Tag: Darren Carr

After 10 years at the corner of Juniper and 8th streets, the Lawrence shuttered in January. This month, owners Darren Carr and Eric Simpkins (Bon Ton), along with new partner Jason Cott, relaunched the space as RWBY, a modern American restaurant and bar with brasserie and trattoria influences.

The cocktail bar, located above Bon Ton, will offer a concise menu of grandiose items designed to fit the over-the-top theme. These include giant seafood towers and caviar service, led by Bon Ton executive chef David Hartshorn. Eric Simpkins is designing the cocktail list, focusing on large-format drinks served in decanters.

The King of Pops founders have partnered with Big Citizen hospitality group to put a modern, whimsical spin on a traditional diner.

Bon Ton's Viet-Cajun menu is clever without being too much so.

The team behind the Lawrence and Bon Ton are bringing the New York City-based holiday pop-up Miracle to Atlanta for the second year. Open November 24 through December 24, Miracle is a cocktail bar with over-the-top holiday decorations, holiday-themed drinks, and small plates.

Bon Ton’s Instagram feed features a stream of mock arthouse video spoofs. “Posting pictures of plates of food or a Bloody Mary just wasn't going to cut it for us.”

New to Atlanta: Fried seafood in Midtown, vegetarian Italian food in Grant Park, south Indian eats in Decatur, and impressive Korean barbecue in Duluth

Midtown: Get ready for a “big, loud, crazy New Orleans bar with amazing food,” says Darren Carr, who’s opening Bon Ton with the Lawrence’s Eric Simpkins and Crawfish Shack’s Hieu Pham on January 10.

Open for less than a year, the Lawrence—a highly anticipated Midtown restaurant and bar by Top FLR veteran Darren Carr and Dinner Party Atlanta founder Patrick La Bouff—is already on its third chef. Shane Devereux (also from Top FLR and its sister gastropub/club Sound Table) was the opening chef. Then Jonathan St. Hilaire, previously a pastry chef and owner of the now-defunct Bakeshop, took the reigns in November 2012. Now, St. Hilaire is gone, and Jeff Sigler, who worked alongside Richard Blais at Element, is in charge.

Patrick La Bouff is easy to pick out among the already-teeming crowds at the Lawrence. He's the guy with tousled hair somewhere between the color of straw and honey, usually wearing jeans and a bow tie, scuttling between tables and bodies and appearing everywhere at once. He may be sorting through the next wave of reservations on his iPad, surveying the dining room for empty seats, and then bussing a vacated two-top. There he is conferring with the chef in the kitchen, now behind the bar, now delivering appetizers, and immediately at the front again, greeting new arrivals. When he sees a familiar face, his normally taut smile relaxes for a moment into a lopsided grin.