French Market and Tavern to Replace Crispina Grill in Vinings

Long-time restaurateurs Mike and Meagan Buss have been incredibly busy. In the past two weeks, the owners of French Market & Tavern and Peach Pit Bar & Grill have acquired Little Five Points Pizza as well as Crispina Grill in Vinings. Both deals were brokered by Steve Josovitz with The Shumacher Group.

While the couple has continued to operate Little Five Points Pizza “without missing a beat,” Buss said in an interview, the couple plans on turning Italian restaurant Crispina Grill into the site of their second French Market & Tavern. 

“There’s a fair amount of Italian, or pasta, or however you want to niche that market, in the area. So it’s a little oversaturated,” Buss said. “So we felt that French Market and Tavern would be a good fit for the area. It’s Southern, it’s a little bit higher-end, and it would be a great little restaurant for the neighborhood.”

Meanwhile, the couple plans on turning Little Five Points Pizza into a larger concept, hoping to open two or three locations in the next six months. 

“The product is incredible,” Buss said. “Yes, it’s Little Five Points but you can really do that anywhere.”

Earlier this week, on July 28, the couple also signed a lease for the space in Johns Creek that used to house Brooklyn Cantina. The Busses plan on opening their fifth Peach Pit Bar and Grill out of the 4,069 square-foot space in the Promenade at Jones Bridge.

The Busses operate all their restaurants⁠—present and future —with the same intention: “to provide a food experience that somebody cannot easily mimic at home,” according to Buss.

While the couple has been occupied with opening new locations, they have also placed an emphasis on maintaining the quality of their current restaurants during the pandemic. 

“The people that are out now want to be out now, and they don’t want to be reminded of the virus, and they don’t want to be reminded of what’s happening,” Buss said. “We need to make it that much better of an experience right now, because people are just so over the virus itself that they don’t need to be reminded of it when they’re just trying to eat dinner.”