Pho Cue
Glenwood Park
Glenwood Park restaurant Pho Cue closed over the weekend after two years on Garrett Street in the neighborhood, according to an announcement on Instagram.
Owned by Julian Wissman and Brian Holloway, Pho Cue started as a pop-up melding Vietnamese flavors with Texas-style barbecue like the smoked brisket and pork used in pho, egg rolls, dumplings, and banh mi. Wissman previously worked at Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q and based many of Pho Cue’s barbecue dishes on recipes from his wife’s family and their Hmong heritage in Thailand and Vietnam.
It appears Wissman and Holloway will continue Pho Cue as a pop-up, including an appearance at music festival Furnace Fest in Birmingham, Alabama, next month.
Related Link: Portman scales back Ponce de Leon Avenue redevelopment plans
The Bookhouse Pub
Virginia-Highland
It’s nearing the end of an era on Ponce for The Bookhouse Pub. According to an announcement on Instagram, the “Twin Peaks”-inspired bar will close at the end of the year after 16 years in the Virginia-Highland neighborhood. While the post didn’t provide an exact date, people should expect Bookhouse to close by Jan. 1, 2025.
The closure of the beloved bar and restaurant industry haunt should come as no surprise to people following the news and progress of the redevelopment along this stretch of Ponce de Leon Avenue. Bookhouse is among a handful of restaurants and businesses part of the redevelopment plans by Portman Holdings to include a mix of apartments, retail, and restaurants bookended by Motorboat (formerly 8ARM and Paris on Ponce) to the west of Ponce Place and Bookhouse, MJQ, and Drunken Unicorn to the east of Ponce Place. Ryan Murphy owns the latter three.
In an interview with the AJC last August, Murphy said he would keep Bookhouse open for at least two more years while Portman Holdings finalized plans for the properties involved in the redevelopment. Murphy said he would eventually relocate MJQ nightclub and bar Drunken Unicorn to Underground Atlanta, joining The Masquerade, LGBTQ dance club Future, and Dolos Pizza.
Earlier plans by Portman had called for the purchase of the properties occupied by boxing gym Vesta Movement and The Local, a divey bar on Ponce known for its wings. Portman scaled back its plans last summer, telling Rough Draft Atlanta the two businesses were no longer included in the redevelopment project. Portman senior vice president Mike Green noted that rising interest rates, high construction costs, and a downturn in the rental market “have simply changed the viability of new projects.”
Superica
Howell Mill Road, Atlanta
You’d be excused for missing the closure of Superica on Howell Mill Road earlier this summer. There was no official closure announcement for the restaurant owned by Ford Fry’s Rocket Farm Restaurants group. The Buckhead, Krog Street Market, Alpharetta, and Dunwoody locations of Superica remain open.
Superica took over the former Public School 404 space on Howell Mill Road in March 2023, just up the road from Fry’s seafood restaurant and oyster bar The Optimist. Last fall, Fry and his restaurant group opened Little Sparrow and Bar Blanc in the spaces once home to his popular restaurant and bar JCT Kitchen and Bar at Westside Provisions District on Howell Mill Road.
