Italian American pizza restaurant Nina and Rafi has closed its doors on the Eastside Beltline, owner Billy Streck said in a statement shared with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Nina and Rafi’s space at 661 Auburn Ave. NE was purchased by Damian Otero, co-owner of the Rreal Taco chain, in a deal brokered by Steve Josovitz of the Shumacher Group.
Otero and the Rreal Tacos team is partnering with tapas restaurant Eclipse di Luna to open Eclipse’s fourth location in the former Nina and Rafi outpost, Otero told the AJC.
“The impact of 2020 hit the restaurant industry hard. And like many others, we faced challenges in the years that followed that made it difficult to fully recover,” Streck said in a prepared statement. “Despite our best efforts, the circumstances surrounding our closure were ultimately out of our control.”
Streck opened Nina and Rafi in the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood along with pizza maker Anthony Spina at the end of 2018. The restaurant was named after Streck and Spina’s grandmothers and served a menu of sandwiches, salads, strombolis and pizza pies from Spina’s previous pizza concepts in Old Fourth Ward and Duluth.
In 2020, Spina departed from Nina and Rafi’s kitchen and he is no longer involved with the restaurant, Streck said.
Streck also owned Hampton & Hudson, which quietly closed last year. He still operates Pielands, a sub and pizza shop in Virginia-Highland, Cypress Street Pint & Plate and is a part owner in Midtown restaurant Lyla Lila.
“This is the end of a chapter we’ll always hold close. We leave with full hearts, deep gratitude and so much love for everyone who was part of the Nina & Rafi story,” Streck said in a prepared statement.
Eclipse di Luna, a Spanish tapas bar with three locations around metro Atlanta in Alpharetta, Dunwoody and Buckhead, is partnering with Rreal Tacos’ Otero to take over Nina and Rafi’s space. It will be Eclipse di Luna’s only location with the Rreal Tacos team as a partner. Otero said they hope to open in late summer.
The Rreal Tacos chain has quickly expanded since debuting in 2015. It is set to open a Lawrenceville location in about a month, and Otero said they took over the former Dos Burros space at 699 Ponce De Leon Ave. NE where they will debut a Rreal Tacos outpost on the Beltline in the coming months.
Dos Burros was Skip Engelbrecht, Nhan Le (Fishmonger) and Andy Tan’s (Hopstix) Mexican concept on the Beltline that closed about a year after opening.
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