Open & Shut Buckhead: New Wine Restaurant Opening on Lenox Road

Vine & Tap is slated to open mid-June in the former Pizzeria Venti space at Lenox Village on Lenox Road.

According to Tomorrow's News Today, Vine & Tap will feature beer, wine and small plates. 

Ian Mendelsohn and his wife, Susan, are opening the new restaurant and hope it will be "more like Barcelona (the Conneticut-based wine bar & tapas eatery with a successful Inman Park location) and less like The Grape (an Atlanta-based concept that once had multiple locations in numerous states and today has few, if any, still in existence)," TNT reported.

Mendelsohn was sommelier at Windows on the World at the top of the World Trade Center and ran the wine department at Christie’s Auction House in New York. He then served as Wine Director of the Mirage Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Most recently, Mendelsohn was Beverage Director at the St. Regis Buckhead, TNT reports.

Additionally:

• Chef Ford Fry's much anticipated King + Duke restaurant officially opened its doors on Monday in the former Nava restaurant space. The restaurant has a 65-seat patio, a bites section in its menu with items from $3 to $5, a kitchen completely powered by wood and coal and much more.

"I’ve never been part of an opening as an executive chef. It’s a little bit of pressure, but I try not to overthink it or read too much into it...I’m really excited. I’m not necessarily nervous; I am anxious and ready to get out there," King + Duke's Executive Chef Joe Schafer told Atlanta magazine. Read the full article about the restaurant and its menu here.

• The design for the flagship Restoration Hardware store to go up in the former ESPN Zone has been approved by the City of Atlanta's Office of Planning. "The approval paves the way for demolition and new construction work to begin, possibly as soon as this month," according to BuckheadView.