Decatur’s Thinking Man Tavern recently celebrated its 21st anniversary.
Business partners Alan Conner and Davy Minor, both of whom are musicians, bought Thinking Man from founder Carl Rappold in 2022. Both have long histories in bars and restaurants.
“I started getting into the business when I was 16,” Minor said. “I ended up here at Georgia Tech, working my way through school full time. When I graduated, I liked it and I kept doing it, and I wound up on the other side, working a ton of bars in Atlanta. I was a manager at Ormsby’s, and then Argosy before we took over this place.”
Conner, who played in such bands as the Bar-B-Q Killers, Needle and the Johnny Hyde Quartet, founded Dakota Blue in Grant Park, which, coincidently, opened within a week of Thinking Man.
“I’d gotten a corporate job, I was miserable, and there was a restaurant failing in Grant Park about a block from my house,” he said. “I’d worked in restaurants while I was doing music, so I talked to the landlord, I took the place over and it became Dakota Blue.”
Conner sees Thinking Man as something of a landmark. “Cool places that have been around and have a family feel are kind of disappearing in Atlanta,” he said. “Brick Store has done a great job. And I’m a massive fan of the Beautiful Restaurant in Cascade. The Earl is like that. Manuel’s Tavern is like that. But they’re getting less and less.”
While the tavern’s space has undergone only a few tweaks, the food and drink menus have been updated.
“We tried to keep as many favorites as we could, but then have a few newer twists,” Conner said. “We made the restaurant significantly more vegetarian and vegan-friendly. We have a veggie empanada with spinach, black beans and corn, and tofu vegan sliders that are very popular.
“On the other hand, we have a burger called the Dude Abides that I think is really, really great. We do a roasted garlic aioli and caramelized onions with a double stack.”
Minor said that putting together beer and cocktail lists can be a balancing act. “I’ve put together cocktails for Argosy and Ormsby’s and a lot of different places, and I’ve worked in a lot of bars in Atlanta. Here, it’s keeping the feel and personality of the place while doing what we do.”
On Sundays, Minor said, the tavern has an “industry night” for those in the service industry, “and the people that come in like cordials and fernet.”
He also noted that “now that every brewery has its own beer bar to pour its best stuff, everyone has gone hyperlocal. Our angle with our beer program is more regional and national craft beers. It’s stuff you don’t see at every other bar. If you want a Three Taverns beer, every bar around here has got it on draft.”
The Thinking Man Tavern keeps six beers on tap that never change, including Pabst Blue Ribbon, Ayinger Bavarian pils from Germany and Estrella Damm from Spain.
“Those are very popular here, like our house lager,” Minor said, adding that he draws from Georgia breweries, including Two Tides, and has a “go-to of about 20 to 30 American breweries that I get a lot of stuff from that are just good quality breweries.”
Credit: Davy Minor
Credit: Davy Minor
Conner said the tavern has lost only a few regular customers since he and his partner took over. “We definitely know a lot of people’s names. We’re open 363 days a year, and there’s one gentleman who ... I’ll bet he comes in 358 days.”
Another Thinking Man ritual is the late-night weekend crowd.
“In Atlanta, every bar has to close at midnight, but in Decatur we can stay open until 3 in the morning,” he said. “Sunday is the biggest night of the week. We have people from other bars, and we have DJs and local musicians.”
Thinking Man Tavern, 537 W. Howard Ave., Decatur. 404-370-1717, thinkingmantavern.com
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