DBA Barbecue has announced the closure of its Virginia-Highland restaurant, but fans can visit the Chastain location while they get excited about the brand’s new concept coming to Clarkston.
DBA Tacos & BBQ will showcase street tacos and a scaled-down traditional barbecue menu, including halal beef options, in a fast-casual environment. There will be beer, wine and a select cocktail menu.
Restaurateur Matt Coggin co-owns DBA Barbecue along with his parents. The Virginia-Highland closure and subsequent Clarkston opening will allow him to focus on smaller-format stores and to expand the brand’s catering services.
“It comes down to, more employees is harder, more square footage is harder,” he told What Now Atlanta. “You’re managing all of that. And after the pandemic, doing takeout and setting up a fake drive-thru, I thought, ‘I like this. This is reenergizing me. I’m enjoying being right out here and handing people their food – at a six-foot distance.’ I enjoyed it.”
Dine-in service will be offered at the 2,600-square-foot space in Clarkston, but the focus will be on takeout, including renovation of the existing drive-thru. (The property used to be a KFC/Taco Bell hybrid.)
Coggin said that having tacos on the new location’s menu just made sense. Add some pico de gallo, cilantro, lime and radish to your favorite barbecue protein, and you have a tasty street taco.
“Chastain’s our traditional barbecue menu,” Coggin said. “Clarkston’s gonna have that, but also six to eight street tacos utilizing the same meats that we use for our barbecue… That’s why it’s so easy for me to put tacos together with barbecue. They’re not that far apart.”
DBA Tacos & BBQ is set to open at 4540 E Ponce de Leon Avenue the first week of April, with the drive-thru opening about a month later.
In the meantime, DBA Barbecue Chastain is extending its hours to be open seven days a week beginning Feb. 26, 2024. (It’s currently closed on Mondays.) The restaurant located at 4441 Roswell Road NE offers a selection of items, including pork, brisket, ribs, wings, chicken, turkey and sides along with beer, wine and cocktails.
Remaining open at that location allows the business to avoid any hiccups in service, including catering, as construction on the Clarkston store wraps up.
The new store and renewed focus on the Chastain location comes as they chose not to renew the lease for the DBA Barbecue in Virginia-Highland. The restaurant at 1190 N Highland Avenue NE will close its doors on Feb. 25, 2024.
The closure also allows Coggin’s mother, the company’s unofficial CFO who lives in such close proximity to the Virginia-Highland restaurant that she can walk to it, to retire.
While the closure is bittersweet, Coggin is feeling good about the changes.
“This is probably one of the happiest times,” he said. “I really think I’m making the right decision and doing the right thing. We’re gonna be really successful under these two models because that’s the way restaurants seem to be going. Our food is totally appropriate for the models.”
Coggin said the two-story layout of the Virginia-Highland restaurant was difficult for a barbecue concept. (You try carrying a 72-pound case of brisket up a flight of stairs.)
But he loves the neighborhood. He has family there. He’s worked at several restaurants there since 1997, including Harvest and Dish. (“I’ve zigzagged back and forth on North Highland,” he said.) In his story, the Virginia-Highland chapter isn’t permanently closed.
“You never know. If something small were to open up in the neighborhood, I’d be back in a heartbeat,” he said. “I know so many people. I know their grandkids. I’ve seen two generations there… I’ll always be open to coming back under the right size restaurant.”
