Another Best Lost
Atlanta’s best restaurant is closing. Seegers just could not make it. This is a real tragedy. Yes. It was expensive. Yes, the Mobile Guide gave it a 5 star rating, but that’s not the point. It was really really good and really clever. It was smart food cooked well. Now, Atlantans have fewer top of the line choices. Bacchanalia is still there and the Dining Room at the Ritz goes on, but losing Seegers is losing a lot. It’s losing creative cooking!
One wonders how this came to be. First, we live in a post 9-11 world, where fewer and fewer people can afford a meal that is $250 + per couple. Second, Buckhead changed and is no longer the tourist destination it once was. Third is the silver lining.
We live in a town where casual elegance is king among restaurants. There are lots of places serving really great food in a variety of price ranges. Watershed, Eno, Nan, and Sage are all providing great food with a less fussy environment. Then there are the local chains. Bold American, Metrotainment, the 101 Group, and the grand daddy of them all, Buckhead Life, provide solidly reliable food in a wide variety of prices and ranges.
Still, while this is all to the good, there was nothing comparable to Mr. Seeger’s Food. Best Wishes Guenter Seeger where ever you land. Thank you, sir.
August 28th, 2006 at 1:05 pm
Is Seeger’s really closing? At first it seemed definite, then they decided to stay open another week to accomodate all the people calling, then another week………..now I hear it is possible they may stay in business, if customers keep coming. So if Seeger’s is within your budget, go now; either you’ll have a last taste of this great restaurant, or you might help them stay open! see http://www.seegers.com
August 31st, 2006 at 11:17 am
Check out this story from today’s AJC:
Bank dishes up some green for Seeger’s
By JOHN KESSLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/31/06
First it looked like Seeger’s — Atlanta’s world-renowned restaurant — would perish quickly, with a quick bullet from the Georgia Department of Revenue avenging more than $265,000 in back taxes.
Then came the death scene, and it was longer than Garbo’s in “Camille.” The fans crowded in for $300 dinners; chef Guenter Seeger cooked and cooked; the closing date turned fluid.
Now? Resurgens!
The haughty European restaurant that never seemed quite at ease in our laid-back Southern town has written the ultimate Atlanta ending to its story: It has risen from the ashes.
Thanks to a loan from Fidelity Bank — facilitated by bank chairman and longtime Seeger devotee James Miller — the restaurant will continue operation with chef Seeger at the helm for the foreseeable future.
“Seeger’s is a great treasure for Buckhead, Atlanta and Georgia and we cannot just let him slip away from us,” Miller said in a prepared statement.
The loan will not only fully pay off back taxes (thereby removing the lien the Georgia Department of Revenue placed on the property), it will include enough working capital for Seeger to maintain the high operating costs needed to maintain the restaurant’s current Mobil Travel Guide Five Star rating and inclusion in the Relais Gourmands listing of restaurants.
One of the first orders of business will surely be the replenishment of the restaurant’s depleted wine cellar.
“They’ve got to get some moderately priced wines right away,” Miller said in a telephone interview.
Food prices will come down as well — at least initially. Seeger will offer a three-course menu for $75 in September, which is more in line with other very expensive local restaurants. A full meal with wine and tip at Seeger’s can easily top $300 per person.
Seeger himself is thrilled to stay in town. “The last two weeks has been overwhelming,” he said. “The attitude of the guests, the smiling faces in the dining room, the letters I’ve gotten. It’s been a highlight in my life.”
For Atlanta’s most famous chef, tomorrow is another day.
September 18th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
I’ve always been mystified as to how atlanta garnered the nickname “hotlanta”. Not to bash a city for bashing’s sake, but, other than EVERY city in Texas, I find Atlanta to utterly lack diversity, “hipster” culture, or any sense of anything truly metropolitan that might lend it the label “hot”. Perhaps it’s simply a clash of cultures, but if “new south” is suppose to be cool, then PLEASE give me any west coast city (Phoenix, San Diego, LA, San Francisco) you care to name instead. I happen to be Christian, but abhor your odd Bible-belt, insular, “it’s still ok to be racist, but don’t let anyone who’s not from here know that” mentality. I have friends who moved there a few years ago from Scottsdale (arizona, for the uninformed; a city known on the west coast for being Beverly Hills East.) The poor things experienced culture shock only known to those who ill advisedly leave a haven for art, theatre, dance, and world-class dining and sporting events for a rather monotone, same old rolling hills and trees-sort of existence. They realized that in Phoenix, they had snow boarding two hours away, surfing just four hours drive, and anything else you might imagine anyone would be into. Their kids nearly staged a mutiny. There’s nothing wrong with being lame, so to speak, as long as one doesn’t stick their head in the sand about it, but to call your city “hotlanta” generally makes those in the rest of the country erupt into spontaneous laughter.
w
September 19th, 2006 at 3:57 pm
And what does this have to do with Seeger’s (which is staying open)?
And would anyone familiar with Atlanta’s theatre or dining scenes really prefer Scottsdale’s?
I am curious about W, and the friends from Scottsdale, - do they live intown, or OTP?
I’ve never referred to my hometown as “hotlanta,” and I’m not sure I know anyone who does.