Beleza Lounge, a Brazilian inspired bar, will reopen on April 30 after minor renovations and with what hopes to be a stellar cocktail menu of nearly 40 new varieties.
Julie Steele, general manager at Lupe, had her hands full when we stopped by yesterday. There wasn’t an empty table at Lupe; a clear indication that restaurateur, Riccardo Ullio, did well in re-inventing and transforming Cuerno into Lupe.
“We closed Beleza to re-invent the drink list,” Steele said. Plans for a new mixologist and 40 specialty drinks have been the main focus of the re-conception.
The new drink menu will include several new sparkling cocktails and the use of liquid nitrogen and caviar. Guests can also expect to enjoy cocktails that were previously offered, the classic Brazilian cocktails, Envy being one of them.
“We will not be serving food initially,” Steele added when asked about changes to the menu. Plans for antipastos and cheese platters in the future are well underway but for now, Beleza’s focus is going to be cocktails.
Beleza Lounge went through minor interior renovations a few months ago. The plant wall was removed and replaced with sculptures and the interior colors are now gold and brown instead of stark white to provide a darker and more intimate atmosphere.
With rumor that Beleza Lounge has been hanging by a thread, Ullio might be able to redeem his diamond in the ruff and revive it in the same way he revived Cuerno. There’s always wishful thinking!
Beleza Lounge
905 Juniper Street NE
Atlanta, GA 30309
17 Responses
This is great news! His concepts at 905 Juniper were pretty good, but unfortunately that building/location is cursed for some reason. This will have more visibility on Peachtree so let’s hope this one will stick around!
I guess that means the little known Abrigo where Mitra once was will not make it. It is already struggling without a similar concept across the street. Too bad, it great food.
Hope this lasts – that Juniper location is tough without much drive-by traffic. If he can keep quality up, I bet it will be a hit.
Fantastic! I love Fritti. This will be terrific!
Converting Juniper to a 2-way street would help with the “drive-by traffic” curse – however, it’d be nice if restaurants in the most walkable, urbanized area of town wouldn’t have to rely on drive-by traffic to survive.
Very cool news. I’m a big Fritti fan. If this place is the same quality as Fritti and Sotto Sotto it’s sure to be great. And I think this location will be much higher profile than the two he had on Juniper.
@Jonathan: Agreed, making all of the grid streets that were converted to one way in the 60’s back into two way would help a lot of those businesses. There should probably be an overall movement to convert all of the streets rather than piecemeal attempts.
+1 on the two-way streets thing. The wide, one-way streets running through Midtown get used like highways too much — ways to get from one place to another in a car without really seeing the retail in between. Plus, with cars zooming through roads like Juniper & West Peachtree like they’re on the interstate, the pedestrian atmosphere is less pleasant than it should be. Discourage pedestrians and you’ll discourage the foot traffic these businesses need.
There has been talk of converting Midtown’s one-ways back into two-ways. It was mentioned in the Connect Atlanta plan. Let’s hope it’s done sooner than later; the effect would be phenomenal.
West Peachtree and Juniper should be converted to 2 way streets. Leave Spring and the one way portion of Piedmont as options to quickly get into Downtown. They sit on the edges of Midtown’s core so it makes sense.
Look, no offense to Zaza, but clearly he should stay out of the restaurant business. Eno at its end was the best it had been in years, largely thanks to Eli. 5th Street was so clearly a failed concept from the start, but a restaurant open only 78 days is indicative of a far bigger management/ownership issue. This is GREAT for my block and I promise this Midtown resident (and his better half) will be early supporters!!!
We are ecstatic!!! We really miss Lupe. They had the best Margaritas on the rocks and chile rellenos we have ever had. We welcome Ricrdo back to the “hood”. !!!!!!!
This restaurant will be a huge hit. The owners and operators of Fritti are shrewd and creative folks. They will do a terrific job and this place is sure to be a gem on Peachtree.
Three times the charm – finially a concept that matches the location
I really enjoyed Lupe while it was open. Hopefully he can bring that same quality to this new venture. This location is certainly better than the Juniper one, but both have struggled.
I had no idea Zaza was the one behind 5th Street Cafe. I love Zaza as a basketball player, but clearly he doesn’t have much business sense if he didn’t even have a 90-day business plan.
WOW>>>>I loved the food and drink menu! Heading back soon to share with some friends!
Great food. AMAZING Tequila margaritas(Daisys..lol) and the art work was phenomenal. BTW, the artist, “Travis” I’m attempting to find him/her online to no avail. Please advise. I’d love to purchase a piece or two.