Ree de la Vega has always loved music and the energy produced when people collectively move to rhythm and beats. She’s been a professional DJ for nearly 15 years and a fierce advocate for the city’s vibrant nightlife scene and the LGBTQ community.
DJ gigs led to her becoming a party promoter, founding the weekly outdoor summer dance party Chaka Khan Hacienda, and even running a radio station on the Eastside BeltLine. She books gigs for fellow DJs at bars like Mary’s and The Waiting Room. You’ll also find de la Vega DJing at the High Museum’s High Frequency Fridays or the Garden Room at the St. Regis Hotel.
Now, de la Vega will add restaurant owner to her resume, when she opens Pisces later this summer in the former Sound Table space on Edgewood Avenue. Of all her many job titles, she said, this music-driven restaurant is the “scariest thing I’ve ever done.”
Pisces will operate as a multipurpose dining and drinking space spread out over two stories in the Old Fourth Ward with music at its core. Upstairs in the century-old storefront on Edgewood, people will dine on tacos and street food from Vice Taco while sipping cocktails and listening to vinyl records. Downstairs, drinks will flow while people dance to DJs mixing tracks during nightly sets.
“I have a different take on nightlife. So many clubs right now are male-driven, with heavy EDM or trap music. I want something more inclusive and where people will feel comfortable just hanging out,” de la Vega told Rough Draft. “I’m trying to create a place that can offer cocktails and food and music so people don’t have to pop all over town to find those different things throughout the night.”
But de la Vega doesn’t want people comparing Pisces to The Sound Table, calling what DJ Karl Injex and Muona Essa created on Edgewood “legendary.”
For many Atlantans, The Sound Table was the apex of cool on Edgewood Avenue. It was where music, dancing, food, and the fledgling cocktail movement converged in the early aughts. The Sound Table brought together some of the best DJs in the South, saw chefs like Asha Gomez, David Sweeney, Allen Suh, and Jarrett Stieber work the kitchen, and showcased the cocktail prowess of Atlanta bartenders like Southern National’s Navarro Carr, Ticonderoga Club’s Paul Calvert, and Katie McDonald and Faielle Stocco of Banshee.
On Monday nights, you might slurp ramen from Chef Mihoko Obunai’s Ramen Freak paired with a Toronto at the bar while listening to ambient electronica or synth-pop. On Friday nights, if you were there late, the downstairs became a sort of dance club where house, techno, and hip hop set a steady beat for bodies on the floor lapping together in rhythmic waves. The Sound Table became synonymous with Atlanta’s underground food and music scenes.
In October 2020, The Sound Table closed after a decade on Edgewood. Longtime Sound Table patrons Greg Johnson and Noelle Taylor purchased the building to open Edgewood Dynasty. Two months later, the wall facing Boulevard collapsed due to construction on the property behind it and an adjacent space. After extensive reconstruction to secure the aging building and bring it up to code, Johnson and Taylor eventually opened Edgewood Dynasty. It never really took off.
When de la Vega got the call that the Sound Table space was available for lease, she jumped at the opportunity. Walking into one of her old stomping grounds, she said, “just felt right.”
“I think the timing couldn’t be better. I feel that, much as it was when we came on the scene in 2010, Edgewood is in a transitional phase,” Injex said of de la Vega’s concept. “Ree has the right ideas to help reshape and reinvigorate the block . . . and has developed a unique and highly articulated style which I’m sure will be on full display at Pisces.”
Injex, who refers to himself as a “cultural provocateur,” has been friends with de la Vega for over a decade. They’ve often collaborated on projects and supported one another’s careers. De la Vega’s birthday party served as a pre-opening event for The Sound Table.
He’s made himself available to de la Vega when she needs guidance, acting as a sounding board as she navigates opening Pisces. Injex said de la Vega taking over the space at 483 Edgewood was “incredibly meaningful.” He also believes Pisces will be an “important element of this next chapter” for Edgewood and has plans to make DJ appearances there.
Like any good DJ, sound drew de la Vega to naming the 483 Edgewood space Pisces.
“I like saying Pisces. It’s fun to say. I like the way it sounds. When I looked up the characteristics for the sign, they were all things that spoke to me,” de la Vega said laughing, admitting she’s a Taurus. “Pisces are likable, creative, compassionate, and have super active imaginations. It’s all the positive parts of a Pisces I want people to feel in this space.”
Music will be a mixed bag downstairs, including everything from Jersey and Baltimore Club and techno to jungle, drum and bass, and pop. The design will be cool, modern, and dark with high gloss black floors. Design plans call for banquet and bleacher-like seating along the walls opposite the bar and the DJ booth. The space will be lit with multi-color LEDs and should feel high-energy.
The upstairs restaurant and lounge will be much more subdued. The vibe de la Vega describes as “chill.” Natural light will pour in from the windows above the front entrance to the building. The original wood floors have been refinished and stained a lighter color to anchor the space. DJs will spin nightly here, sometimes offering vinyl listening sessions. People can order drinks from the bar and Tijuana-style street tacos from Alejandro Godinez of Vice Taco Truck. Tacos come served with dollops of guacamole on local blue corn tortillas from Molino Tortilleria.
Look for mulitas, taquitos, and costras (proteins wrapped in fried cheese), along with vegan options, late-night food, and special dishes Godinez based on family recipes. Delivery and takeout will be available from third-party services like Uber Eats.
“There were a lot of long nights I would end up at Sound Table, so I am happy to see this space evolving into something new,” said Godinez, an Atlanta native who met de la Vega running food for Chaka Khan Hacienda and works as a restaurant manager at Palo Santo. “The fact that I can be part of a future establishment in a space that was once Sound Table, it’s full circle, and I’m excited.”
While de la Vega hasn’t landed on a bar director yet for Pisces, she knows she wants the beverage list to be as inclusive as possible, including affordable price points for cocktails, beer, and wine and a solid list of nonalcoholic mixed drinks.
Barring permitting and construction delays, Pisces could open as early as mid-July and be open six days a week with late-night hours on Fridays and Saturdays and serving food until 2 a.m.
As for Chaka Khan Hacienda, that will continue but in a different location closer to 483 Edgewood where it will be easier for de la Vega and her partners to manage. With summer approaching, de la Vega wants to secure the outdoor party’s long-term future. It’s become a popular event and safe space for self-expression through music, dance, and fashion among the LGBTQ community in Atlanta, especially with Black and brown people within the community.
“I’ve never seen the Atlanta nightlife and underground music scenes as vibrant or as diverse as right now. I want this place to be part of that for people on Edgewood, whatever their niche,” de la Vega said. “You might start with dinner at Staplehouse and walk down to one of the bars for a cocktail and then end up here for tacos and a drink later. Maybe you dance, maybe you don’t, but the point is, you want to be around music.”
483 Edgewood Avenue, Atlanta. Opening July. Food, music, drinks, dancing, late-night six nights a week. Doors open at 5 p.m. Closed Tuesdays.