Abes has Turned Dunwoody into ‘Funwoody’
David Abes’ three restaurants, a food truck and a new ice cream store in Dunwoody Village provide food and fun in a one large space.
When David Abes was growing up, much of what is now the city of Dunwoody was still farmland. He and his friends would bicycle over to what is the present-day Dunwoody Village shopping center that fronts on to Roberts and Mt. Vernon Roads. On the corner where the two streets intersect, the two-story old Dunwoody Farmhouse stood and remains as a focal point of the community.
But despite its history, he felt that the prosperous suburb that became a city of 55,000 in 2008 needed a greater sense of community. The sprawling Perimeter Mall on the south side of the city is too commercial to be a real center to gather in, and other, smaller clusters of shops, service establishments and restaurants didn’t have much interest in being more than real estate properties.
Over the last several years, Abes’ goal of creating community in suburban Atlanta has resulted in a complex of four closely grouped operations he’s created that nestled on his old playground, now the Dunwoody Village shopping center.
“What I really wanted to create was not just restaurants. I wanted it to be a place where people could gather. And that’s really where we came up with the different concepts that we have grouped together in Dunwoody, around an open courtyard with an outdoor projection screen and an elevated stage.”
But no restaurants or even group of them can bring old and young together, particularly during an Atlanta summer, more than a cold ice cream cone on a hot day. So, to top off his community of restaurants, Abes has just opened a spacious ice cream parlor that fronts the complex. It is a redesigned and expanded successor to a Bruster’s that was once there.
He’s stocked what he calls his Good Vibes ice cream shop with a rotating selection of 18 different flavors. He can also build you a towering ice cream sundae or make you a thick shake or add a scoop to his gourmet brownies.
Abes’ ice cream supplier, a Michigan dairy, was chosen as the finalist after he and his family carefully sampled two dozen creameries around the country. Julie, his wife, redesigned the place and expanded it to give it a brighter retro feel.
Along one wall there’s a bank of free video arcade games. Another large space is for birthday parties and other family celebrations. A covered patio out front has tables and chairs to just sit and schmooze with a cool cone. And the ice cream is kosher.
That’s particularly important to Abes who is mindful of the significance of Dunwoody’s Jewish community. It includes The Davis Academy, one of the largest Reform day schools in the country, Temple Emanu-El, Congregation Ariel, Jewish HomeLife’s Berman Commons assisted living building, and the sprawling Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta with its large athletic grounds.
One of his restaurants, Morty’s Meats, had a take-out catering menu for Passover, which did big business this year selling brisket and barbeque salmon. His mother-in-law made the chopped liver they sold.
In some ways, his ice cream spot and the three restaurants that it joins in Abes’ development in Dunwoody resemble the food operations at The Works on the Westside or the recently redesigned Colony Square complex. The idea behind each is the recognition that eating out has become a much more informal occasion, with the opportunity to meet and mingle while enjoying an enhanced variety of food options.
“I like when you cluster restaurants together,” Abes comments, “because the guests aren’t always going to go to the same restaurant every night. But what I like about our complex is they can spend a whole night here. They could start at our tavern and have some charcuterie and a drink. They can go to our seafood restaurant, Message in a Bottle, then have a night cap at one of the other restaurants.”
Socializing with a wide variety of food and drink options was the feature of Abes’ Green Eggs and Kegs Festival that blossomed on the parking lot last month outside his restaurant complex, just beyond his new ice cream parlor.
A crowd of nearly 2,500 filled a large tent on the lot and spilled out into the courtyard, where a band played for dancing. For five hours, a $75 ticket provided an endless buffet of food from 30 caterers and area restaurants and drinks to wash it down from 50 wine, beer and other beverage companies. The event raised $10,000 for Breakthrough TiD, a diabetes research and advocacy organization that Abes supports.
“It’s just one more reason, if you needed it” Abes says, “why we think that you don’t have to leave Dunwoody to come to ‘Funwoody.’ We’re always here.”
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