Chef and restaurateur Hudson Rouse is about to launch a new project in Atlanta’s Edgewood neighborhood.
Pure Quill Superette is set to open in early March at 1366 Memorial Drive SE, Rough Draft first reported and Rouse confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constiution. The space was previously home to butcher shop Chop Shop, which was owned by Wes and Charlotte Swancy of Riverview Farms and Rusty Bowers of Pine Street Market and opened in 2019.
“I put the bug in Charlotte’s ear that I was interested in growing and doing new things,” said Rouse, who owns Rising Son in Avondale Estates and co-owns Whoopsie’s on Moreland Avenue on the border of Edgewood and Reynoldstown. “We’re always talking about throwing things around and about how we could work together, and it just kind of unfolded.”
Rouse described Pure Quill as “the best of the coolest country stores and bodegas and Italian delis I’ve been to. I love going in somewhere and being surprised on a road trip where it’s not your typical store. Being old-school and loving nostalgia, I just love that type of thing.”
The store will sell Riverview Farms pork and beef and meats from Fripper’s as well as locally-grown produce and other pantry provisions, in addition to beer and wine. The space will also serve as a lunch counter, selling coffee, juices and breakfast items in the morning and soups and sandwiches in the afternoon. The same ingredients used to make dishes at Pure Quill will also be available for guests to purchase.
Credit: Courtesy of Pure Quill Superette
Credit: Courtesy of Pure Quill Superette
“We hope it’ll be the kind of place where hopefully someone will come in and buy a ribeye steak and select a nice wine and pick up their veggies and locally-made bread and everything to make a meal while they’re there,” he said.
He said he and the Swancys agree when it comes to wanting to preserve the historical aspects of Atlanta, which means treating the more than 100-year-old building with care and respect. “She wanted to make sure that if she did pass it off to someone, it wasn’t a developer or someone who was going to tear it down or mess it up.”
The changes will be minimal, with the addition of seating for about 38 guests via vintage plywood tables barricaded by old grocery store shelving as the primary difference. Also, a meat cooler will be removed to make way for a breakfast bar with 10 seats.
Rouse, who lives in the area, also plans to open a bar in the outdoor building next to Pure Quill by the end of May. “I really want to create that patio vibe that Edgewood has enjoyed with (neighborhood Mexican restaurant) El Tesoro. There’s so much walking traffic over there that’s never been there before.”
Rouse has tested out the interest in the patio over the past few weekends, bringing acclaimed pitmaster Bryan Furman in for pop-ups featuring brisket along with sides from Rising Son.
The pair met and became “instant friends,” Rouse said, when they both opened restaurants in metro Atlanta in 2016, and they plan to continue popping up together on weekends through at least the summer. Furman, who was forced to close his restaurant B’s Cracklin BBQ in 2019 after a fire destroyed the building, is set to open a new eatery restaurant, Bryan Furman BBQ, in Atlanta’s Riverside neighborhood this fall.
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