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The opening of the new Hudson Grille at Brookhaven Station provides an opportunity to reflect on tavern culture here in Atlanta. We have an advantage over many cities in that we have mid price range up scale taverns that are based here. Just as Charlotte has a great diner culture, we have a great tavern culture. Most cities have great dive taverns and really high end bars, but few have great quality in the middle. Hudson Grille joins a great group that includes The 5 Seasons Brewery, Village Bakery and Restaurant, P’cheen, Atkins Park and others. All of these places serve quality beer and food that is a step above the dreaded Sysco and Monarch Bars.

The Hudson Grille takes the place of Jocks and Jills and GM Tony Shaw wants to recapture the J&J crowd “Plus”. That plus is a little bit better atmosphere and a real focus on the food. Like Garrison’s (the best value in steak in Atlanta, especially the Vinings location), the menu has some serious dishes on it. It also has bar food. To make his restaurant distinctive, Shaw knows that not only must serious dishes have to meet muster, but the basic bar food has to be better than expected. The burgers have to be worth it and wings have to be as good as Atkin’s Park.

Shaw is also taking another pretty big risk. He’s broadening the menu to add pizza. A broader menu will let him expand the crowd that comes in, however, serving pizza when you’re 50 feet from Mellow Mushroom is risky. Still, if he wants to capture both the Brookhaven parental crowd and the Oglethorpe University students, pizza is a risk that can pay. The trick will be to keep an eye on the quality. If some parts of the menu are not consistently prepared well, the reputation of the restaurant could suffer. With a diverse menu, that’s harder to do.

In doing a broader menu, he’s going the opposite way from institutions such as 5 Seasons and the Village Bakery and Restaurant. Both of those watering holes have made their mark by limiting their menu to a particular zeitgeist of food. The Village does delicious authentic German food. The 5 Seasons Brewery has done it by embracing a slow food philosophy and using only organic ingredients (and it’s Kobe beef you can afford!). They’ve also created an atmosphere that’s very community oriented. As a result both restaurants are beloved.

Shaw’s path to stalwartship in the community is riskier, however he also has the power of the Metrotainment group behind him. That gives him some marketing muscle, management help, access to first class desserts, and branding. It helps to be able to say “We’re the sports entertainment version of Cowtippers or Garrisons”; the message being “hey we’re just like these other places you love, but you can keep an eye on the game too!”

Visiting the Hudson Grille on opening night was a good experience and worth repeating. The interior is a bit upscale from Jocks and Jills but higher energy than Garrison’s. The service was on point and the food was good. The desserts were delicious. Key lime pie with a raspberry drizzle is always a good idea. The biggest complaint is that it’s a tad noisy, but they’ll learn to zone things. The check was $26 including one main course (shrimp), two desserts, and drinks.

Tests for the Hudson Grille and Shaw’s team will come pretty quickly. The community test will first come this weekend when the surrounding professional community comes to relax. He’ll be ready for them. Then two weeks from now, ‘the excellence in a broad situation’ test will continue when Oglethorpe students return.

Hopefully this place will succeed for a number of reasons. First, with Jocks and Jills on the defensive, Atlanta can use a good upscale sports bar. Second, Hudson Grille stays open late (until 2 AM) and is walking distance from a MARTA station so you can zip over after the game or concert is done). In an era where places have cut back their hours, it’s good to have a transit accessible watering hole where you can stay until the last train!

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 9th, 2007 at 12:33 am and is filed under Breaking News, Venues and Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.