pandemic, we’ve compiled a list below of all the restaurants from last year’s 75 Best Restaurants issue that are offering takeout, curbside, or delivery.

On Thursday, unemployment reached new highs and the state's primary election was once again pushed back. Here’s your Friday morning update.

Whether the date night in question is prom, an anniversary, an engagement, or some less monumental event, Aria is up to the occasion.

It's not too late to snag a hot reservation for February 14—as long as you act quickly. Here are 26 Atlanta spots offering special deals and menus for Valentine's Day.

The development will have two residential phases connected by a future mixed-use section next door to the new Mercedes-Benz headquarters.

Atlanta is a city that looks outward far more than inward, or even nearby. Outward, say, to the Lower East Side (the General Muir’s pastrami), or to China (Gu’s Dumplings), or to France (Bread & Butterfly’s tender, airy omelets). With the glorious exception of Ryan Smith at Staplehouse, I didn’t find a posse of young, or youngish, chefs all cooking as much for each other as for the public. The priority in Atlanta is less innovation based on local ingredients, as at Staplehouse, than finding a formula that works and then pumping out food to fit it. This makes for generous, untweezed food. But it also means food that, once successful, can become rote.