On Sept. 22, owner Pam Ledbetter will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Wahoo Grill, known for its seafood and Southern seasonal menus.
Ledbetter also is the owner of Wahoo Events and co-owner of Wahoo Wine & Provisions, all housed in a series of storefronts on College Avenue in Decatur.
A self-described Air Force brat born in Michigan, Ledbetter moved to Atlanta in 1988 and attended Georgia State University. She also bartended at Atlanta spots including Dark Horse Tavern, Neighbors Pub and Front Page News.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
“I grew up in the restaurant business,” Ledbetter said. “I decided to start bartending until I could figure out what I wanted to be. ... As I got closer and closer to graduation, it became sad to think of leaving the business. I just faced the fact that I love it. I love everything about it.”
Striking out on her own, Ledbetter found the dilapidated space that would become home to Wahoo.
“It was a mess,” she recalled. “It had been a motorcycle repair shop, a nondenominational church, an office space, and originally it was a grocery store.”
When the restaurant opened in the fall of 2004, she said, “it was just the dining room and a few tables out on a little gravel patio I made. By the second week, there was a line out the door and down the street to the end of the driveway every night. I couldn’t believe it.”
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Ledbetter created the original menu but said she believes in finding good people and letting them do what they know how to do.
“I’ve only had three chefs this entire time, and I give them a lot of free rein once they earn it,” she said. “I think it’s important, being here so long, that I do continue to change the menu. It’s seasonal. We use local farmers and as much local meat as we can. The seafood is flown in almost every day.”
Ledbetter described the menu as American cuisine with a Southern twist. One of the favorites is fried chicken with mashed potatoes, milk gravy and collard greens with bacon. The cheeseburger is made with Allen Brothers beef, house-cured bacon, beer-cheese sauce, bone marrow-onion jam, sumac aioli, lettuce and truffle fries. And the grilled wahoo is plated with lady pea ragu, sauteed spinach and salsa verde.
Ledbetter said she got into the wedding business almost by accident, but that has become an important part of her cash flow.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
“A couple of years after I opened, I had a couple who were regulars come to me and say, ‘We just got engaged and we cannot think of a more beautiful and fitting place to get married than here,’” she said. “I had to find out everything about weddings, and it took off from there. I don’t think I could have survived the 2007–2008 financial crisis or COVID without it.”
Nowadays, the synchronicity between the wedding business and the restaurant business has become seamless, with wedding guests outdoors and dining guests indoors. And there are other businesses in the mix, too.
“I have the private dining room next door,” Ledbetter said. “I have the hair salon that I sublet and my brides can use. And I have the wine shop that my husband and I own. It’s totally boutique and very approachable. The entire team, with the exception of my husband, are sommeliers.”
One thing that does bother Ledbetter is when people automatically think she and her husband both own the restaurant. “I own the restaurant by myself,” she said, adding that it’s the wine shop that they own together.
As for the restaurant’s name, Ledbetter said, “What describes me best is joy. I’m joyful. I love to laugh. I seek happiness, whatever that looks like, and so ‘wahoo!’ That’s an expression of joy.”
Then one of her vendors told her she ought to have wahoo (the fish) on the menu. “It felt very kismet,” Ledbetter said.
Wahoo Grill. 1042 W. College Ave., Decatur. 404-373-3331, wahoogrilldecatur.com
Wahoo Grill will celebrate its 20th anniversary 1-4 p.m. Sept. 22 with a Low Country boil buffet and live music from the Bonaventure Quartet. $49.99 adults, $19.99 children ages 4-12, free for age 3 and under. exploretock.com/wahoogrilldecatur/checkout/options
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